The minimum standard needed to audition is ABRSM / Trinity Guildhall / London College of Music Grade 8 Distinction, though it is not necessary to have taken any examinations.

Subsequent NYO directors have included Ivey Dickson, Derek Bourgeois (1984–1993), Jill White (1993–2002), and Jonathan Vaughan (2002–2007).

The orchestra assembles thrice-yearly during school holidays, at New Year, Easter and Summer for two-week residential courses, coached by tutors.

Performances in 2011, for example, included Gabriel Prokofiev's Concerto for Turntables & Orchestra with DJ Switch, Britten's Piano Concerto and Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet televised at the BBC Proms, Leoš Janáček's Sinfonietta (which required an enlarged brass section) under Kristjan Järvi and Gustav Mahler's epic final masterpiece, Symphony No.

In August 2010 as part of their performance at the BBC Proms (marking the conclusion of their summer course) the orchestra gave the London premiere of British composer Julian Anderson's latest orchestral showpiece, Fantasias, under Semyon Bychkov, which had been commissioned specially for the highly virtuosic Cleveland Orchestra who gave the world premiere in November 2009.

In more recent years the composers' pieces have been more formally performed as a pre- or post-concert event to the NYO's main concerts.