Help make the music become reality for our students
Mankato Area Youth Symphony Orchestra began nearly 50 years ago to enhance the opportunities for young musicians through performance of symphonic music centered in Mankato, MN. MAYSO exists to advance the skills of youth in music. Over 50 years ago we started with one ensemble, the Mankato Area Youth Symphony Orchestra. Since then we have expanded to five groups serving strings and winds/brass groups.
The Youth Symphony Orchestra (YSO) is a regional symphony orchestra that plays high-level orchestra music. The Philharmonic (YP) is a mid-level orchestra and gives students the opportunity to play with just strings and brass & winds as well. This group is used to prepare students for YSO. NorthStar Strings (NSS) is a starter-level orchestra and gives students the opportunity to apply note reading to an orchestra setting. This group is used to prepare students for YP. The Youth Wind Ensemble (MAYWE) program is designed to provide an additional offering for brass, winds, and percussion players ages 14 and up. Our fifth ensemble is the Summer Pops Orchestra, an additional offering that includes small chamber music
groupings and large ensemble pops music for the low cost of $25 per
student.
We have students from 19 communities in the southern Minnesota region coming together to form our many groups. For these students we have $1,600 to offer for tuition scholarships and $1,200 for mileage scholarships. We also offer individual music lesson scholarships for students interested in learning the bassoon, oboe, and viola. This scholarship provides an instrument to the student along with music lessons for one year. Finally, we offer music lesson scholarships to those in financial needs, making sure students in our group have the opportunity to expand their musical knowledge and skills. Our total amount for our broad range of scholarships is $5,360 for the year.