1993 / The organisations name changes from National Music Camp Association to Youth Music Australia The AYO embarks on its inaugural tour to New Zealand under the direction of conductor Patrick Strub with soloist Duncan Gifford (piano) Maragaret Greene finishes her six-year term as Chair of the organisation 1994 / The AYO embarks on its "Moving On Music" European tour 1995 / Joanna Parkes commences as General Manager of Youth Music Australia 1996 / The AYO appears at the Cultural Olympiad in Atlanta, USA 1997 / The AYO records the Garden of Earthly Delights CD with conductor Diego Masson 1998 / Tony Grybowski becomes the organisation’s General Manager The AYO makes its second tour to China 1999 / The organisation loses two key figures with the deaths of Ruth Alexander and Ron Maslyn 2000 / Conductor Robert Spano and Violinist Pinchas Zukerman appear with the AYO at the Olympic Arts Festival in Sydney The organisation takes the name of its flagship ensemble Australian Youth Orchestra 2001 / The AYO, under the baton of Richard Mills, performs with Yothu Yindi as part of the Centenary of Federation Festival in Melbourne 2002 / The AYO appears in Sydney Symphony’s "Meet the Music" series at the Sydney Opera House Inaugural year of collaborations with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra 2003 / The AYO’s performance of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder is a highlight of the Perth Festival Professor Di Yerbury AO retires as Chair of Australian Youth Orchestra after 12 years and is succeeded by Virginia Henderson AM
2005 / The AYO performs Tristan und Isolde at the Queensland Music Festival The ACO Emerging Artists collaboration begins Colin Cornish appointed Chief Executive Officer of the AYO and Professor Malcolm Gillies succeeds Virginia Henderson as the organisation’s Chair 2006 / Minister for the Arts and Sport, Senator the Hon Rod Kemp announces an increase in Federal Government funding to the organisation by $1.9m over four years The AYO and presenting partner Queensland Music Festival win a Helpmann Award for Best Classical Concert Presentation for the concert performance of Tristan und Isolde 2007 / The AYO celebrates its 50th anniversary year at the UWA Perth International Festival of Arts and with its seventh European Tour 2008 / Over 2008 & 2009 the AYO, presented by the Adelaide Festival Centre, performs six sell-out concerts of the complete Beethoven cycle under the baton of conductor John Nelson AYO & Musica Viva collaborated for the first Musica Viva Festival 2009 / AYO February performs at Parliament House, Canberra to raise money to purchase musical instruments for schools affected by the Black Saturday Bushfires 2010 / The AYO embarks of its most ambitious international tour yet, crossing Australia, China and Europe with the orchestra appearing at some of the world’s most iconic concert halls including the National Performing Arts Centre in Beijing 2011 / The AYO performs a series of performances at the Sydney Opera House at the heart of which is the world debut of Carl Vine’s Violin Concerto under the baton of Danish conductor Thomas Dausgaard 2012 / The AYO performs its February Season with luminary conductor Christopher Hogwood at the Melbourne Recital Centre The July Season sees the AYO perform with conductor Simone Young and soprano Lisa Gasteen 2013 / The AYO will embark on its 21st international tour to Europe performing under the baton of conductor Christoph Eschenbach with violinist Joshua Bell