Almost a month into her senior year at Harker Heights High School, Rebekah Koh walked down the hallway still trying to grasp the reality of her recent global journey.
“It was such an amazing opportunity,” she kept saying.
“It was amazing it was free.”
“It was amazing I got to do it as a 17-year-old.”
“Amazing” is as good a word as any to describe Koh’s experience.
In July, following their initial concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City, Koh and the 97-member National Youth Orchestra flew to the Asian continent for a month-long tour.
They traveled to Osaka and Tokyo, Japan, to Hong Kong, to Beijing and Shanghai, China and to Seoul, Korea.
The young Americans played seven concerts in seven famous concert halls alongside renown guest conductors to near sold-out venues.
They learned from one another, a diverse group from across the country representing urban areas, small towns, public and private schools of all kinds.
They crossed the Great Wall of China and made stops at famous sites on their cross-continental trek. In Korea, Koh even stayed a few extra days to visit extended family members she had not seen since elementary school.
On the 14-hour flight home, the weary Harker Heights teen worked on answering a series of media questions that ended up published in an international orchestra magazine called The Strad. She expected her words to end up in a Carnegie Hall publication and was pleasantly shocked to find out she was one of two youth orchestra members featured in the global periodical.
The Strad article featuring Rebekah Koh is accessible here:
https://www.thestrad.com/playing-hub/nyo-usa-in-asia-music-beyond-borders/20070.article
“I’m still processing the trip,” said Koh, who is a gifted academic student currently taking five Advanced Placement courses and auditioning for college orchestra programs.
“I learned so much from observing my peers,” she said. “I realized how much I improved the past three years. The difference in my confidence.”
“I know where I started,” she said. Young, shy, uncertain if she even wanted to seriously pursue music, Koh is now a three-time All-State Orchestra member and two-time National Youth Orchestra honoree. She’s also a teacher.
“I started teaching violin last year. I have three students. I’m so honored to be able to give back. I’ve taken every opportunity I’ve had.”
During the Asia tour, Koh and her peers spent time with Ray Chen, a famous violinist who is 36 years old and a well-respected influencer among young lovers of classical music.
He performed alongside the youth orchestra in six of their seven concerts and was a driving factor in ticket sales, Koh said.
“I watched him experiment with the music. He was taking risks. I could pick out the differences during each performance.”
During the long hours of travel by bus and through airport layovers students talked and Koh saw how small the orchestra world is – how small and how cohesive.
“I met so many new people. The music world is small. We know a lot of the same people. Music also connects. I learned how much more extensive the scope of it is.”
At the last stop in Korea, Koh, a fluent Korean speaker, was honored to serve as an interpreter for her group. The last concert in Seoul was emotional. “I knew I would never play with them again and I cried,” she said.
“I’m grateful to my family, my students, people who have been with me in anxious moments who have seen my growth and hard work. I love the chance to give back. I’m still in disbelief.”
“There are so many things about music that words can’t express,” she said. “I think it’s so important to keep music alive. I really want to make sure that the future generations becoming young adults have plenty of opportunities so that we have a chance at a more connected world.”
“It is so disconnected and it’s heartbreaking to see what happens every day. I’m hoping that one step at a time we can bring it back together. That’s what music means to me.”
KISD Photos and National Youth Orchestra photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/killeenisd/albums/72177720329056285
The trip photos accompanying this story are courtesy of Rebekah Koh. They were taken by photographer Christopher Lee. The screenshots are from The Strad magazine published Aug. 18, 2025.