# The Asian Youth Orchestra — Primasia Foundation

> Past Foundation sponsorship of the Asian Youth Orchestra (AYO) — Hong Kong-based pre-professional musicians from across Asia, founded 1987 by Pontzious and Menuhin.

- Canonical (HTML): https://primasiafoundation.org/en/initiatives/ayo
- Locale: en

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Initiative · Arts patronage 

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#  The Asian Youth Orchestra 

 AYO is a Hong Kong-headquartered orchestra that auditions, trains and tours pre-professional musicians from across Asia. The Foundation was, for several years, a principal supporter of AYO — at that time, second only in scale to its PIERI commitment. 

 亞洲青年管弦樂團 · A pan-Asian flagship since 1990 

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##  About the orchestra 

 Founded in 1987 by Richard Pontzious and Yehudi Menuhin, the orchestra debuted in August 1990 under Menuhin's baton. Each year approximately 100 musicians aged 17 to 27 are selected from around 1,000 applicants, drawn from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The annual cycle is a three-week intensive rehearsal camp in Hong Kong followed by a three-week international tour. 

Photograph courtesy of the Asian Youth Orchestra · asianyouthorchestra.com 

Leadership

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 Founder & Artistic Director (1987–2020): the late Richard Pontzious, SBS. Music Director at founding: Yehudi Menuhin. Board Chairman: James Thompson, GBS. Chief Executive Officer: Keith Lau. Principal Conductor: Joseph Bastian. Conductor Laureate: Sergiu Comissiona. 

Recognition and soloists

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 AYO received the Praemium Imperiale Grant for Young Artists in 2010 and the Nikkei Asia Prize in 2015\. As of 2010 the orchestra had performed 307 concerts in 76 cities since its 1990 debut, with venues including the Sydney Opera House, Lincoln Center, Berlin's Konzerthaus, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw and Beijing's Great Hall of the People. Soloists who have appeared with the orchestra include Yo-Yo Ma, Mischa Maisky, Gidon Kremer, Sarah Chang, Leon Fleisher and Alisa Weilerstein. 

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 Sources: Asian Youth Orchestra; Praemium Imperiale 2010 citation; Wikipedia; South China Morning Post. External: asianyouthorchestra.com