AYS has toured to Carnegie Hall, and has been coached and guest conducted by Akron Symphony Music Director Christopher Wilkins and conductor, educator and speaker Benjamin Zander.
Notable AYS Music Directors have included Vincent Frittelli, Keith Lockhart and John Morris Russell.
Repertoire performed during Levi Hammer’s tenure includes major symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Haydn, Mozart, Shostakovich, Schubert and Tchaikovsky, concerti of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Saint-Saëns and Shostakovich, and symphonic works of Bach, Barber, Beethoven, Berlioz, Bernstein, Brahms, Copland, Debussy, Elgar, Fauré, Holst, Hindemith, Kodaly, Liszt, Mascagni, Mozart, Mussorgsky, Puccini, Ravel, Rossini, Johann Strauss Sr., Johann Strauss Jr., Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Verdi and Weber.
Most notably however, in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the orchestra's founding, the Akron Youth Symphony played at Carnegie Hall.
After three years of intense fundraising, the Akron Symphony’s Classic Series was established in the organization’s first season (1952-1953) to provide concerts by professional musicians of the highest caliber.