Who Are we?
We Are the Late Starters: Playing Music Makes Our World Better
New York
The
Late-Starters String Orchestra
If you played a string instrument when you were younger and would like to start again, or if you are learning as an adult and would like the chance to play in a group of similar people, then NYLSO is for you!
Rehearsal Information
We are currently looking for a new space! If anyone has a lead on a very large, reliable, budget-friendly venue in NYC, please contact us at www.nylso.org. We are a big group that needs a big space! THANK YOU!
The New York Late-Starters String Orchestra (NYLSO) is an amateur chamber orchestra for beginning or recently-returning adult string players (violin, viola, cello, double bass) that believes in the power of music and the under-appreciated potential of adults to change the world. We aim to counterbalance the stifling framework society has built for the adult place in today’s culture.
We remind people that the opportunity for transformation and self discovery, both inherently encouraged in the music-making experience, is a right at any age.
NYLSO provides a space to bring people back to what matters most in life. The pursuit of joy, the deeply profound experience of connecting to others on like-minded journeys, the absolute latitude to abandon the constraints of constantly chasing perfection. Making music need not be approached as a competitive venture, but rather as a reminder of our fundamental human-ness.
We take this very seriously, our superpowers to travel through the dawn of time and stimulate primal feelings, to bring forth emotions with the draw of a bow. We also recognize that a C-sharp played as a C-natural can be just as meaningful to the big picture.
Click here to see a video of who we are and what we stand for.
We meet Sunday afternoons from 3:00-5:00 in Midtown Manhattan.
Email us at nylsoinfo@gmail.com for details.
Help Support Us:
NYLSO believes that music belongs to everyone, that creating it, communing with it, and more than ever, escaping with it, is a right for all.
Music is a refuge and a light, and we have been making every effort to keep our community together via online forums and collaborations.
As we continue to wade through the pandemic, we are more determined than ever to come up with creative ways to stay together, and indeed to even grow, our community, both locally and abroad.
We want to be there for anyone and everyone that needs us, but in order to do this we need funding, funding for facilitators, funding for idea-makers, funding for administration.
Please consider a tax-free donation to our organization so that we can keep the music alive and open to all!
The New York Late-Starters Orchestra is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purposes of NYLSO must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Come Give Us a Go
Photo Credit: Ben Zibit
For me NYLSO is what I had been looking for. I am a late starter so it was a right fit. You are accepted wherever you're at in your violin playing. It is a relaxed, friendly environment to be in. - MP, member since 2014
I started playing the violin 14 months ago. Although at first I felt that I was not good enough to play with other musicians, that was quickly dispelled when I met the other members of NYLSO. The welcoming atmosphere, encouragement, and support were felt immediately!
Looking back, becoming part of NYLSO has not only given me confidence to play with others, it has also reinforced my life-long desire to play the violin. - LA, member since 2017
I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music - George Eliot
Contact us: nylsoinfo@gmail.com
