Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras (CYSO) is an orchestral organization in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 that was founded in 1946 to provide music education and instrumental training of the highest quality to Chicago area youth.

Structure

Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras (CYSO) is located in the Chicago Fine Arts Building

Fine Arts Building (Chicago)

The ten-story Fine Arts Building, also known as the Studebaker Building, is located on Michigan Avenue across from Grant Park in Chicago in the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District. It was built for the Studebaker company in 1884–5 by Solon Spencer Beman, and extensively remodeled...

 on S. Michigan Avenue. CYSO comprises five core orchestras, an advanced chamber orchestra, a chamber music program, and music theory and composition classes. Nearly 450 students ages 7 to 18 participate in these various programs. CYSO also provides Music Pathways, a music education and engagement initiative with Chicago Public Schools

Chicago Public Schools

Chicago Public Schools, commonly abbreviated as CPS by local residents and politicians and officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, is a large school district that manages over 600 public elementary and high schools in Chicago, Illinois...

 (CPS).

CYSO's mission is:

• to Advance and inspire the musical and personal development of young musicians by providing intensive training and unparalleled opportunities.
• to Advocate for involvement in classical music to underserved youth through student-to-student engagement programs.
• to Amaze, entertain and educate audiences with thoughtful, innovative programming.

Core Ensembles

• Symphony Orchestra
• Concert Orchestra
• Debut Orchestra
• Preparatory Strings
• Accelerando Strings

Performances

CYSO's various ensembles perform at places including Symphony Center-Orchestra Hall, the Chicago Cultural Center, the South Shore Cultural Center, University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

’s Mandel Hall, Chicago’s Grant Park

Grant Park (Chicago)

Grant Park, with between the downtown Chicago Loop and Lake Michigan, offers many different attractions in its large open space. The park is generally flat. It is also crossed by large boulevards and even a bed of sunken railroad tracks...

, and the Ravinia Festival. CYSO has a rich history of international tours, the most recent of which include the contintents of Europe & South America. These tours have included stops in Smetana Hall in Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

, the Frederick Chopin Conservatory of Music in Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

, and the Filharmonia in Wrocław, Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. As part of their 2007 European tour, the CYSO Symphony Orchestra was selected as the only youth orchestra in the world to be presented by Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

’s Gewandhaus during its musical season. During the 2009 South American Tour to Argentina and Uruguay, the CYSO Symphony Orchestra performed at Teatro Coliseo Podesta in La Plata

La Plata

La Plata is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the , the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants....

, La Facultad de Derecho in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

, Teatro El Circulo in Rosario

Rosario

Rosario is the largest city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the western shore of the Paraná River and has 1,159,004 residents as of the ....

, and Teatro Solis in Montevideo

Montevideo

Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...

.