NYO Canada has emerged as one of the most innovative and skilled youth orchestras in the world. Created in 1960 by noted conductor Walter Susskind, the Orchestra provides one of the most unique forums in the world for the best and brightest artists in Canada aged 16 to 28 to bridge to professional careers.  Today, a third of Canadian professional orchestral musicians are NYO alumni, there are 4,000 alumni worldwide, and these players can be found among the most gifted artists in many international orchestras around the world.

NYO Canada concert tours have included every major Canadian city, as well as regular tours to Europe, Asia, and the USA.  In 1996, delegates to the World Conference of Youth Orchestras in Tokyo, who represented 39 countries, voted the NYOC the title of “Best Youth Orchestra of the World”.  Recently the orchestra has performed in Berlin, Lisbon, the Edinburgh Arts Festival in Scotland and in 2019 did a 2-week concert tour of Spain that concluded with a performance at the Palacio de CarlosV of the Alhambra of Granada.  In the fall of 2019, the NYO collaborated with The European Union Youth Orchestra on The Frenergy Tour for performances in Ontario and Quebec.

In 2020 the orchestra will be celebrating its 60^th anniversary.  Under the baton of Michael Francis, the Orchestra will again tour in Europe with a command performance in Berlin as well as concerts in Slovenia and Croatia including the Dubrovnik Summer Festival.