By Beth Wood
How do you get to Carnegie Hall, New York’s most famous concert venue? For two 16-year-old San Diegans, percussionist Yoyo Wu and clarinetist Jun Kim, the answer is talent, hard work and a serious love of music.
They were among the hundreds of teenagers who applied and auditioned for this year’s National Youth Orchestra 2, Carnegie’s summer program for aspiring classical or jazz musicians. The 89-member ensemble will include musicians from 30 states and Guam. Its two-week training concludes with a performance at Carnegie’s storied Stern Hall on July 27.
The group will then perform at Scotland’s Edinburgh International Festival in early August.
Both Yoyo and Jun applied unsuccessfully for the orchestra program in 2024, which heightened their enthusiasm about being accepted into the highly competitive program this year. The students pay for their travel, but all other costs are taken care of.
“I am excited to work with the faculty at NYO2,” said Jun, who — like Yoyo — lives in Carmel Valley. “And our conductor will be Rafael Payare, the music director of San Diego Symphony. I go to their concerts a lot, so it’s very inspiring to be able to play with him conducting us.”
“I agree with what Jun said about the amazing conductors and coaches,” said Yoyo, who plays piano as well as percussion. “I also hope to make friends at NYO2 and meet people from all across the U.S.”
NYO2 is just one of many summer events for both these Canyon Crest Academy students. Yoyo — after wrapping up several weeks attending competitions and piano recitals — will participate in Oklahoma’s Great Plains International Marimba Competition. She will then fly to New York.
Jun’s summer started at Point Loma Nazarene University’s San Diego Summer Music Institute, which he has attended four times. Then he’s off to Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute for a two-week clarinet intensive. After making a short stop back in San Diego, Jun heads for the Big Apple to join NYO2.
Jun and Yoyo have known each other since fourth grade. Shortly after returning here from NYO2, they will be helping coordinate the Carmel Valley Symphony. The two are part of the leadership team at this free, student-run, two-week music intensive.
Powerful memories
Payare can hardly count the ways Jun and Yoyo will benefit from their time at the National Youth Orchestra 2.
“First of all, they will make bonds that are going to stay for life,” said Payare, speaking from his San Diego home. “Maybe they will keep on the path and pursue a career in classical music, or maybe they will do something different. Either way, it’s an experience they will never forget.”
Payare will conduct NYO2 at Carnegie Hall and then at the Edinburgh festival. His wife, acclaimed cellist Alisa Weilerstein, will be featured as a soloist in both concerts.
He emphasized that there won’t be any coddling of these teenaged musicians.
“When we do these concerts, we don’t see age,” Payare said. “We are not going to do a different version because they’re younger.They and their peers will try to achieve high artistic goals and do it in an amazing environment.”
The National Youth Orchestra has three groups, NYO-USA and NYO Jazz for ages 16-19, and NYO2 for ages 14-16. All three ensembles participate in intensive two-week training residencies at Purchase College, State University of New York (SUNY).
According to Douglas Beck, Director of Artist Training Programs at Carnegie Hall, the training includes sectional rehearsals, master classes and private lessons, as well as playing with the jazz ensemble and attending NYO’s annual “Well-Being” concert.
The faculty is brimming with principal players from leading orchestras from across the U.S.
Yoyo and Jun have been looking forward to working with all the teachers, especially the experts on their instruments.
“The NYO2 percussion teacher is Matthew Howard from the Los Angeles Philharmonic,” Yoyo enthused. “The timpani coach, Don Liuzzi, is from the Philadelphia Orchestra, which is kind of crazy, because they’re so good.”
“The clarinet coach, Jonathan Gunn, teaches at UT Austin now,” Jun said. “He was former principal clarinet at Cincinnati Symphony. I’m excited to work with him.”
Carnegie’s Beck said the faculty is eager to teach at NYO trainings.
“They enjoy the experience almost as much as the young people,” said Beck, speaking from his New York office.
“I think it reminds them of that time in their careers when they were encountering this great music for the first time and falling in love with playing their instruments in a good orchestra. Those are very powerful memories.”
It’s not easy being accepted into NYO2. Interested students upload their recordings to a digital audition and application platform and provide basic biographical material and information about their music-performance history and letters of recommendation. They must also submit a video essay.
Jun Kim and Yoyo Wu are students at Canyon Crest Academy (CCA). Both Carmel Valley residents will be juniors this fall. In addition to English, Jun speaks Korean. Shanghai-born Yoyo speaks Mandarin and a dialect from her native city.
Jun’s parents, Wonho Kim and Insuk Yun, weren’t particularly musical, he said.
“But they believe in learning music, even if you’re not going to go into music,” said Jun, who started piano at 7 and clarinet at 10.
“They’ve always supported me, like driving me around for lessons, rehearsals and stuff. They knew that music should be part of your early education.”
Jun has played here in the well-regarded Mainly Mozart Youth Orchestra for almost five years. He was principal clarinet in the 2025 California All State High School Symphony Orchestra and won first place in the 2024 Mainly Mozart Youth Orchestra Solo Competition, Wind and Brass.
For the past two years, Jun has been under the tutelage of Irvine-based clarinetist Sam Boutris, whose debut album was released last year.
“Right away, you could tell Jun gets along well with his clarinet,” said Boutris, speaking from New York’s Lake George Music Festival where he was performing. “I found Jun to be intelligent, articulate, polite and most important disciplined.
“On Instagram, there’s a tightknit community that gets into clarinet jokes and memes. Kids are practicing and posting. Jun is so good that he has a lot of followers. He’s accepted being a role model with a lot of grace and maturity.
“And he’s teaching me some Gen Z slang!”
Just as Jun requires a ride to Irvine for lessons at least once a week, Yoyo also needs to get places. Her mother, Emily Wei, is the chauffeur, but has an additional, very heavy-duty role.
“I have a lot of lessons for all my instruments, rehearsals and sometimes concerts and competitions,” marimbist, percussionist and pianist Yoyo said. “My mom’s busy as well, but she always makes time for me.
“A lot of the venues I go to perform or compete don’t have a marimba, so we to take mine. It’s like 200 to 300 pounds, maybe more. My mom always helps me take it apart, carry it, get it into the car, and then take it out and put it back together. It’s like we’re playing (the video game) Tetris!”
Yoyo has been a member of the 70-year-old San Diego Youth Symphony since 2021. Among her many accolades as a marimbist, she received the 2025 San Diego Musical Merit Foundation Scholarship and was the youngest person to win La Jolla Symphony’s Emerging Artists Competition. On piano, Yoyo has placed in three major competitions in 2025 alone.
She studies with Andy Watkins, San Diego Symphony percussionist and assistant principal timpanist and Point Loma Nazarene University percussion instructor. He noted that Yoyo’s piano prowess has enhanced her percussion work.
“She thinks about musicality and interpretation,” Watkins said. “She puts personality into it. That’s a mature skill most people her age aren’t thinking about. Working with Yoyo is fun.
“She’s put a lot of effort into marimba and is an accomplished pianist. Yoyo picks up on things very quickly. If there’s a trick I can show her, next time I can tell she’s worked on it and incorporated it. She’ll be one of the most talented kids at NYO2.”
For Venezuelan-born conductor Payare — who attended the public music education program, El Sistema, in his native country — working with NYO2 comes naturally.
“That was the way I was brought up,” Payare said. “I think everybody should have that chance. If I can share that with as many people as possible, I’m more than happy to do it.”
In turn, Yoyo and Jun are happy Payare and NYO2 are offering ways for them and other students to enrich their musical endeavors.
“I think music helps connect people,” Jun said. “I’ve gotten to know a lot of people in my community and other places. When we play music together, it creates cool new opportunities.”
“Playing music together creates and strengthens friendships,” Yoyo agreed. “I’ve been to some programs like NYO2 where I met a bunch of people, and a lot of them are friends to this day.”