When Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra administrators polled the student musicians to choose their next overseas trip after touring Europe in 2005, they overwhelmingly chose China.

As events have unfolded, the trip is sandwiched between the catastrophic earthquake that rocked China last month and the Summer Olympics in August. The students begin two weeks of music-making tomorrow in Beijing, host city of the Games.

"The Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra aims not only to expose young people to classical music and provide training for future orchestra musicians, but also to demonstrate to audiences far and wide all the culture and talent that the Pittsburgh region has to offer," says executive director Craig Johnson. "The tour to China will provide an exciting cultural exchange with one of the most important countries in the world."

Eight cities await 85 students, ranging from the eighth grade to college seniors, plus 65 adults made up of staff, chaperones and family companions. The tour will begin in Beijing and continue to Shanghai, the fastest growing city in the world. The students also will see Suzhou, noted for its gardens; Hangzhou, built along a mystical lake setting; Wuzhen, the "Venice" of China; and the high-tech Shenzhen, before the finale in Hong Kong.

During the course of their stay, the musicians will meet with Chinese players their own age. In Beijing, the PYSO and the music school attached to the Central Conservatory of Music, will engage in exchange activities and participate in a music festival. As a bonus, the Youth Symphony will play a brief concert on the Great Wall of China.

In Shanghai, the Pittsburghers will meet with students from Shanghai Nanyang Mofan Middle School, equivalent to an American arts high school, and perform their own concert in the Shanghai Concert Hall and, several days later, at the Hangzhou Grand Theatre. In Hong Kong, the students will engage in a side-by-side concert with the Hong Kong Youth Symphony and the Music Office Youth Choir at Koshan Theatre.

Johnson plans to keep them busy with shopping at places like China's Nanjing Road in Shanghai and sightseeing that will include Beijing's Forbidden City and Hong Kong's Victoria Peak.

This trip will be the first visit to Asia for most of the participants and there was much concern about the earthquake May 12 in China's southwestern Sezhuan province -- not only for the victims and the devastation, but whether it would affect the tour. However, the epicenter was located in the western region of China, while the PYSO's trip will follow the eastern coast line.

To prepare the students for the culture shock everywhere they go -- language, exotic foods, and a time difference of 12 hours -- the PSO offered classes taught by volunteers at the University of Pittsburgh. They were taught elementary Chinese phrases and became acquainted with the currency, and they asked questions about such topics as education and the political situation there.

Several of the adults, including PYSO conductor Daniel Meyer, have been there before. Meyer went to China twice as part of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's partnership with Tian Jin Conservatory, about 90 miles outside of Beijing.

He has selected an eclectic program for the trip, designed to show the range of the young musicians. It includes Rachmaninoff's "Symphonic Dances," and American composer Aaron Copland's "El Salon Mexico." The orchestra also will perform "The Palace of Nine Perfections" by Chinese native Zhou Tian. A graduate of Curtis Institute, the young composer will attend several of the performances to introduce his work. And, in a gesture of goodwill with the impending Beijing Olympics, Meyer will include Michael Torke's "Javelin," written for the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics.

"It's a wonderful opportunity to play Western classical music in a very Eastern culture," says Meyer. "And the thing about China is that they are very interested in our classical music, much more so than any cultural export we could bring them." He explains that a recent cultural explosion has resulted in "anyone who can afford it taking piano and violin lessons," with estimates reaching 50 million students.

He also sees the Youth Symphony benefiting simply by repeating the program five or more times in performance, noting that members will develop "a deeper appreciation because of their exposure to this great music."

"I know it's going to be a special trip," says Meyer. "I think their lives will change forever."