The European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) stands for music-making of the highest possible level, the best development of talent and young people, innovative cultural concepts and community contributions, and the values of Europe’s shared heritage.

Since its beginnings in 1976, EUYO has formed an exceptional bridge between music colleges and the professional music world for generations of the finest young musicians. Its 120 members, aged 16-26 from all 27 EU countries, are selected annually from more than 2500 candidates, while its now almost 4000 alumni now comprise many of today’s most notable musicians.

The Orchestra has worked with many of the world’s greatest musicians including Founding Music Director Claudio Abbado, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Leonard Bernstein, Bernard Haitink, Herbert von Karajan and current Chief Conductor Vasily Petrenko. From Amsterdam to Abu Dhabi, Moscow to Mumbai, Seoul to São Paulo, it has performed many hundreds of times across five continents, including at the BBC Proms, Carnegie Hall, and Vienna’s Musikverein.

Supported by its principal venue partner Grafenegg and the governments of Lower Austria and the Federal Republic of Austria, EUYO relocated to the prestigious Grafenegg campus in 2023. This season includes a summer residency there and at the Bolzano Festival Bozen, following a spring residency at the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music.

The Orchestra’s 2023 ‘Earth4All’ spring tour visited Poland, Romania, Serbia, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Greece, with violin soloist and director Daniel Rowland and an exceptional programme exploring themes of democracy and sustainability. The 2023 summer tour sees the return of conductors Sir Antonio Pappano and Manfred Honeck, welcomes soloists Julia Fischer, Benjamin Grosvenor and Michael James Bartlett, and visits Grafenegg, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Wiesbaden Rheingau Festival, Bolzano Festival Bozen, Berlin Konzerthaus/Young Euro Classic, and Hamburg/Elbphilharmonie Sommer.

Further projects this season include the online programme Frontrunners, a new educational Music Hub Austria in collaboration with the Lower Austrian Music Schools, the Café Bauhaus community initiative, the development of wellbeing support for musicians, and a pioneering Code of Conduct setting new standards for inclusion, transparency, sustainability and best practices in the orchestral landscape.

European Cultural Brand of the Year 2020, the EUYO is supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Commission, and by the 27 Member States.