Recognized regionally, nationally, and internationally for its artistic excellence, Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra (MYSO), hailing from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is one of the largest and most respected youth orchestra programs in the United States. Since 1956, MYSO has been nurturing, challenging, and inspiring young minds, profoundly changing lives and the community for the better. It has grown from one orchestra and 30 students in 1956, to currently enrolling 900 young musicians who come from 200 schools throughout southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

The program provides outreach programs to an additional 5,000 youth and reaches an audience of 22,000 through more than 100 public performances each year. MYSO offers more than 40 ensemble and enrichment training options, ranging from symphony and string orchestras, and jazz and steel pan bands to music theory, composition, and international tours, providing high-quality musical experiences for a wide range of skill levels.

The importance of MYSO as a catalyst for youth development and community change has not gone unnoticed. In the 2015–16 season, MYSO received the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, the country’s highest honor for after-school youth arts and humanities programs, presented by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

MYSO’s flagship ensemble, a 97-member symphony orchestra of musicians ages 14-21, presents a variety of major concerts each year, including performances by renowned soloists. These accomplished musicians have undertaken many domestic and international tours over the last five decades including performances in Ireland, Argentina, Uruguay, Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, China, Montreal, Spain, Italy, Scotland and New York City’s fabled Carnegie Hall.

MYSO is a proud founding member of the United Performing Arts Fund, a unique syndicated fundraising group for performing arts organizations in the greater Milwaukee area.