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Leopold Stokowski conducts
The All-American Youth Orchestra
In December 1939, Leopold Stokowski announced the creation of a brand new ensemble to be formed from the young musical talent that existed across the United States. Frustrated in his desire to take the Philadelphia Orchestra on a cultural mission to South America, he now proposed touring his newly formed All-American Youth Orchestra instead. Thousands of young applicants were whittled down to 90 players and in July 1940, Stokowski began rehearsals.
Almost immediately another tour for the summer of 1942 was announced, even longer than its predecessors. Stokowski had decided to make the All-American Youth Orchestra permanent but the events of 7 December 1941 put paid to that with America's entry into the war and the resulting call-up of many of the young men who would have formed the third AAYO's nucleus.
