Symphony Orchestra
Overview
Our flagship classical ensemble, NYOS Symphony Orchestra is formed of over 100 of the most gifted young orchestral players from across Scotland.
Every year, NYOS Symphony Orchestra delivers world-class training and offers prestigious concert opportunities, collaborating with renowned conductors and soloists including Yan Pascal Tortelier, Sian Edwards, John Lill, Nigel Kennedy and Steven Osborne. The orchestra is celebrated for delivering insightful, energetic and impassioned performances of diverse and challenging repertoire, and has appeared at major venues and festivals worldwide, notably the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival, the Concertgebouw, and the World Youth Orchestra Festival in Japan. Alumni from the NYOS Symphony Orchestra now populate many of Scotland’s leading orchestras, and appear frequently on stages around the world, among them internationally acclaimed soloists Nicola Benedetti, Colin Currie and Evelyn Glennie.
NYOS Symphony Orchestra Patron - Sir James MacMillan, CBE
Sir James MacMillan is the pre-eminent Scottish composer of his generation and founder of the Cumnock Tryst festival. Sir James became patron of NYOS Symphony Orchestra in 2005
Applications
Classical Applications are now closed and will open again in August 2022.
For late applications please email ensembles@nyos.co.uk.
Applications are invited from instrumentalists 25 and under with Scottish links i.e:
- Born in Scotland
- Living in Scotland,
- Studying in Scotland, or
- with Scottish Family.
Standard: ABRSM Grade 8 or equivalent (Qualification as a guide only and not essential)
Join our mailing list here to receive email reminders when applications open.
“NYOS Symphony Orchestra yet again proved itself to be an orchestra capable of reaching the highest peaks of musical excellence.”
Carol Main, The Scotsman
Performances
Symphony Orchestra Spring Concerts 2023
Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Conductor
Catherine Larsen-Maguire
Soloist
Sean Shibe, guitar
Programme
NYOS Symphony Orchestra is joined by Sensational young Scottish guitarist and multiple Gramophone Award-winner Sean Shibe.

Symphony Orchestra Summer Concerts
Aberdeen Music Hall
Caird Hall, Dundee
Conductor
Jac van Steen
Soloist
Timothy Ridout
Programme
NYOS Symphony Orchestra presents a dazzling concert of 20th Century masterpieces, opening with excerpts from Prokofiev’s ballet Cinderella, a masterpiece of musical storytelling.

Symphony Orchestra Spring Concerts 2022
Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Conductor
Kerem Hasan
Soloist
Jess Gillam
Programme
NYOS Symphony Orchestra returns to the concert stage to showcase the incredible talents of Scotland’s most promising young musicians.

Programme
Music video for Philip Glass' Symphony No.3, Movements III and IV Featuring Scottish Ensemble and senior members of the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland. To watch the film click here

Dance from a DistanceDigital Collaboration with C Duncan & BBC SSO
Online
Conductor
C Duncan
Programme
Dance from a Distance by C Duncan, perfromed by the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. To watch the film click here

NYOS Symphony OrchestraSummer Tour | 4-6 August 2020
Perth Concert Hall
Music Hall, Aberdeen
City Halls, Glasgow
Conductor
Jamie Phillips
Programme
This August NYOS Symphony Orchestra is delighted to welcome conductor Jamie Phillips to the podium for the first time.

NYOS Symphony OrchestraSpring Concerts 2020
Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Conductor
Christian Kluxen
Programme
We are delighted to continue our partnership with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and we welcome to the podium former RSNO Assistant Conductor Christian Kluxen.

NYOS Symphony Orchestra Summer Tour | 6-9 AugustNYOS 40th Anniversary
The Pickaquoy Centre, Kirkwall
Caird Hall, Dundee
The Albert Halls, Stirling
Conductor
Jessica Cottis
Soloist
Daishin Kashimoto
Programme
Grażyna Bacewicz, Overture
Dmitri Shostakovich, Violin Concerto No.1
Béla Bartók, Concerto for Orchestra

NYOS Symphony Orchestra Spring Tour 2019NYOS 40th Anniversary
Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Conductor
Elim Chan
Soloist
Steven Osborne
Programme
We are delighted that this spring’s NYOS Symphony Orchestra concerts mark the beginning of our new partnership with the RSNO.

Glasgow Doors Open Days FestivalNational Youth Orchestras of Scotland Offices and Event Space
13 Somerset Place, G3 7JT
Programme
The National Youth Orchestras of Scotland is delighted to announce its first ever involvement in Glasgow Doors Open Day Festival 2018.

NYOS Symphony Orchestra Summer TourEdinburgh International Festival
Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Conductor
Paul Daniel
Programme
After 30 years, NYOS Symphony Orchestra makes a welcome return to the Edinburgh International Festival 2018.

Tell Us Who We AreNational Youth Performing Arts Companies of Scotland
The Old Fruitmarket
The Old Fruitmarket
The Old Fruitmarket
The Old Fruitmarket
Programme
In Tell Us Who We Are, the young people question and explore who they are as millennials within society. Through the prism of war, they contrast their lives to all of the young people who have lived in the century following the end of World War One.
They have all the world’s information they could ever need at the touch of a button but now, in the Year of Young People, they want to know what the world thinks of them and if they’re voice is being heard.

Glasgow Meets Berlin - a gala celebrationGlasgow Festival 2018 Concert
George Square, Glasgow
Conductor
Paul Daniel
Programme
A celebratory gala concert with the NYOS Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow and the Universität der Künste in Berlin.
Through a live link, audiences in George Square Glasgow and on the European Mile in Berlin can experience the excitement and atmosphere of the concerts in both cities on the stage and big screen.

NYOS Symphony Orchestra Summer TourCaird Hall, Dundee
Caird Hall, Dundee
Conductor
Paul Daniel
Programme
This extraordinary tour opens in Dundee at the glorious Caird Hall, where NYOS Symphony Orchestra perform a selection of pieces from its full summer programme.

NYOS Symphony Orchestra Spring TourThe Power of Nature
Perth Concert Hall
City Halls, Glasgow
Conductor
Rebecca Miller
Soloist
James Willshire
Programme
This spring in Perth and Glasgow, NYOS Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the compelling and insightful Rebecca Miller, present a programme full of natural wonder.

NYOS Symphony Orchestra – Summer Tour
Perth Concert Hall
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Conductor
Michael Francis
Soloist
Colin Currie
Programme
The National Youth Orchestras of Scotland (NYOS) are delighted to announce world-famous percussionist, Colin Currie as soloist this summer visiting Aberdeen, Perth and Glasgow.

NYOS Symphony Orchestra Spring ConcertsThe Americas
Perth Concert Hall
Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Conductor
Tecwyn Evans
Soloist
Chloë Hanslip
Programme
The Americas is the theme for all National Youth Orchestras of Scotland ensembles throughout 2017. During its spring tour NYOS Symphony Orchestra will perform a blend of well known standards together with rarely heard gems directly linked to, or inspired by, the Americas.

Ascent: Concerts by CandlelightScottish Ensemble featuring players from NYOS Symphony Orchestra
St John’s Kirk, Perth
Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh
Wellington Church, Glasgow
St Machar’s Cathedral, Aberdeen
Caird Hall, Dundee
Inverness Cathedral, Inverness
Conductor
Jonathan Morton
Programme
Escape the festive flurry and join the UK’s leading string orchestra for an atmospheric evening of radiant light and shimmering music.

NYOS Symphony OrchestraSummer Tour
City Halls, Glasgow
St David’s Hall, Cardiff
The Royal Albert Hall, London
Conductor
Ilan Volkov
Soloist
Pavel Kolesnikov
Programme
The Invitation to the Dance extends into the summer as NYOS Symphony Orchestra (The National Youth Orchestra of Scotland) performs a sumptuous selection of ballet music, which includes Stravinsky’s wonderfully rhythmic composition The Firebird.

NYOS Symphony Orchestra Spring Concert Series
Perth Concert Hall
City Halls, Glasgow
Conductor
Alpesh Chauhan
Soloist
Alec Frank-Gemmill
Programme
This spring, NYOS Symphony Orchestra will perform a wonderfully rich programme of dance-infused repertoire including Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet to commemorate 400 years since the death of Shakespeare. So loved are both the story and Sergei Prokofiev’s score that virtually every ballet company in the world has a production of Romeo and Juliet in its repertory.

NYOS Symphony Orchestra China TourTianjin
Tianjin Grand Theatre
Conductor
Rory Macdonald
Soloist
Danny Driver
Programme
We take to China a programme full of Scottish Connections, which has been the theme for all NYOS orchestras this year. We commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Erik Chisholm, the Scottish composer, by performing his first Piano Concerto – 'Pìorbaireachd'.

NYOS Symphony Orchestra China TourBeijing
Beijing Concert Hall
Conductor
Rory Macdonald
Soloist
Danny Driver
Programme
We take to China a programme full of Scottish Connections, which has been the theme for all NYOS orchestras this year. We commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Erik Chisholm, the Scottish composer, by performing his first Piano Concerto – 'Pìorbaireachd'.

NYOS Symphony Orchestra China TourShanghai - Sponsored by Weir China
Shanghai Grand Theatre
Conductor
Rory Macdonald
Soloist
Danny Driver
Programme
We take to China a programme full of Scottish Connections, which has been the theme for all NYOS orchestras this year. We commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Erik Chisholm, the Scottish composer, by performing his first Piano Concerto – 'Pìorbaireachd'.

NYOS Symphony OrchestraBon Voyage Concert - Perth Concert Hall
Perth Concert Hall
Conductor
Rory Macdonald
Soloist
Danny Driver
Programme
NYOS Symphony Orchestra performs only one date in Scotland this summer at Perth Concert Hall on 29th July 2015. Come along and wish the Orchestra 'Bon Voyage' as it sets off on its adventure to China.

NYOS Symphony OrchestraSpring Concerts - Glasgow & Dundee
City Halls, Glasgow
Dundee, Caird Hall
Conductor
Nicholas Collon
Soloist
James Wilshire
Programme
Following the spring residential course, NYOS Symphony Orchestra will continue the Scottish Connections theme, performing Strauss’ masterful tone-poem Macbeth in two of Scotland’s most renowned concert halls, the City Halls, Glasgow and the Caird Hall, Dundee.
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35th Anniversary Gala ConcertUsher Hall, Edinburgh
Worcester Cathedral – 3 Choirs Festival
Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Conductor
Michael Francis
Soloist
Håkan Hardenberger
Programme
In 2014 The National Youth Orchestras of Scotland (NYOS) celebrates 35 years of nurturing talent by hosting a 35th Anniversary Gala Concert attended by its Patron, HRH The Earl of Wessex at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, 2nd August 2014. The main flagship orchestra of NYOS, The National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, will be joined, on stage, by possibly the best trumpet player alive today, Håkan Hardenberger.
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Here’s an irony. While instrumental education in Scotland is at crisis point, why is it we can field a full-scale national youth orchestra as good as this? No room to answer that here; simply to report that Friday’s rip-roaring concert in Stirling – the final leg of the NYOS Symphony Orchestra’s three-concert summer tour – proved that somehow, somewhere we are producing musicians ripe and ready to pursue professional careers in music should they choose to do so.
Ken Walton, The Scotsman, August 2019
Download ViewNYOS Symphony Orchestra Albert Halls, Stirling Four stars
The youngsters performed a challenging programme of works from the same era in the middle of the last century, all of them notable for giving the entire orchestra a complete work-out.
Keith Bruce, The Herald Scotland, August 2019
ViewIt is no exaggeration to mention these excellent youngsters in the same breath as an adult professional outfit. They’re every bit as good, and there will be more than one seasoned pro looking over their shoulders as the next rank of Scottish instrumental superstars come marching on.
Garry Fraser, Perth & Dundee Courier, 9 August 2019
Download"They weren’t disappointed. Under the incisive baton of RSNO principal guest conductor Elim Chan, the orchestra faced the dizzying heft of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 3, the virtuoso demands of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (Ravel’s lustrous orchestration) and the timbral challenges of Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi’s Liguria with heart-warming intent."
Ken Walton, The Scotsman, 23 April 2019
ViewI slept on this before finally convincing myself of the veracity of the happy note that I wrote before leaving the auditorium: “I have never heard Pictures played so well. Ever. By anyone.” Well done NYOS, you are a testimony for youth music.
Charles Stokes, Edinburhgh49, 12 April 2019
ViewNYOS’s live presence, which was well-amplified and driven by more party-style repertoire, stole the show.
There was dynamic thrust from the word go, and a performance of Bernstein’s Candide overture that sizzled with pizazz. Then came the outstanding talent from the RCS Opera School, and a series of opera solos and ensembles that gave the punters the thrill they were after.
Ken Walton, The Scotsman, August 2018
ViewFIVE STARS
NYOS Symphony rose to the challenge of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring with skills beyond their years. From those opening bars on bassoon, the wind and brass players took their turns in the spotlight with the composure of professionals, while the ensemble work in the string sections was exemplary.
Keith Bruce, The Herald Scotland
ViewFOUR STARS
The theme running throughout NYOS this year is the USA, and the all-American programme featured three big and challenging works for the whole orchestra, from familiar Gershwin, a recent percussion concerto from Andrew Norman to a symphony from Aaron Copland, in mainstream repertoire across the pond but rarely performed here.
David Smythe, Bach Track
ViewFIVE STARS
To witness such a wealth of young Scottish talent was uplifting, and a real testament to the organisation’s work of nurturing the country’s young orchestral musicians.
Miranda Heggie, The Herald, Scotland
ViewThis was as vivid an interpretation of Stravinsky's complete Firebird ballet as we're every likely to hear in the Albert Hall. Not as quirky, perhaps, as Kristjan Järvi's unpredictable flaming with the NYO at the Festival Hall earlier this year, but Volkov knows exactly how to keep the first half from exotic torpor, and there were some wonderful orchestral solos along the way, with the first horn a match for her counterpart in the NYO the previous evening.
David Nice, The Art Desk, 8 August 2016
ViewHelen Grime was an oboist with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland so it is fitting that this group should give the premiere of Snow, the second part of Grime’s Eardley Pictures. The first had been presented in this season’s Prom 27.
Brian Barford, Classical Source, 7 August 2016
ViewThe National Youth Orchestra of Scotland’s Sunday afternoon Prom with Ilan Volkov opened with the world premiere of Helen Grime’s Two Eardley Pictures – 2: Snow, the second of a pair of works inspired by the painter Joan Eardley, and in particular her landscapes of north-east Scotland, where Grime was also brought up.
Tim Ashley, The Gaurdian, Monday 8 August 2016
View"They began master orchestrator Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloë Suite No.2 with a wonderfully evocative tone: deep double basses, expressive celli and violas, vocally swelling violins and flutes as more than acceptable birds. It was a sound to glory in."
Ian Stuart-Hunter, Perthshire Advertiser
Download"This was Scotland’s flagship youth orchestra in glorious full sail: 105 of the best young musicians in the country in a remarkable display of virtuosity, musicality and the sheer professionalism of near-flawless collaboration under the sure-footed guidance of the staggeringly-competent young conductor Alpesh Chauhan."
Michael Tumelty, The Herald Scotland, 8 April, 2016
ViewScottish exports to China aren’t all that commonplace, certainly not in a musical context, but there’s one taking place that could cement musical relations between the countries for years to come.
Garry Fraser, Perth Courier
DownloadThere was a real buzz about the foyer of Perth Concert Hall before the NYOS Symphony Orchestra concert. It was good to see the place so busy and indeed there were only a very few single tickets left.
Ian Stuart-Hunter, Perthshire Advertiser
DownloadHOWEVER it happened, Scotland’s concert audience gave the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland a tremendous send-off on Wednesday night on the eve of their China tour.
Michael Tumelty, The Herald Scotland, 30th July 2015
Download ViewTHERE were some fabulous things in Tuesday's concert by the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, not least the rare opportunity to hear Richard Strauss's Macbeth, an extremely dramatic and, I suspect, underrated symphonic poem, plus the dazzling, breath-taking interpretation of John McLeod's Piano Concerto, which received a performance by pianist James Willshire, playing entirely from memory, that was a tour de force of musicianship and virtuosity. Five Stars.
Michael Tumelty, The Herald, April 2015
Download ViewIn small town Scotland, a Mum gave her ten year old son a drum-kit. Nine years later Brodie McCash is a percussionist with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, and crucial to the successful performance of a John McLeod work, conducted by the composer himself.
Jane Robinson, The Scotsman, April 2015
Download ViewSaturday's Usher Hall Concert by the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland was a taste of things to come. One was the bright and exciting future for some extremely talented Scottish musicians, the other a preview of the orchestral splendour we can expect when the Edinburgh Festival kicks off on Friday.
Garry Fraser, Perth Courier, August 2014
DownloadIF there was such a species, I would award four and a half stars to the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland's performance of Richard Strauss's Alpine Symphony on Saturday, with the half point deducted from conductor Michael Francis for running at a hill.
Michael Tumelty, Herald Scotland, August 2014
DownloadIN PULLING off Strauss’s mighty Alpine Symphony with an assurance that kept the audience riveted from beginning to end, the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland yet again proved itself to be an orchestra capable of reaching the highest peaks of musical excellence.
Carol Main, The Scotsman, August 2014
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