For lovers of classical music, there are few things more rewarding than hearing a full symphony orchestra saturate an auditorium with Mozart, Beethoven or Bach.
But Hudson County doesn’t have a county-wide youth or professional symphony that it can call its own. For Yi Li Lin, a energetic Julliard graduate and Hoboken music teacher, this is no longer acceptable, and she is now taking the first steps to create the Hudson Symphony and Hudson Symphony Youth Orchestra.
“Currently, there are many programs for visual arts in Hudson County, but very few for the performing arts,” said Lin in an interview with the Reporter Wednesday. “Right now there is a gap that someone has to fill.”
Stepping stone
Lin said that she was exposed to classical music at a young age, and that propelled her to Julliard and to a successful career as a performer and teacher.
“Because of my experience with Youth Orchestra since I was 10 years old, it was natural for me to pursue a career as a musician as a young adult,” said Lin, who last year started the Hoboken School of Music, which now has over 70 students, both children and adults, enrolled. “Now that I’m in a position to make a difference in society, I feel strongly that it is my responsibility as a musician and educator to create a venue that will allow our youth the same opportunity that was so generously given to me before.”
Ready to compete
Lin said that she realizes that there is a great deal of competition across the river, but that shouldn’t deter Hudson County from starting new youth and professional orchestras.
“It’s time that we start shaping the cultural landscape of Hudson County instead of just being that place on the other side of the river,” said Lin.
She said that while there is a long road ahead, the first step will be to start the Hudson Symphony Youth Orchestra. As a public school music teacher two years ago, she saw firsthand how under-funded and lackluster music education programs are in the region’s public schools.
“Today, our children spend lots of time surfing the Internet, flipping through TV channels,” said Lin. “However, this activity does not allow them the opportunity to get into music, experience it, absorb and to truly understand what it means.”
Lin said that the plan is to begin recruiting performers for the youth symphony by January, with the first performance sometime later next year. Her goal is to attract 50 members, which is the standard number for a youth orchestra. She hopes to recruit students from the all of Hudson County, primarily of middle school through college age and from all ethnic and demographic backgrounds.
Through its educational and music activities, including concert tours, she said the youth orchestra will encourage the development of the life lessons needed to become a successful member of society by building a strong sense of character, discipline, commitment and maturity in its students, she added.
After the youth orchestra is up on its feet, Lin hopes to begin assembling the Hudson Symphony, the county’s first full professional orchestra. “I want to create something that we can be proud of as a community,” said Lin. “Something that 50 or 100 years from now will still be going strong.”
Raising funds
For cultural endeavors, money is often an issue, and many cultural groups are forced to live on a shoestring budget. Lin is currently lobbying for support from different organizations, ranging from New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the New Jersey Cultural Trust, a public-private partnership meant to stabilize struggling cultural groups, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the U.S. Department of Education. “The resources that we need are there,” said Lin. “But we need to bring together civic, business, philanthropic, and educational communities to create something that we can all be proud of,” said Lin.
For more information about how to get involved with Hudson Symphony, call (201) 798-2600.