Metropolitan Youth Symphony


Metropolitan Youth Symphony is a youth orchestra based in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A, founded in 1974 by Lajos Balogh with a handful of students. It now consists of 400+ students across fifteen orchestra, band, strings, flute, percussion and jazz ensembles, led by an artistic team of thirteen conductors and directors. It has rehearsal sites in both Portland and Hillsboro, Oregon. MYS accepts young musicians from kindergarten through early college age at all levels of experience.
The current music director of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony is Costa Rican-born conductor and violinist Raúl Gómez-Rojas.
WWW playmys.org

Ensembles

Source:
  • Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Raúl Gómez-Rojas
  • Concert Orchestra, conducted by Giancarlo Castro D’Addona
  • Portland Camerata, conducted by Paloma Griffin Hébert
  • Hillsboro Camerata, conducted by Kevin A. Lefohn
  • Sinfonietta Orchestra, conducted by Marian Gutiérrez-Curiel
  • Portland Chamber Strings, conducted by Darian Todd
  • Hillsboro Chamber Strings, conducted by Kevin A. Lefohn
  • Interlude Orchestra, conducted by Erica Boland
  • Portland Overture Strings, conducted by Brittany Newell
  • Hillsboro Overture Strings, conducted by Eri Nogueira
  • MYSfits String Ensemble, conducted by Raúl Gómez-Rojas and Kenji Bunch
  • MYSticks Percussion Ensemble, directed by Kevin Schlossman
  • Flute Ensemble, directed by Adam Eccleston
  • Symphonic Wind Ensemble, directed by Adam Eccleston
  • Jazz Ensemble, directed by Christopher Brown

Performances

Metropolitan Youth Symphony's Symphony Orchestra performs four concerts each season as part of its Downtown Concert Series, addressing themes like climate change and racial justice. MYS Downtown Series concerts take place at venues such as and . Other MYS ensembles perform across an average of twelve Community Concerts each season at venues throughout the Portland Metropolitan Area. Additionally, MYS ensembles perform at 15 Title 1 schools each year as part of its In-School Concert Outreach Program.