In 2008 the orchestra travelled to Beijing and
to the Hangzhou district of China
. They participated in Beijing’s first ever St Patrick’s Day parade, climbed the Great Wall, visited Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Night Market, the Temple of Heaven, took a boat ride at the Summer Palace and taught the locals to dance the Walls of Limerick in the Wanfujing District. They played concerts in the Western Academy and at the Haidian School where their brass band played an entertaining programme as part of a cultural exchange. They
played three more concerts
in Hang Zhou and Shanghai. The most memorable one was televised in the Shejiang Broadcasting University. They also performed at the Hang Zhou Arts School where they were delighted to meet up with the artists hosted by DYO in Dublin in January 2007.
In 2007 the orchestra performed in San Jose and San Francisco. The San Jose experience included playing at the Spirit of Ireland dinner in the Fairmont Hotel in the presence of the Taoiseach and the Lord Mayor of Dublin celebrating 20 years of the twinning of the two cities.
In 2005 the orchestra went to Murcia in Spain for the International Music festival.
In April 2003 the orchestra travelled to Italy and took part in the International Music Meeting of the of the Orchestra Giovaline del Veneto e dell'Accadedia Internazionale della Cultura e delle Arti. This tour was both a cutural and musical delight. The programme for the tour included Dvorak's Symphony No 8 and Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto 0p. 64 with Conor O'Brien soloist. The orchestra was delighted to welcome Gavin Maloney as guest conductor for part of the tour. We performed in Padova, Abano Terme and in Stra, beside the Brenta Canal in Villa Foscarini-Rossi. This final venue will never be forgotton by any of the players. The trip also included visiting the areas wonderful cities, Verona, Cremona, Venice and Padova itself. The DYO would like to thank the organisers of the Italian end - Giuseppe & Cristina Castania and we look forward to welcoming them and the orchestra to Ireland in the very near future. In Ireland we would like to thank the Cultural Relations Committee of the Dept. of Arts, Sports & Tourism for their contribution towards our costs.
In 2001 the DYO symphony Orchestra had a most exciting tour to Spain where they took part in the 20th Festival of Youth Orchestras. The main programme of the tour included Max Bruch’s Kol Nidrei with soloist Eoin Quinlan, Concertino for Flute and Orchestra by Cecile Chaminade with soloist Niamh Mc Gowan and Symphony No. 6 “Pathetique”, by Tchaikovsky. During the Festival some members of the orchestra played with the
International Orchestra, which gave a concert on the last night, and was an opportunity to meet other young musicians from Russia, Egypt, Spain and Australia.