Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras

Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras (SYSO) is the largest youth symphony organization in the United States, the eighth oldest and among the most distinguished.

Founded in 1942, Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras (SYSO) is the largest youth orchestra training program in the United States. The organization serves over 1,600 diverse students each year with four full orchestras, three summer festival programs, and extensive partnerships with local public schools. By awarding nearly $200,000 in financial aid annually, SYSO ensures that every talented student can participate in our programs, regardless of financial resources.

SYSO-in-the-Schools supports public school instrumental music programs by providing instruction in 25 Seattle-area public schools serving over 600 students annually.

Marrowstone Summer Festivals provide intensive learning environments for over 500 students age 7 to 25 years each summer.

The Academic-Year Orchestra Program serves over 470 students through four full orchestras. The four full orchestras are: The Symphonette Orchestra serves as an arena for younger musicians to gain valuable performance experience. The next level orchestra is the Debut Symphony Orchestra, it was founded in 1946 and is the largest orchestra in the organization's academic year program. The next orchestra is Junior Symphony Orchestra, this orchestra performs major works from the symphonic repertoire. Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra, composed of talented young musicians in the Puget Sound region, this group is SYSO's flagship orchestra and one of the premier youth orchestras in the United States. The orchestra performs three regular season concerts in Benaroya Hall, home of the Seattle Symphony, and regularly partners with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Seattle Opera, regional Broadway Musical Theater organizations, local choruses and internationally acclaimed guest artists and conductors.

SYSO also offers three summer music programs. The Marrowstone Music Festival, hosted by Western Washington University in Bellingham, serves around 185 high school and college aged students a year with a two-week intensive residential summer program. Faculty members at Marrowstone have included Dale Clevenger and Glenn Dicterow. Two sessions of Marrowstone in the City (MITC) are held in suburbs that surround Seattle, and serve over 330 younger players.

SYSO works with local schools through the Endangered Instruments Program, started by Walter Cole, a project that exposes middle school students to less commonly played instruments like the oboe, bassoon, viola, double bass and French horn. The first of its kind in the United States, the program has been emulated in many other places, including New York City, Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Vancouver, B.C. EIP partners with 13 Seattle-area public schools to serve over 170 students a year.

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