Helena High Violinist Elliot Cleary Selected for Carnegie Hall's National Youth Orchestra

Elliot Cleary had no expectation he would make it. The Helena High violinist submitted an audition to Carnegie Hall's National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America describing it as "already kind of a long shot," and then waited. When the email arrived confirming his selection, he had one word for it: "unreal."

Cleary was chosen from a pool of over 1,500 applicants nationwide as one of 80 students selected for the 2026 NYO-USA, the elite Carnegie Hall program that brings together the country's top teenage musicians for an intensive summer residency and international concert tour. He is only the fourth Montanan in the program's history to earn a spot.

In July, Cleary will travel to Carnegie Hall in New York City for the residency before the ensemble heads abroad, performing concerts across Europe for the remainder of the summer.

The road to Carnegie Hall began, by Cleary's own account, at age five. "I was just kind of immersed from a really young age, so it just set me up over the years to really love the art," he said. That immersion runs deep in his household: his father is his orchestra director at Helena High, meaning the person who shaped his musical education in the classroom is also the person he comes home to.

That closeness extends to the instrument itself. "All the tiny details kind of feel like home," Cleary said, "and you know if you are playing a different instrument, it is definitely a different feeling, and there is not that same connection."

The pressure of performing at that level is not lost on him. "There is a lot of don't mess up, don't mess up, because I do want to put the best out that I can," he said.

Despite the magnitude of the selection, Cleary frames it as a starting point rather than a destination. His ambitions extend well beyond this summer: "Hopefully, just studying this instrument and other instruments in college and making a career in it.