| Front Page: What is MYSO? This is MYSO's 54th season of offering highest level of training in ensemble musicianship to motivated young people from diverse backgrounds across southeastern Wisconsin.
Students with varied levels of instrumental skills benefit from the broad range of MYSO experiences, all created to foster talent, build character and enhance lives by nurturing an enduring love of music.
MYSO’s offerings feature:
MYSO Progressions, an introductory string training program directed toward City of Milwaukee populations which have previously been under-represented in MYSO
MYSO Jazz Studies, consisting of classes and small combo opportunities for middle and high school students, with a special focus on City of Milwaukee students
MYSO Calypso, a steel band formed through a partnership with Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra and Milwaukee Public Schools
Senior Symphony—MYSO’s flagship ensemble is a full symphony orchestra made up of very advanced players, generally in upper grades of high school. It has long been recognized as one of the nation’s top youth music ensembles, hailed for artistic excellence both nationally and internationally. In July of 2007, MYSO sent 105 members of Senior Symphony to China for a 12-day tour, including a performance on the Great Wall. This summer (2009), MYSO's Senior Symphony and the Bronzeville Jazz Quintet will travel to the Pacific Northwest for a 7-day/3-concert tour.
Philharmonia—This full symphony orchestra provides musicians with experience in preparing a great variety of shorter works from the romantic to post-modern periods; comprised generally of younger high school musicians.
Chamber Orchestra—A subset of the Senior Symphony, this is a very advanced group organized to play standard chamber orchestra repertoire—not played by the symphony orchestras.
Sinfonia/Junior Symphony Orchestra—A large, intermediate-level string orchestra whose members are generally in middle school and early high school. In the spring, selected wind players from the Junior Wind Ensemble augment this group to form the Junior Symphony Orchestra, playing full orchestra literature.
Junior Wind Ensemble—An intermediate-level wind ensemble comprised of woodwind, brass and percussion players in grades 6-9.
String Orchestra—A string training program, which meets in four smaller groups at regional sites around the area (Central, North, South, and West). About one-third of the rehearsals take place at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, where the groups rehearse as two large orchestras; concerts are also performed as two large orchestras.
Flute Chorale—A multi-part flute choir that plays standard flute choir repertoire and arrangements of orchestral repertoire. Members are generally in middle school or early high school.
Chamber Flute Ensemble—An advanced multi-part flute choir that works on cutting edge, advanced flute choir repertoire and more sophisticated arrangements of orchestral repertoire. MYSO’s extensive schedule of rehearsals, performances, outreach initiatives and enrichment opportunities also includes a large chamber music program, theory and composition classes, free masterclasses, workshops, competitions and much more.
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On October 23, MYSO was honored at a ceremony at the Governor’s Executive Residence in Madison by The Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts, in partnership with the Governor, with one of four 2008 Governor's Awards in Support of the Arts, an annual celebration of exceptional supporters, leaders, and organizations across the state. The Foundation honored MYSO, the only arts organization to receive the award this year, for its lead role in the national youth orchestra world, the extensive breadth and depth of the core MYSO program, its vision in developing the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, its new programs like Progressions, Jazz and Calypso, and its work at Boys & Girls Clubs, Neighborhood Concert Series and school-based Community Engagement Concerts.