The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra is a youth orchestra in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's current Music Director is Louis Scaglione. The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra is regarded as one of the best youth orchestras in the world and is often compared to many professional orchestras. The Orchestra works with a "companion ensemble", the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra, the lower version of PYO, which was established in 1996, and Bravo Brass, a brass ensemble, which was founded in 2003. In 2007, another group, Philadelphia Region Youth String Music was added to the program as a string music education ensemble. In 2016, a new companion ensemble, the PYMO, or Philadelphia Young Musicians Orchestra, was introduced.
Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra
PYO was conducted by Joseph Primavera for 51 years, until 2005 when he retired from the position. The orchestra is now conducted by Maestro Louis Scaglione. Maestro Primavera was the music director laureate until he died in 2006. Members of both orchestras are chosen through highly competitive auditions held in June and September of every year. PYO holds around six concerts a year while PYAO holds around four a year. The orchestras have played music by such composers as Gustav Mahler, Ludwig van Beethoven, Dmitri Shostakovich, Antonín Dvořák, Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein, Sergei Prokofiev, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, and more. The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra has been widely acclaimed by newspapers such as The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The UK Post. In addition to playing in prestigious local venues such as Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center, PYO has participated in numerous international tours with sold-out concerts in countries such as Brazil, Poland, Vienna, China, Czech Republic, Italy, Russia, Jordan, Israel, Spain, England, Switzerland, France, Germany, Argentina, Uruguay, The British Isles, and Australia. The conductor of the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra is Maestra Rosalind Erwin. The Philadelphia Young Musicians Orchestra is led by Maestro Kenneth Bean, and the Philadelphia Region Youth String Music is directed by Conductor Gloria dePasquale, cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
