HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL ORCHESTRAL ASSOCIATION
The National Orchestral Association (NOA) was founded in
1930. Its early mission was to train American orchestra musicians in orchestral
techniques and repertoire, providing them with the necessary experience and
level of expertise to enter professional orchestra careers. Until that time,
American orchestras were comprised almost entirely of European-trained
musicians. However, with the establishment of the NOA and its founding
conductor, Maestro Leon Barzin, American musicians began to assume their
rightful positions in American orchestras.
Barzin was an early proponent of focal point conducting, which he developed
while playing under some of the greatest conductors of the early 20th Century,
including Arturo Toscanini, whom he was able to study for many years from the
pit of the old Metropolitan Opera and during his tenure as principal viola with
the New York Philharmonic. Over the years, Barzin codified and propagated
techniques of focal point conducting based on his observations of Toscanini and
others. While training American orchestral musicians at the NOA for more than 30
years (1930-1958; 1970-1976), he also “raised the bar” on conductor training.
His goal was to promote a conducting technique that was visually compelling and
communicative while producing professional-level orchestral ensemble and dynamic
control. He continued teaching conducting well into his 90s.
Barzin’s principles of focal point conducting embraced Toscanini’s podium
technique, i.e., the centralization of beat motions, the binary nature of
individual beats, and an arc-like shape of beat motions designed to deliver
clear and precise wordless directives to orchestral players. Since Toscanini
never taught conducting, it may be said that Barzin became the advocate and
codifier of the Toscanini style, which can be seen to this day in the opera pits
of Italy and France.
Barzin was music director of the NOA Orchestra and, with George Balanchine and
Lincoln Kirstein, was a co-founder of the New York City Ballet (NYCB), where he
served for a decade (1948-1958) as music director. His work at the NOA and the
NYCB firmly established him as one of New York’s finest conductors, and a
peerless teacher of conducting and orchestral performance techniques.
Since its inception, the NOA has presented numerous concerts at Carnegie Hall
and other venues around the country, providing both orchestral musicians and
young conductors with an opportunity to refine their professional techniques so
as to reach the standards of world-class orchestras and soloists.
In addition to training orchestral musicians, the NOA established numerous
groundbreaking initiatives, including a conducting program and performances of
American orchestral music designed to advance the careers of young American
composers. From the 1940s until the present, the NOA has enriched the lives of
thousands of school students. It was one of the first organizations to bring
classical music outreach to the public school students in and around NYC; its
rich tradition of encouraging future generations of music lovers and
concertgoers continues to this day.
During the 1990s, the NOA evolved into a multi-dimensional organization
sponsoring a wide variety of performing organizations and educational programs.
The NOA’s New Music Orchestral Project promoted the careers of American
composers by sponsoring world premiere performances at Carnegie Hall. Later in
the decade, the NOA began a sponsorship of smaller organizations, and was
instrumental in the creation of a new American string orchestra, the String
Orchestra of New York City ("SONYC"). It has continued to expand its outreach
projects throughout the country by sponsoring performances, master classes and
school education seminars.
The National Orchestral Association is proud to have sponsored numerous educational outreach programs in the New York City school system and in the public school systems in Utah. A quartet made up of players from the String Orchestra of New York City ("SONYC"), was invited to conduct an educational outreach program in the Queens, New York Public School District. We are grateful to David Levitman, a Director of the NOA, and former Principal in the New York City School System, for making this possible. Mr. Levitman and SONYC's Monica Bauchwitz, are working on developing a continuing program for the Queens School District.
On September 20, 2000, the Lake Luzerne Music Camp celebrated its twentieth anniversary with a special concert at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in New York City performed by alumni musicians of the Camp. The Lake Luzerne Music Camp has been an outstanding resource for young people, and enjoys a reputation as one of the country's leading music camps. The NOA would like to congratulate all those associated with the Camp for enriching the lives of so many young musicians over the years. Maestro Barzin was a frequent visitor to the camp, and was one of its longtime principal advisors. In honor of the NOA's founding conductor, the late Maestro Leon Barzin, the National Orchestral Association provided a grant to the Lake Luzerne Music Camp to assist them in putting on their Alice Tully Hall concert, which was attended by hundreds of students.
Current initiatives include ongoing support of a variety of musical
organizations, as well as sponsorship of conducting seminars featuring the
focal-point techniques of Leon Barzin. In 2004, the NOA was pleased to partner
with the Conductors Guild, Inc. in sponsoring a conducting workshop at the
Cleveland Institute of Music. In the fall of 2008, the NOA again partnered
with the Conductors Guild to co-sponsor a conductor training workshop held at West Chester University’s (PA) School of Music.
Since 1930, the NOA has been helping to nurture the careers of American
classical artists, and has done so through wars, the Great Depression and
several recessions. It does not solicit or accept government funding, and
depends entirely upon the generosity of private contributions to sustain its
work in support of aspiring American classical musicians and composers. The NOA
is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, and all donations are tax-deductible to
the fullest extent allowed by law.