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Membership Information

Membership Information
CURRENT MEMBERS CLICK HERE

NEW MEMBER AUDITION INFORMATION:

Spring auditions for the Long Island Youth Orchestra’s 2025-26 school year (LIYO’s 64th anniversary season) will be conducted via submission following the steps outlined below.

AUDITION PROCESS:

Anyone interested in auditioning should first submit the application form found here:

-CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE THE LIYO AUDITION FORM-

Applicants are welcome to use their NYSSMA solos for the audition video. If further material for evaluation is necessary, we will reach out via email.

LEADERSHIP AUDITIONS:

Leadership auditions take place in late August and early September. This round of auditions is optional for all members and will be used to assign principal and other leadership positions.

GENERAL AUDITON INFORMATION:

– AUDITION FEE – $0

– REHEARSALS AND TUITION – We typically rehearse on Sundays from late-September through early June. Please see below for group rehearsal times and 2025-26 season tuition rates:

LIYO Pro Orchestra: 9 am to 12 pm rehearsals- $750 tuition

LIYO Sinfonia: 3:30 pm-5:30 pm rehearsals- $700 tuition

LIYO String Orchestra: 6:00 pm-7:30 pm rehearsals- $650 tuition

GENERAL LIYO INFORMATION:

The Long Island Youth Orchestra was founded by Martin Dreiwitz in 1962 and has been serving the region’s most talented young musicians for the past 6 decades, having an alumni base of over 4,000. LIYO presents 3 full repertoire cycles per season, covering a vast amount of top level repertoire. Rehearsals take place under the guidance of Music Director Scott Dunn.

LIYO is a full symphony orchestra made up of approximately 100 musicians and tackles the most advanced works in the orchestral repertoire. With sectionals led by our dedicated coaching staff, students have regular access to professional guidance, lifting up the level of the ensemble rather than performing less challenging repertoire.

In addition to covering music normally inaccessible to younger musicians, the LIYO experience is one of relationship building, acceptance and inclusion. Rather than foster an environment of internal competition, we encourage our students to support each other. Once offered membership, LIYO students are not required to re-audition. Optional leadership auditions take place before each season, giving those who feel comfortable the opportunity to compete for a limited number of titled positions. No one is required to sign up and the process ends prior to the start of the season. This allows our students to form lifelong friendships, and provides them access to our active network of over 4,000 alumni around the world.

” I was very fortunate that my Wantagh public school violin teacher Eugene Kahn brought me to Martin Dreiwitz in 1967 (when I was 13) to join the Long Island Youth Orchestra. Starting out in the back of the second violins and working my way up to assistant concertmaster, I eventually ended up as the principal violist in my last years of high school. The learning and performing of great orchestral works with Martin and LIYO are still some of my most important early musical experiences that helped propel me into a life long love and career in music. I’m sure I can speak for all the thousands of Long Island young people in thanking Martin for his incredible vision in starting LIYO and that its ongoing existence is continuing to joyfully influence the lives of so many today. ” – Lawrence Dutton

” I credit much of my musical wanderlust to Martin Dreiwitz and LIYO, having been concertmaster of the orchestra on their first international tours to the Caribbean, Europe, Polynesia, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia, and even on the “warm-up” tours to such exotic destinations as Chicopee, Massachusetts, and Hershey, Pennsylvania. In addition to providing me with many lasting memories (some hilarious, some unrepeatable), my experience with the orchestra also provided an invaluable entrée to many of the immortal standards like the Berlioz “Symphonie Fantastique” and Mahler First. ” – Gerald Elias

” LIYO was an extraordinary opportunity for me to expand my musical horizons while seeing the worlds’ horizons. To be able to tour the south Pacific one year and Scandinavia and Poland the next at such a young age changed my expectations of the world and of myself. I am forever indebted to Martin Dreiwitz ” – Linda Toote

” During that time and as an alumnus I was afforded countless invaluable experiences and opportunities, including participation in two of the orchestra’s summer tours that covered three continents and the orchestra’s first concert at Carnegie Hall in 2002. Weekly exposure for four years to a large amount of orchestral repertoire and other talented musicians was certainly the cornerstone of my own musical development. Martin Dreiwitz’s unmatched dedication, leadership and expertise are the reason for it’s continued success and the success of its members. ” – James Dissinger

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