ROCHESTER, N.Y. — After a long pause due to the pandemic, the Hochstein Youth Symphony Orchestra has resumed touring in Europe, giving students the chance to perform overseas every two years.

One look around the living room, and it’s quite clear how big music is in the Runion household.

“We can’t really get enough of music,” Cat Runion, of Gates, said. “We can’t really escape it either. There’s something about music as an expression of humanity, or as an expression of things we can’t say or express through other means.”

Runion is part of the Hochstein Youth Symphony Orchestra.

“There’s just something so special about making music with friends, or even with your teachers,” Runion said.

Everyone in the orchestra is getting ready for their first international tour in four years. It’s been on hold due to the pandemic.

“It’s having to perform things at a really, really high level, getting things very, very polished,” Casey Springstead, the Hochstein Youth Symphony Orchestra director, said. “Because we want to impress our audiences.”

They’ll spend a week in Germany and the Czech Republic, and perform three concerts in that time.

“To perform in venues that are really remarkable and to perform for audiences that we wouldn’t normally have a chance to perform for,” Springstead said. “And they’re always so appreciative over there.”

Runion was on their last tour in 2018, and is thrilled to return, with friends and family.

“World traveling is sort of everyone’s hope and dream that they get to see other places,” Runion said. “But doing it with music, and doing it with friends is just amazing. And I get to take my sister along with me. She’s in the orchestra, as well.”

As a senior, this is her last chance to make memories.

“It’s honestly insane,” she said. “It partially feels like it’s not even real, that it’s not even going to happen. But I have a countdown on my phone that’s like one day, 23 hours or whatever."

She hopes to carry those memories with her forever.

“Oh, I’ve been to Europe and I got to go there with my orchestra,” Runion said. “So I’ve been talking about it a lot the last four years. And I know I’m going to continue talking about this tour for the next four years, or the rest of my life, probably.”