Sydney Youth Orchestra

The Sydney Youth Orchestra (SYO) is a youth orchestra based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and is the premier orchestral training ground in Australia for many young musicians. Since its founding in 1973 by Peter Seymour, a legendary music educator, it has provided orchestral training to thousands of young musicians (aged between 6 and 25 years) whom are required to audition annually to be placed in orchestras and ensembles (say: on-song-bulls) best to meet their stage of development as a musician.

It is part of the larger organisation called Sydney Youth Orchestra Inc, which provides a pathway for hundreds of young musicians from beginner to pre-professional to connect, create and champion orchestral music. Sydney Youth Orchestra Inc is also the largest orchestral training provider in Australia. SYO receives less than 10% of its income through funding from state government grants, and 35% from student participation fees.