Emirates Youth Symphony Orchestra

A conversation with 3 members of the EYSO.

Zoe Fries
John Edward Dragonov
Yannek Fries

The Emirates Youth Symphony Orchestra in the UAE was established in 1993 by Mr. Riad Kudsi. Initially it was named Children's String Orchestra. To bring in more youth, in 2006 we changed the name to Emirates Youth Symphony Orchestra (EYSO). The orchestra is dedicated to teaching the universal language of classical music to children and teenagers from primary school to high school. At first the Orchestra consisted of a limited number of students from Mr. Kudsi’s violin teaching practice. In a short period, it began attracting students and musicians from outside. Today there are more than 50 players of violin, viola, cello, double base wind instruments and percussion. Riad Kudsi The children who play in the Emirates Youth Symphony Orchestra come from many countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, British Ireland, USA, France, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, India, Sri Lanka, and Papua New Guinea among many others. They are joined by a common devotion and love for music, which we believe is the international language for expressing feeling and emotions. The recent Honorary Patronage of HRH Princes Haya Bint Al Hussein wife of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice President and Prime minister of UAE, Ruler of Dubai has been a great source of hope that one day; this orchestra, festival & conservatory will be adopted by the government of Dubai in order not to waist the 16 years of relentless efforts of our founder and conductor Mr. Riad Kudsi. We are looking forward to and sparing no effort to encourage young musicians living in Dubai especially UAE nationals, to join our orchestra to overcome this constant migration of talent in order to retain our capabilities and feed new blood to a future UAE National Symphony Orchestra which we inspire. EYSO is proud that some of its previous members who completed their academic studies with Mr. Kudsi have gained distinguished musical scholarships to continue their violin studies at the French National Conservatoire, Chethams Music School in England, Indiana University for Music and Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. The Orchestra has repeatedly performed in several International Music Festivals in Czech Republic, France, Kuwait, and Oman. We are constantly invited to performances, festivals and charitable events all over the world. We make every effort to expose our young talents to these events subject to their other scholastic schedules and needs as well as to our budget.