OUR STORY

Our Mission

Minnesota Youth Symphonies (MYS) enriches and inspires talented K-12 orchestral musicians by providing professional, comprehensive educational experiences, and thrills audiences with outstanding performances of orchestral repertoire. MYS cultivates leadership in students by fostering commitment and role modeling, demanding excellence, and encouraging achievement. MYS broadens cultural horizons, develops a sense of community, and cultivates a life-long love of classical music in audiences comprised of students, families and concertgoers.

Our Vision

Young people who study and perform with MYS achieve a level of musical excellence second-to-none and thrive as well-rounded learners and thoughtful contributors to the civility of a complex and challenging world. Ever-growing audiences, supportive alumni, and enduring community partnerships are evidence of the love for music and commitment to music education that MYS has inspired.

Our History

Dating back more than 50 years, the Minnesota Youth Symphonies has established itself as one of the pre-eminent music education programs in the country. It all began in 1972, when Ralph Winkler established a new youth orchestra in the Twin Cities, the Minnesota Youth Symphony. The very next year, MYS toured Romania, becoming the first American youth orchestra to tour in a communist country.

The music/artistic directors of MYS have included founder Ralph Winkler, Ed Forner (a former conductor with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Professor of Music at Macalester College), Bill McGlaughlin, Clyn D. Barrus, and David Tubergen. MYS was under the artistic direction of Manny Laureano, Principal Trumpet of the Minnesota Orchestra, and his wife, Claudette Laureano, Director of the Breck School’s String Program, for 32 years. From 2020–22, Jim Bartsch and Patricia Kelly served as the interim Artistic Directors, while Bill Eddins conducted the Symphony. Most recently, Mark Mandarano, Professor of Music at Macalester College, was appointed Artistic Director in the spring of 2022.

Since its founding, MYS grew initially from a single orchestra to four orchestras and other ensembles ranging from early intermediate students to college/conservatory-level musicians. MYS has served over 400 students annually and has become known as one of the nation’s leading youth symphony organizations. MYS has gone on many national and international tours, including a tour to Cuba in 2017. Among many highlights, the MYS Symphony Orchestra became the first orchestra to perform in the Super Bowl’s half-time show, when Super Bowl XXVI was played at the Metrodome in Minneapolis in 1992.

Alumni of MYS hold positions with orchestras such as the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.