All your experience as a musician reaches a pinnacle when you become a member of AYO’s flagship ensemble: the Australian Youth Orchestra.
Summer Season
Dates: 6 – 14 February 2027
Venue: Sydney and Canberra
Repertoire includes: RESPIGHI Roman Triology
Winter Season
Dates: 3 – 11 July 2027
Venue: Brisbane
Repertoire includes: MAHLER Symphony No. 1
About AYO
The Australian Youth Orchestra (AYO) is among the world’s most prestigious and innovative training organisations for young pre-professional musicians. As one of the Arts8 organisations, AYO is integral to Australia’s identity as a nation of artistic excellence. Over the last 75 years, AYO has celebrated the wealth of talent found here in Australia, nurturing the musical development of young instrumentalists across metropolitan and regional Australia.
Every year we create tailored training and performance programs for aspiring musicians, composers, arts administrators and music journalists. From AYO Symphonists to the flagship orchestra and beyond with Momentum Ensemble, AYO provides outstanding young performers on the cusp of their professional lives opportunities that enable them to launch a multi-faceted career.
After a career spanning more than 20 years as a gifted cello soloist and orchestral musician, Umberto Clerici has consolidated his diverse artist achievements to rapid acclaim as a conductor. Umberto is now the Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
Umberto began his career as a virtuoso cellist making his solo debut at the age of 17 performing Haydn’s D Major cello concerto in Japan. After years of performing on the stages of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, Umberto took up the position as Principal cello of the Teatro Regio di Torino following which he was Principal Cello of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 2014 to 2021.
It was in Sydney in 2018 that Umberto made his conducting debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House. Following a swift trajectory of prestigious conducting engagements, Umberto is now in high demand across Australia, New Zealand and Europe.
In addition to his role Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Umberto’s recent conducting engagements include Elgar’s cello concerto with Steven Isserlis for the Volksoper Vienna, and debuts with Orchestra del Teatro Massimo in Palermo and Orchestra Regionale Toscana. Umberto has also curated a three-week series with the Sydney Symphony for ‘Symphony Hour’ and returned to the podiums of the Dunedin, Melbourne and West Australian Symphony Orchestras.
In November 2024, Queensland Symphony Orchestra announced the extension of Umberto’s Chief Conductorship until the end of their Season 2027.
Highlights in 2025 will include conducting Daniil Trifonov playing Rachmaninov’s piano concerto No.3 with New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, a return to Teatro Massimo in Palermo and his second collaboration with Opera Queensland for which Umberto will conduct Puccini’s La Boheme.
As a cellist, Umberto remains beloved by audiences worldwide, having performed internationally as a soloist at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Vienna’s Musicverein, the great Shostakovich Hall of St Petersburg, Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, the Salzburg Festival and is one of only two Italians to have ever won a prize for cello in the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition.
Umberto plays cellos by Matteo Goffriller (made in 1722, Venezia) and Carlo Antonio Testore (made in 1758, Milano).
Chinese-born New Zealander Tianyi Lu is an internationally recognised conductor whose collaborations with leading orchestras and opera companies worldwide have established her as one of the most distinctive artists of today. Renowned for her thrilling energy, deeply creative interpretations and inspiring, communicative leadership, she is in demand across Europe, North America and Australasia.
In the 2026/27 season, Tianyi Lu returns for the third time to both the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. With the London Philharmonic Orchestra, she conducts Kevin Puts’ The Brightness of Light with Renée Fleming, while in Montréal she leads the North American premiere of a new work by Cassandra Miller. She also returns to the New York Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Staatsorchester Stuttgart and BBC National Orchestra of Wales following acclaimed previous appearances. Further highlights include debuts with the Wiener Symphoniker, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Hamburger Symphoniker and Civic Orchestra of Chicago, as well as a UK tour with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.
Recent seasons have seen Tianyi Lu make her BBC Proms debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sol Gabetta, alongside engagements with leading ensembles including the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, The Hallé, Orchestre National de Lyon, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and New World Symphony. A former Dudamel Fellow, she made her Hollywood Bowl debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2021 and her Walt Disney Concert Hall debut in 2023. Her operatic work includes Rigoletto at Aalto-Musiktheater Essen and the world premiere of Marie & Pierre at Theater Basel. Following first prizes at both the Sir Georg Solti International Conductors’ Competition and the International Conducting Competition “Guido Cantelli” in 2020, Tianyi Lu was appointed Conductor-in-Residence of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, a position she held until the end of the 2023/24 season. She previously served as Principal Conductor of the St Woolos Sinfonia in the UK and Assistant Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Tianyi Lu studied orchestral conducting at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, graduating with Distinction in 2015 and is an alumna of the Hart Institute for Women Conductors at The Dallas Opera. Alongside her conducting career, Tianyi Lu is a passionate advocate for leadership, inclusion, and the power of music to strengthen communities. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and is an Artist Ambassador for Opera for Peace. A sought-after speaker, she regularly contributes to conversations on leadership, cultural transformation, resilience, and wellbeing
Successful applicants are required to participate in both the Summer and Winter Seasons.
The Australian Youth Orchestra is an annual two-part activity. Where repertoire requires, an offer to an individual season may be made, in which case the expectation is not relevant. Exemption for an individual season may be approved by the CEO on a case by case where the applicant can demonstrate sufficient personal, academic or professional merit behind the requested absence. Requests to be absent from an individual season can be emailed (following acceptance of the program position) to the Senior Coordinator – Program Operations.
AYO will advise principal players of their position in the flagship orchestra at the offers stage. Principal players are expected to attend both seasons in the year, and AYO reserves the right to re-allocate leadership position in the event of an absence request.
Cost
$1,495 per season
AYO will arrange and cover all travel, instrument freight, meals and accommodation costs associated with the program.
Financial assistance is available to help offset the program fees and ensure all eligible musicians are able to participate. Find out more here.
Eligibility:
Open to all orchestral instruments, including harp and piano.
Age:
25 and under Inclusive as at 1 January 2027.
Standard:
Indicative performance standards are highly differentiated according to instrument type. Please contact the AYO team who will be happy to discuss any questions.
Applications for 2027 are now closed
11 August 2026 String auditions due
13 August 2026 All other applicants’ audition/portfolio submissions due
