Musical Arts Youth Orchestra

The Musical Arts Youth Orchestra (MAYO) is a regional youth music organization offering programs in orchestra, chamber music and jazz to young musicians in ten-plus counties of south-central Indiana. The organization is based in the city of Bloomington, Indiana.

MAYO is a project of the Southern Indiana Youth Symphony, Inc., which was founded in 2000 by Kristen Bellisario. The founding music director of the group was James Johnston, then serving as assistant conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Johnston was followed by Carl Kling, currently director of bands at Northwest Missouri State University, and by Kelly Corcoran, currently assistant conductor of the Nashville (TN) Symphony.

The MAYO project began in the 2003-2004 season, with Darko Butorac as music director. (Mr. Butorac went on to become director of orchestras at Northern Arizona State University and is now also music director of the Missoula (MT) Symphony.) Thomas Loewenheim Thomas Loewenheim served as the MAYO music director for seasons 2004-05 to 2006-07. He initiated the iMAYO International Youth Orchestra Festival bringing students from Hong Kong, Israel, France, and Germany to rehearse and perform with the MAYO orchestra. With Dr. Loewenheim's departure for a professorship at Fresno State in 2007, violinist/conductor Jose Valencia stepped in as MAYO Music Director. Mr. Valencia, who is also the music director of the Kokomo (IN) Symphony and the innovative Orkestra Projekt, in Indianapolis, serves as the music director at this time.

For more information about MAYO, visit the website at www.mayomusic.org.

See also the List of youth orchestras in the United States.