Interview with Greek Youth Symphony Orchestra (GYSO) Founder and Artistic Director, Dionysis Grammenos and their American debut at Carnegie Hall, New York City

The internationally celebrated Greek Youth Symphony Orchestra (GYSO), will make its highly-anticipated American debut at Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, New York City, in a one-night-only concert event, Sunday, November 3, at 7:30PM.

This special GYSO event will mark the first time a member orchestra of the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras will perform at Carnegie Hall.  Under the direction of its Founder and Artistic Director, Dionysis Grammenos, Greek Youth Symphony Orchestra is comprised of 300 auditioned musicians, ages 18 – 26, from nearly 50 cities in Greece and throughout Europe. At Carnegie Hall, 95 GYSO musicians will present an eclectic evening of music including contemporary European and American popular symphonic works as well as a fresh new take on traditional Greek dance music through a symphonic lens.

The program will include ”<<rewind«” by acclaimed British, Grammy-nominated composer Anna Clyne; Leonard Bernstein’s celebrated “Symphonic Dances,” based on themes from his West Side Story; and a selection of Nikos Skalkottas’ “Greek Dances,” which premiered at Carnegie Hall exactly 70 years earlier, in November 1954, when performed by New York Philharmonic.

Click above to watch The GYSO perform Brahms’ Symphony Νo. 1

“We could not be more excited that Greek Youth Symphony Orchestra will make its American debut at Carnegie Hall this fall,” says Dionysis Grammenos Founder and Artistic Director of GYSO. “Just about 70 years ago to the date of our concert, the great Greek conductor, Dimitri Mitropoulos, lead the New York Philharmonic in the debut of Nikos Skalkottas’ “Greek Dances” on the stage of Carnegie Hall. Our performance of this work feels like a celebration of the legacy of Greek music and artistry to have played this fabled stage. That we also happen to be making our American debut in New York the same day as The New York Marathon, and just days before Election Day seems rather auspicious as well. After all, Greece is the birthplace of both marathons and democracy, so the timing could not be more ideal.”

The GYSO is supported by its Founding Donor, the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation and a range of individual and corporate donors including: Hellenic Parliament and the Ministry of Culture, Bank of Greece, The Hellenic Initiative, AEGEAS, Bodossaki Foundation, George Petrocheilos Family Foundation, Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation, Social and Cultural Affairs Welfare Foundation and Aegean Airlines, as its official air carrier sponsor.

The GYSO Carnegie Hall debut this fall is hosted by The Hellenic Initiative (THI), a global nonprofit organization that brings together diaspora Greeks and Philhellenes to invest in the future of Greece through programs focused on crisis relief, entrepreneurship, and economic development.

The GREEK YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (GYSO) was founded in 2017 by conductor Dionysis Grammenos, consisting of young Greek musicians from all parts of Greece and abroad. Based on the respective European standards of National Youth Orchestras, the GYSO aims to identify, train and promote young Greek musicians in the symphonic and operatic repertoire, while offering them the opportunity to participate in concerts and collaborate with internationally renowned artists, conductors, soloists and tutors. The GYSO’s work has been recognized internationally with its selection as a member of the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras (EFNYO), where it is the only representation from Greece. Inter alia, this collaboration provides its musicians with the opportunity to represent the Orchestra abroad, collaborating with other National Youth Orchestras, in the framework of the MusXchange programme, which is supported by the European Union’s Creative Europe Programme. GYSO’s notable performances include its two concerts at the Konzerthaus Berlin, as part of the international Young Euro Classic festival. In 2021, the GYSO performed selected “Greek Dances” by Skalkottas and Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony. This concert was held as part of the Orchestra’s summer tour in Delphi, Corfu and Berlin, with an anniversary programme dedicated to the 200 years since the Greek Revolution, which took place under the auspices of HE the President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou. In 2023, the GYSO was invited for the opening concert of the festival, presenting works by Brahms, Liszt and Grøndahl. It is also the first orchestra to be invited by the Hellenic Parliament to perform at the Parliament Mansion, as part of the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament of CoE member states, in October 2021. The concert was broadcasted live via tv-channels and web to all the European Parliaments. GYSO has performed in the halls of the Greek National Opera at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, as well as in collaboration with the Athens & Epidaurus Festival, where musicians of the orchestra participated in concerts in Athens and Ravenna, performing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, under the baton of conductor Riccardo Muti. In July 2023, the GYSO was honoured to receive an invitation by HE the President of the Hellenic Republic to present a concert at the Presidential Mansion, as part of the celebration of the 49th anniversary of the Restoration of Democracy in Greece. Other highlights of the Orchestra’s trajectory include the commissioning of new works to Greek composers, as well as video recordings, with the most prominent one being Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, conducted by Johannes Debus, Music Director of the Canadian Opera Company. Leading international artists have performed with the GYSO, including Johannes Debus, Anna Fedorova, Anneleen Lenaerts, Daniel Ottensamer, Vassilis Varvaresos, Hyeyoon Park, Eivind Ringstad, Alexandra Soumm, as well as actor Aimilios Chilakis. Being education the key focus, the GYSO also carries out a series of activities to familiarize young audiences with symphonic music, giving them the opportunity to interact creatively with the members of the orchestra through open rehearsals, seminars and workshops. At the same time, the GYSO is the first orchestra in Greece to use virtual reality technology through the innovative ELSON VR project, offering the audience an unprecedented experience of viewing classical music concerts. Since 2020, the GYSO is an Orchestra in Residence at Megaron – The Athens Concert Hall.

The young Greek conductor DIONYSIS GRAMMENOS (Founder and Artistic Director, GYSO) first established himself internationally as a clarinettist, winning a place on the ECHO Rising Stars programme in 2013/14 which led to performances with many major orchestras and in some of the most prestigious venues worldwide. In 2016 he received a Conducting Fellowship at Aspen Music Festival and since this time has conducted widely across the world both in the concert hall and opera pit, including a very last-minute jump-in at the Megaron Athens when he was invited to conduct the London Philharmonic Orchestra in a performance of Brahms 4, receiving a standing ovation and huge acclaim from both players and audience alike. In July 2024, he will make his USA debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra. He is praised regularly for his innate and instinctive musicianship, the clarity and efficiency of his conducting and his proficiency for shaping the sound of the orchestra. His performances are profoundly expressive, rich in colour and emotion, and he has been described by Die Welt as “one of the most promising stars of tomorrow”. In recent seasons Grammenos has conducted orchestras including the Cameristi della Scala, Belgian National Symphony, Malta Philharmonic, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Ulster Orchestra, Lucerne Festival Strings, Vienna Chamber, Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec, Thailand Philharmonic, Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, Athens State Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, and with soloists such as Khatia Buniatishvili, Renaud Capuçon, Daniel Ottensamer and Anna Fedorova.Passionate about opera, Grammenos made his opera conducting debut in Würzburg with Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi; he has assisted Johannes Debus on productions of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio at the Canadian Opera Company and La Clemenza di Tito at the Aspen Music Festival and Verdi Il Trovatore at the Theatre Vorpommern. In 2021/22 he was the Principal Conductor of English Touring Opera’s production of Puccini’s La Bohème, and in summer 2023 he made a highly successful debut at Nevill Holt conducting Rossini’s La Cenerentola. Grammenos trained as a clarinettist at the University of Music “Franz Liszt” in Weimar, and in 2008 won the Grand Prix d’Eurovision from the European Broadcasting Union as well as the title European Young Musician of the Year, the first wind player ever to receive this title. As soloist he has performed at the Berlin Philharmonie and Carnegie Hall, with the Vienna Symphony, Norwegian Radio and ORF Vienna and as an ECHO Rising Star he has appeared in many of the world’s top venues including London’s Barbican Centre and Concertgebouw Amsterdam. He has also made recordings for Naïve and Warner Classics. In 2009 Grammenos was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts and the Gold Medal of the City of Athens. After his studies in Weimar, he studied conducting at the Würzburg Music University with Ari Rasilainen, and was invited to take part in conducting masterclasses with David Zinman, Bernhard Haitink, Patrick Summers and Robert Spano. In 2018 he was selected for the European Young Leaders programme, under the patronage of Jean-Claude Juncker, which aims to cultivate a European identity by engaging the most promising talents in initiatives destined to shape Europe’s future.

LISTINGS INFORMATION: The internationally celebrated Greek Youth Symphony Orchestra (GYSO), will make its highly-anticipated American debut on Sunday November 3, at 7:30PM at Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Ave (at 57th Street, NYC). For concert tickets, $39 – $149 (plus fees), visit CarnegieHall.org, call CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, or visit the Carnegie Hall Box Office.