North Texas Youth Orchestra

NTYO: Enhancing Life, Enhancing Community

North Texas Youth Orchestra (NTYO) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit fine art organization that provides an outstanding musical experience for young musicians in the North Texas area. The orchestra is comprised of over 50 members and nurtures and encourages skills that enable the musicians to reach a higher level of performance but also to become contributing citizens of their communities. The members work with professionals from the north Texas area, which is rich in musical talent. The conductors and section coaches are from the University of North Texas, Southern Methodist University and other universities in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Our Mission

North Texas Youth Orchestra provides opportunities for young musicians to serve their community, enrich lives through the performance of music, elevate the awareness of the arts throughout North Texas and motivate young adults to excel as musicians and community members.

Next: Meet our Artistic Director, Julianne Booth

Meet Our Artistic Director, Julianne Booth

Julianne Booth serves as the artistic director and resident conductor of the North Texas Youth Orchestra. She graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a performance degree and continued her graduate studies at the University of North Texas with a double major in performance and musicology.

She has been an orchestra director for the Carrollton-Farmers Branch schools, Highland Park High School and is in her fourteenth year with the Plano school district. Her orchestras have consistently been ranked as one of the top orchestras in the state of Texas.

Julianne performs with the Richardson Symphony Orchestra as well as the Lewisville Lake Symphony Orchestra. She was a member of the Fort Worth and Dallas Opera orchestras, the Dallas Summer Musical orchestra and has performed with many artists such as Frank Sinatra, Josh Groban, the Trans Siberian Orchestra and many others.

Maestro Booth has been a guest conductor with many youth orchestras in the Southwest and served as a conductor for many All Region and All District orchestras in Texas. She was the conductor for the Dallas Asian Youth Chamber Orchestra and the Ivy Camerata Youth Orchestra. She is also a section coach for the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra. Mrs. Booth has served the NTYO since its inception in 2009.

Next: Meet the 2011-2012 NTYO Board

The NTYO Board

Julianne Booth, Artistic Director

Julianne Booth serves as the artistic director and resident conductor of the North Texas Youth Orchestra. She graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a performance degree and continued her graduate studies at the University of North Texas with a double major in performance and musicology. Read more

Maike Cheng, Managing Director

Maike Cheng is a former violinist of the Jasper High School Orchestra and Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science alumnus. He graduated from the University of North Texas in 2006 with dual degrees in Interior Design and General Studies. Maike has served on the board for the American Society of Interior Designers and sat as the Secretary / Treasurer of MetroCON08+09. He currently designs multifamily and residential projects for a design firm in Dallas.

Laurie Jeffry, Financial Director

Laurie Jeffry is the mother of NTYO bassist, Avery Jeffry. Laurie has been a supporter of the orchestra since its inception in 2009. She is a part-time administrative assistant / bookkeeper for a small, local company. Laurie enjoys volunteering for the NYTO as an investment in our local community, as well as a way to develop interest and promote music appreciation.

Next: Meet our Guest Clinicians

Guest Clinicians

Michelle Brians, Guest Conductor

Michelle Brians serves as orchestra director at Guyer High School in Denton, where she also serves TMEA Region 2 as Orchestra Division Chair. Her orchestras have consistently won Sweepstakes awards at UIL, as well as ranking in the top ten in the Texas Honor Orchestra Competition. Ms. Brians performs with local symphonies and Baroque ensembles, and she sings with The New Collection, an acapella vocal jazz ensemble. She enjoys songwriting, playing the piano, painting, and listening to good music.

Adron Ming, Guest Conductor

Adron Ming has been Music Director of the Lewisville Lake Symphony since 1984. He studied cello with Lev Aronson and conducting with Anshel Brusilow and Daniel Sternberg. He has led the Richardson Symphony, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, the Taipei Sunshine Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan, the Plano Symphony, Irving Symphony, and the New Philharmonic of Irving.

Derek Hawkes, Sectional Coach

Derek W. Hawkes is a freelance trombonist in the Dallas area, where he is double majoring in Trombone Performance and Orchestral Management (the first-ever degree of its kind) at Southern Methodist University. He has studied trombone with John Kitzman, Principal Trombone of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, for several years. He has both played in sections and soloed in groups like the Dallas, East Texas, Plano, Meadows, and World Youth Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Interlochen Philharmonic and Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra. Derek is currently serving an internship in Development with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Next: Photo Gallery