Purpose

Founded in 1999, the Ypsilanti Youth Orchestra is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that offers music education and performance opportunities to students aged 4–18 years. YYO serves youth of diverse backgrounds and socioeconomic status, is tuition-free for students and families, and provides more than two hundred Ypsilanti and area children with access to music education. YYO and its constituent classes cultivate our students’ creative needs and aspirations, from a blossoming interest in music to participating in the advanced symphony orchestra, preparing them along the way for a life of engaged citizenship. The leaders of YYO and its teaching artists strive to develop our students not only as musicians, but also as well-rounded and thoughtful individuals.