California Youth Symphony (CYS) is a San Francisco Bay Area symphony orchestra for young musicians of high school age and younger. It was founded in 1952 by Aaron Sten and in 1963 became the first United States youth orchestra to tour abroad, performing twelve concerts in Japan, including a joint concert with Tokyo Junior Orchestra Society. Since then, the orchestra has toured Mexico, Australia, Uruguay, Argentina and several countries in Europe and Asia. In 1994, the orchestra placed first in the International Youth and Music Festival Competition in Vienna. The orchestra has also collaborated with youth orchestras in Japan and in Switzerland. During the summer of 2014, the orchestra is touring in Eastern Europe, and will perform in Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, and the Czech Republic. Leo Eylar has been musical director since 1990. History and tours The California Youth Symphony, or CYS for short, is one of the first youth symphony orchestras established in California and comprises some of the state's most musically talented youth. It was founded in 1952, and since 1963 has toured several countries around the globe, a semi-annual tradition, and most recently completed a tour to Japan with performances of Gershwin's An American in Paris, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, and Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. Repertoire CYS is notable for its challenging repertoire that includes works by Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók, Dmitri Shostakovich, Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, Sergei Prokofiev, Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, and many others. CYS has also premiered many modern works, including music director Leo Eylar's Rhapsody for Orchestra, a piece nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and the West Coast premiere of pieces such as Resurrexit by Mason Bates. CYS has also recorded a number of CDs, the most recent one recorded during the 2010–2011 season. More information regarding CYS recordings is available on the California Youth Symphony website, listed below. Sound samples are also available on the same page. Ensembles The CYS comprises several ensembles. In addition to the CYS Orchestra, the senior/advanced level, there is an advanced/intermediate level CYS Associate Orchestra, Wind Symphony, Percussion Ensemble, Flute Ensemble and Preparatory Ensembles for strings and winds. Overall, CYS musicians number over 500 from the greater San Francisco Bay Area, ranging from elementary school students to high school seniors. Composer-conductor Leo Eylar, former co-concertmaster of the San Jose Symphony conducts the Associate Orchestra and the Senior Orchestra, the CYS premier orchestra. CYS Senior