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The Final of the 2025 AYO Soloist Competition was held on Sunday, 19 October 2025.  It was an exciting event with the wonderful talent of AYO’s players being showcased once more. Prizes Awarded: Winner Howard Lu: Tchaikovsky –  Variations on a Rococo Theme Op.33, for cello Outstanding Performances Alex Martin: Weber – Clarinet Concerto...

AYO’s soloist for the June concert series Tony Yan Tong Chen was interviewed by Bryan Crump on RNZ Concert on 4 June 2025 – hear the interview and some of his recordings here!...

The Final of the 2024 AYO Soloist Competition was held on Sunday 1 December 2024,  It was an exciting evening with the wonderful talent of some of AYO’s players being showcased. Prizes Awarded: Winner Alex Wu: Vaughan Williams –  Concerto in A minor for Oboe Outstanding Performances Evan Metcalfe Mozart – Horn Concerto No....

AYO’s principal flautist, Alina Chen, was interviewed by Bryan Crump on RNZ Concert on 27 June 2024 about her upcoming studies at Juilliard School of Music in New York.  Hear it here!...

Two of AYO’s cellists, Alimaifiti Ono and Damon Herlihy-O’Brien (Principal Cello) were interviewed by Bryan Crump on RNZ Concert on 12 June 2024 in anticipation of the performance of Philip Glass’s Symphony for Eight in the 16 June concert at the Bruce Mason Centre.  Hear them here....

The Final of the 2023 AYO Soloist Competition was held on Sunday 19 November 2023 and it was an exciting evening with the wonderful talent of three of AYO’s players being showcased.  The Finalists were: Alex Wu:  Haydn Oboe Concerto in C major Wenjia Li: Tchaikovsky – Violin Concerto in D Major Alina Chen: ...

Antun and alumnus Alanna Jones (double bass player with NZSO) were interviewed by Bryan Crump in the run up to our 75th anniversary celebrations in October.  Hear them here....

The Finals of the 2022 competition were held over Labour Weekend.  The Finalists were: Vincent Chen:Schumann – Cello Concerto in A minor Wenjia Li:Tchaikovsky – Violin Concerto in D Major Alina Chen: Borne/Bizet – Carmen Fantasie Brillante for Flute & Orchestra Outstanding Performance Prizes were awarded to Vincent Chen and Alina Chen; unfortunately Wenjia...

The Final of the 2021 competition was held at St Luke’s Church, Remuera on 5 February 2022 – it had been postponed from 2021 due to Covid-19 restrictions.  The performances were of an excellent standard and the results were: WINNER:      Damon Herlihy-O’Brien – Kabalevsky: Cello Concerto No.1 in G minor Outstanding Performances:...

See and hear the recordings made at the Town Hall in June, in place of our usual public performance (which was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions). On the programme were: Cowdell’s “Cressida” (featuring Kent Isomura, piano and Kiara Kong, clarinet); Beethoven’s Triple Concerto (Zosia Herlihy-O’Brian, violin, Junghwan Choi, cello, and Modi Deng, piano); and...

AYO is delighted to announce the winner of the 2019 Composition Competition: Kihoon Sung with his work Niflheim. In Norse mythology, Niflheim is one of the nine worlds and is known as the realm of ice. The work depicts this realm before it was completely frozen over. Kihoon has developed his passion for composing...

We are looking for young composers to write a 7-minute orchestral work or concertino for AYO’s concert series in September 2019.  This competition aims to provide an opportunity for young composers’ work to be heard and for the members of the orchestra to play new music. Applicants must be: • under 25 years old...

The transformative experience of being a young touring musician From Upbeat, 1:00 pm on 17 October 2018 Listen duration22′ :55″ A group of young musicians from Auckland have discovered what it’s like to be on the road, and they are the better for it. The Auckland Youth Orchestra has just returned from a European tour taking in numerous...

Everyone is welcome to attend the Finals of the 2018 AYO Soloist Competition being held at Baradene College’s Auditorium, 7pm on Sunday 30 September.  Our talented young musicians value the opportunity to perform a concerto in a formal yet supportive environment each year.  The Competition Accompanist is Rosemary Barnes.  We are enormously appreciative of...

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Robert Issell (1938-2017) achieved great heights in the international orchestral world.  Not only was he the Concertmaster of the Symphonia of Auckland (a forerunner of the current APO) in the 70s, but he was also a permanent 1st violinist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London for many years – a position eagerly sought...