Applications opening soon for NYOS orchestras in 2025

Apply for the opportunity to play wonderful music with other brilliant young musicians as part of Scotland's national youth orchestras.  

Applications for our two orchestras, NYOS and NYOS Development, will open on Tuesday 3 September and close at 12 noon on Thursday 24 October. Playing with a NYOS orchestra offers a wonderful opportunity to meet other young musicians from across the country, work with incredible tutors and internationally renowned artists and develop your ensemble music-making skills.  

This year, we have made some exciting changes to our audition process to ensure that you have the best opportunity to demonstrate your musical skills in a welcoming and fun environment.  

As part of your application, we will ask you to upload a pre-recorded solo video audition. You will find guidance on how to do this in the application guidelines and the NYOS team is on hand to support you if you face any technical difficulties.  

Following this, we will invite everyone to attend a half-day, in-person group audition. This is an excellent opportunity for you to play with other talented young musicians and also a further chance for us to learn about you as a musician. 

You can find more information about the application process here.  

Members of our orchestras will have the opportunity to perform some incredible programmes in 2025. NYOS Development will perform one of Tchaikovsky’s most beloved symphonies, alongside Daniel Kidane’s grime-inspired Breakbeat and Avril Coleridge-Taylor's rarely performed Sussex Landscape. NYOS has the honour of giving the world premiere of a new concerto by Jay Capperauld before embarking on an international tour.  

You can find more information on our 2025 programmes here. 

There is a fee to participate in a NYOS orchestra, however we want to ensure that no young person misses out due to their financial circumstances and we have a generous and comprehensive bursary scheme in place. Almost half of our players receive some form of bursary support and many attend completely free of charge.  

You can find more information on applying for a bursary here. 

We very much look forward to welcoming young people across Scotland and beyond to be part of our NYOS orchestras in 2025, for what will be a very special year.