In August 2007, Hilda Ochoa-Brillembourg, Chairman of Youth Orchestra of the Americas, received a beautiful letter from YOA musician Isaac Casal inviting a YOA ensemble to participate as “orchestra-in-residence” at the second installment of the Alfredo de Saint-Malo Festival of Panamá. As Founder and Artistic Director of the ASM Festival, Isaac Casal was inspired by his experiences with YOA to return to his country and start the first festival dedicated to the promotion of classical music education and performance as well as create opportunities for young musicians that are otherwise quite limited in Panamá. The ASM Festival is a week-long celebration of daily concerts and recitals by local and international guest artists who also participate in master classes, lectures, workshops, private lessons and didactic concerts to benefit young Panamanian musicians and local school children and families. YOA Principal Conductor, Carlos Miguel Prieto, readily agreed to lead an ensemble of 35 YOA musicians and, in a spirit of unity and mentorship, 21 members of Orquesta Juvenil Istmeña de Panamá were selected to join the YOA musicians in a combined orchestra. By October, Paquito D’Rivera & Quintet and soprano Brenda Feliciano had signed on as special ASM Festival guest artists. Working closely with Paquito D’Rivera and Isaac Casal, Maestro Prieto created music programs for two concerts with YOA & Paquito D’Rivera, and one standard classical program for a YOA solo-concert, all led by Carlos Miguel Prieto...

In early July 2007, at a YOA rehearsal for the White House Conference on
the Americas, Adriana Mejía, Colombia’s Viceministra of Ministerio de
Relaciones Exteriores, extended the wonderful invitation to YOA to
perform on June 1, 2008 at the opening ceremony of the OAS Annual
General Assembly to be hosted by the Colombian government in Medellín.
 
With eager encouragement from Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero,
YOA was very pleased to invite rising young French-Canadian conductor,
Jean-Pascal Hamelin, to lead the ensemble of 40 YOA musicians and, in a
spirit of unity and friendship, 40 members of Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional
de Colombia in a combined orchestra...

JULHO DE 2007: No dia 5 de julho, 8 músicos da YOA chagaram ao hotel The River Inn no coração da cidade de Washington, D.C. para uma residência, com duração de 5 dias, de ensaios e visitas culturais, tendo como ponto alto duas apresentações curtas por ocasião da White House Conference on the Americas em 9 de julho. Os músicos vieram da Argentina, Brasil, Canadá, Colômbia, Estados Unidos e Uruguai…

ABRIL DE 2007: Sua Excelência, o Embaixador da Espanha, Carlos Westendorp y Cabeza, e sua esposa, Amaya de Miguel, realizaram um coquetel com concerto privado da pianista venezuelana, Gabriela Montero – apresentada recentemente no programa “60 Minutes” da rede de TV americana, CBS, como “pianista virtuosa” dotada de um “talento impressionante” – seguido de jantar sentado para 50 convidados especiais na residência do Embaixador em Washington, DC. Os convidados foram convidados a fazer uma doação em favor da YOA por essa noite memorável…

ABRIL DE 2007: No dia 5 de abril, 12 músicos da YOA, provenientes do Canadá, Chile, Estados Unidos e Panamá, chegaram a Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Farms no interior do estado da Virgínia para ensaiar e apresentar a nova produção da orquestra de câmara de Benjamin Britten, intitulada The Rape of Lucretia. Esse programa lançou formalmente a primeira Residência  de Castleton para Jovens Artistas, um programa anual criado por Dietlinde e o Maestro Maazel, e a Châteauville Foundation…