It's a stirring, springtime tradition in Minneapolis: Hundreds of young musicians — too many for the stage to hold — spilling into the aisles and balconies to fill Orchestra Hall with the majestic sounds of Gustav Holst's "Jupiter."
Too good a tradition to let slide, after nearly 20 years. So the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies orchestrated a virtual performance, featuring 350 of the 800 GTCYS students who would have played it in-person Sunday.
"It's kind of a benediction for the season where we have a chance to reflect and celebrate our achievements and to come together and unify— to play music together and bring beauty into a world that really, really needs it," said artistic director Mark Russell Smith.
For 79 high school seniors, it was also the last chance to play with GTCYS, which actually consists of 10 separate orchestras. Members are as young as 8 and as old as 18, and come from 227 schools in the Twin Cities and beyond, including Mankato, Duluth, and Rochester.
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