Cannon Valley Youth Orchestra

History of CVYO: The Cannon Valley Youth Orchestra was born after a one-day workshop held in April of 1997 for students of music teachers in Northfield and the surrounding rural communities. Interested parents initiated the orchestra as an enrichment experience for their children, modeling it after the youth orchestras that flourish in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Mankato and Rochester. While those groups are available to local students, travel time and distance make for late nights or long days. In addition to providing an enriched musical environment for experienced string players, the CVYO is designed to give those students who would otherwise have no orchestral opportunities the chance to participate in such an activity with their local peer group. Originally the CVYO was envisioned as being one orchestra but over time it has grown to three orchestral groups: Haydn for our beginning players, Mozart for intermediate players and Bach for advanced players. The conductor determines placement in the appropriate orchestra after an audition.