California Youth Symphony performs Brahms' 'Academic Festival Overture' in Vienna - Live 1988!

California Youth Symphony, conducted by Dr. Lauren Jakey, performs Brahms' "Academic Festival Overture" at the International Youth and Music Festival at the Sofiensaal concert hall in Vienna, Austria on July 17, 1988. This was a 13-day festival and competition held at several locations with youth orchestras from all over the world.

The video footage presented here was likely recorded by a parent chaperone using a 1980s-era camcorder and is missing the first three minutes of the piece. Fortunately, I do have professional-quality audio from a July 20 CYS performance during this festival that was recorded and broadcast over Austrian radio station ORF, so the first three minutes of audio is fantastic! I combined the two audio tracks together to complete the piece, but there is quite a noticeable difference in quality at around the 3:13 mark where I switch over from the professional recording to the audio from the camcorder. The video is low resolution also, unfortunately, but it's better than nothing! Watch it on a small screen for best results.

I played timpani on this beautiful and majestic Brahms piece. To this day I remember each note and stroke. We played several other concert halls and cathedrals over the two week tour with a program that included works from Barber, Borodin, Brahms, Creston, Mahler, and Strauss, but the biggest rounds of applause would often come from our encore of Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever," included here during the closing credits and on which I played the cymbals.

It was quite an extraordinary tour, especially for a bunch of High School kids! So many good memories were made with CYS!!!

00:00 Johannes Brahms "Akademische Festouvertüre" op. 80 (audio only)
03:05 Johannes Brahms "Akademische Festouvertüre" op. 80 (audio and video)
11:01 Accepting an award
11:22 John Philip Sousa "The Stars and Stripes Forever" (audio only) and Credits

Musicians in alphabetical order:

Stephanie Anderson
Patricia Aquino
Carolyn Balfe
Michelle Bench
Nick Blanchard
Nicole Bloom
Leslie Carr
Armando Castellano
Tony Castelli
Stacie Chan
Valerie Chan
Dong Sik Chang
Henry Chen
Peter Chen
Linda Cheu
Bryan Choi
Elizabeth Church
Matthew Class
Jenny Cornbleet
Dan Coyle
Genevieve Coyle
Sheila Crombie
Nicole Daugherty
Andrea Dossa
David Dufour
Jonathan Dufour
Jennifer Erlichman
Aileen Estacio
Matthew Feinstein
Anya Fernald
Kathryn Folden
Ryan Fortson
Sarah Gelbman
Stephanie Gladney
Brenna Green
Todd Gustavson
Jacob Hershey
Holly Holzer
David Hsu
Keith Johns
Sean Kim
Eric Kimn
Monique Kuo
DJ Lang
Andy Lee
Jee Sun Lee
Dan Liebgold
Cindy Lien
Christina Lin
Fiona Lin
Michi Lin
Cathy Lindquist
Doug Lippi
Rachel Long
Kristine Lundgren
Dan Magay
Christine Mailhot
Yoshiko Matsushita
Christen McCann
Carey McIntosh
Bruce Morley
Deborahlise Mota
Paul Muchowski
Lori Niitani
Kristi Northrup
George Ogata
Lisa Oliver
Susan Park
Ariana Pitchon
Amanda Post
Joe Prewett
Shana Priwer
Gloria Ro
Audrey Rosser
Sarah Rounds
Jennifer Rozario
Roy Seto
Ivan Setziol
Esther Shao
Andrew Sharp
Hanna Shirai
Ethan Sigal
Eve Silverman
Karen Sue
Frank Tseng
Karen Uyehara
Sherman Wan
Alexander Werner
Sue Westwood
Donna Wu
Jennifer Wu
Cindy Yang
Dorothea Yee
Sandi Yeh
Nadya Zimmerman

[georgeogata]

Doug, I want to thank you for taking the time to create such a thoughtful and stirring video. You simply made my day and brought me back to THAT day, that tour, that time in my life. Our tour back in 1988 was unquestionably one of the greatest, most meaningful experiences of my entire life. Our music-making and our camaraderie—our joining together with such focused, idealized energy and family determination—was so formative in my evolution as a musician ... and as a human being. Props to you, Doug! And a huge wave of salutations to all CYS alums!

[erickimn]

I was here for this! oh the memories! I think that's me on the viola at 3:21. Thank you Douglas Lippi for doing this!

[angelajohns]

Les and I were chaperones on this tour and have wonderful memories from this time. Great time with exceptional teenagers. Loved the music. Thanks for sharing. Les and Angela Johns

[sheilamia]

Thank you for posting this Doug. I shared this with my mother who cried tears of joy as, of course, she was not a chaperone and had not experienced the performance. This brought back amazing memories of a trip/experience of a lifetime. I have such vivid memories that will stay with me for life.

[gloriakolb]

Wow! What memories - Even to see the hall...

[sogladne]

What a wonderful walk down memory lane!

[DouglasLippi]

If you were a part of this tour please leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you!!!

[muttshouse]

I didn't even know that there was video! I can' believe that you found programs and articles! This tour was amazing thanks to all the parents and supporters. I couldn't even remember what pieces we played. We were darn good! CYS was an amazing part of my life and I'm grateful for the opportunity to be part of it. I remember being able to play in a castle where Haydn actually wrote one of the pieces we played. That composition was created for that chamber and the music had never sounded so good in my ears. History came alive that tour. Of course, I felt like due to jet lag, I also slept much of the trip away on the bus rides! -Karen Sue, viola

[daviddufour]

Thanks for posting this wonderful video Doug! Where did you find it and how did you come across the radio broadcast recording? I didn't even know that was available. I would never have missed the first part of the video if you hadn't mentioned it. Filling in with programs and new articles worked really well. That concert was an amazing experience and this video brings back so many memories of that day. It was great to see Dr. Jakey conducting as well as see so many familiar faces in the orchestra!

[hanacycle]

hi old friends! Thank you Doug for creating and posting this! Makes me wonder what other documentation there is out there... What an amazing time of all our lives. And what an awesome mini reunion right here! (Hana Shirai, now Hana Böttger)