The Calgary Youth Orchestra is the flagship orchestra in Mount Royal Conservatory's Orchestral Program. Internationally recognized as one of Canada's leading youth orchestras, the CYO provides solid training in orchestral playing.  Under its music director, Edmond Agopian, the CYO has toured Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and New Zealand. 

CYO alumni can be found in such world-renowned ensembles as the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, as well as all major Canadian orchestras.

The CYO was honoured to perform for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to Calgary in May 2005, and for His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, at the Saddledome in 2009. 

The orchestra has commissioned works from a number of CYO alumni composers, including Michael van der Sloot, George Fenwick, Scott Ross-Molyneux, and Donovan Seidle. The CYO has also presented the world premieres of works by Claude Debussy, completed and orchestrated by the renowned English musicologist Robert Orledge.

The CYO has worked with such illustrious conductors as Roberto Minczuk, Mario Bernardi, Bramwell Tovey, Ivars Taurins, Jean Lamon, Andrés Cárdenes, Hans Graf, and Rune Bergmann, among others.