Mission

The Mission of the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra is to provide music education and performance opportunities to youth with demonstrated musical ability.

History

Founded in 1972, the GDYO program fosters musical excellence, cultivates learning, encourages creativity, inspires self motivation, and develops social skills.
With your help, the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra has evolved from a single orchestra to a program of more than 465
musicians, ages 6-18, rehearsing and performing in two full orchestras, three string orchestras, a wind symphony, a
flute choir, and a jazz program. We nurture the top young musicians in our area, coming from 50 communities in
Dallas and North Texas and from more than 120 schools.
Throughout our history, our core goals have remained the same: developing musicians and building their character.
Everything we do is focused on instilling the love and understanding of music in our young musicians, developing their
competence, and giving them tools to engage the world successfully and gracefully. Since the GDYO began, the
programs and scope of experience for the students has steadily increased. This stable growth includes a subscription
concert series at the Meyerson Symphony Center, international and national tours, the expansion of the preparatory
orchestras, collaborations with area organizations, and outreach to music students in the Dallas Independent School
District.
GDYO offers high level education and performance opportunities at an extremely reasonable tuition rate. Over 850
talented student musicians auditioned for a placement in an ensemble for 2017-2018. We believe every interested
musician should have access to a high level orchestral music education. For that reason, we do not charge the full
cost per student, which, on average is $1,000 per student. Each season, GDYO grants more than $20,000 in
scholarship assistance to ensure that no qualified musician is turned away because of financial need, and that number
doubles in a tour year. The next international tour is planned for 2019.