http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/28/arts/music/new-years-vespers-and-youth-strings.html 2014-12-27 23:27:53 New Year’s Vespers and Youth Strings The Clarion Music Society and the New York String Orchestra offer a transcendental way to usher out the old and welcome in the new. === Steven Fox and the Clarion Music Society offer a transcendental way to usher out the old and welcome in the new, with performances of Rachmaninoff’s Vespers (also known as the All Night Vigil) on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The a cappella work is austere compared with the lush Romanticism of Rachmaninoff’s virtuoso piano works, but the setting of traditional texts from the canonical hours of the Russian Orthodox Church is harmonically gorgeous. (6 p.m., Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, Trinity Church, Broadway and Wall Street, 212-602-0800, The level of musicianship among youth orchestras is increasingly impressive; one ensemble that consistently performs at a high level is the New York String Orchestra. Jaime Laredo, its longtime director, conducts the second of two concerts at Carnegie Hall this month, with the excellent young violinist Augustin Hadelich as soloist in Barber’s Violin Concerto. (2 p.m., Dec. 28, 212-247-7800,