Alabama Symphony’s Carlos Izcaray composes virtual symphony for ASFA students By Alec Harvey April 1, 2021 Early on in the COVID-19 crisis, Carlos Izcaray, music director of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, composed a piece for the American Youth Symphony, where he’s also music director. “It was written for a virtually recorded ensemble,” the maestro says. “We recorded it remotely.” As the pandemic continued, administrators and faculty at the Alabama School of Fine Arts were looking for ways to engage their students, and they reached out to Izcaray for ideas involving their music students. “I said, ‘Well, I just did this kind of project,’” he recalls. “’We could do something similar with ASFA and explore this new way of generating something for this internet medium that we’re all watching now.”