National Youth Orchestras of Scotland

National Youth Orchestras of Scotland
Ensembles for young musicians in Scotland

The National Youth Orchestras of Scotland (NYOS) provide music education and performance experience for talented young people throughout Scotland. The organization runs six national youth ensembles and organizes training, rehearsals and concert tours both at home and abroad. The NYOS also runs workshops throughout Scotland's school system, from the nursery level upwards.

The six orchestras of the NYOS are the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, Camerata Scotland, the National Children's Orchestra of Scotland, the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland, NYOS Futures, and NYOS Strings. The first of these, the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, was formed in 1979 and has been meeting biannually for courses and touring throughout the UK and Europe. The courses offered by the Youth Orchestra are residential, allowing the students an immersive musical experience.

Camerata Scotland is the organization's showcase pre-professional chamber orchestra. It was formed in 1992 to bridge the gap between youth orchestra performance and professional performance for young Scottish musicians. It has toured extensively in Scotland, England, France, and Holland, and in 1993 was invited to perform at the World Youth Orchestra Festival in Tokyo.

The National Children's Orchestra of Scotland was created in 1996 to provide music education and performance experience for talented musicians not yet old enough to be in the Youth Orchestra. The orchestra is available to 8 to 14 year olds and complements the work of existing music curriculum. The inaugural performance of this group was in Edinburgh in 1997, and since they have performed in various locations including China. They perform annually at the NYOS spring concerts and hold auditions every November.

The National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland began as a Summer Jazz Course for Scottish musicians between 12 and 21. It has since grown into a larger group that has performed at many Scottish venues and has progressed at a remarkable rate. The Jazz Orchestra has recently released a new CD recording which can be acquired through the NYOS website.

NYOS Futures is a small ensemble of students drawn from Camerata Scotland. It was formed in September 2004. This relatively new ensemble studies and performs contemporary music under a specially selected conductor, with regular concerts. The goal is to develop new audiences for this contemporary music. The concerts are informal and held Sunday afternoons, to encourage this.

The last orchestra in NYOS is the String Ensemble. NYOS Strings evolved from the string group from the National Children's Orchestra of Scotland which performed in China in 2004. This was the first group from Britain to ever perform at the Tianjin International Children's Culture and Arts Festival. The recent successes of the String Ensemble mean that the NYOS has decided to make this a permanent ensemble.