"Using music as a means of international dialogue, knowing no boundaries."

In October 2009 the Commonwealth Heads of Government tasked the ten-member Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group to advise the Commonwealth on building a stronger, more resilient and progressive association.

In October 2011, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth, Australia, the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group submitted its report containing 106 recommendations on the reform of the Commonwealth. 

At CHOGM 2011, 30 of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group's recommendations were agreed unanimously, and without reservation, by the Commonwealth Heads of Government. 

One of these 30 unanimously agreed recommendations stated:  
"Heads of Government should welcome the creation of the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra..."

This unanimous support by the Commonwealth Heads of Government of the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra was published in the Final Communique of the meeting.

The Commonwealth Youth Orchestra and Choir is greatly honoured to have received this unique mandate and the support of 54 Commonwealth Heads of Government.

In 2013 the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra and Choir became the first-ever Creative Arts organisation to become an Accredited Commonwealth Organisation.

Other Historical Honours for the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra and Choir

In 2012 the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra and Choir (CYO) was greatly honoured when it was selected by the British Library to have its website included in the British Library’s 2012 Diamond Jubilee Archive. The CYO’s website, as it was on 2 June 2012, has now been archived and preserved in posterity for future generations.

www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/en/archive/20120724221110/http://www.commonwealth-youth-orchestra.org/

Also in 2012, a recording of the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra and Choir (CYO) was included in the Royal Commonwealth Society’s Diamond Jubilee Time Capsule. On 14 November 2012, at the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) Club House in Northumberland Avenue, London, the CYO performed at the formal presentation of the Diamond Jubilee Time Capsule to HM The Queen.

The First Concerto for Piano and Strings composed by the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra’s Composer-in-Residence Paul Carroll, which was recorded by CYO in Abbey Road Studios in November 2010, was used as the sound track of the RCS video about the Diamond Jubilee Time Capsule.

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM)
Perth, Australia, in November 2011.

This photo shows all the Heads of Commonwealth Nations
Attending the CHOGM in Perth, Australia,
together with Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,
Head of The Commonwealth (1952 – 2022)