The Baltic Youth Philharmonic brings together some of the most talented music students from around the Baltic Sea. Uniting musicians from ten nations under the baton of Founding Conductor and Music Director Kristjan Järvi, it provides a platform for musical and personal exchange: A New Voice in the North. Working with some of the most renowned artists today, both on stage and behind the scenes with the coaches, the young musicians overcome geographic and artistic borders through communication, teamwork and interaction.

The orchestra is a joint initiative by the Usedom Music Festival and its Artistic Director Thomas Hummel and Nord Stream AG. For sixteen years now, the Usedom Music Festival, located on the Baltic island of Usedom on the German-Polish border, has been presenting the music of the states surrounding the Baltic Sea. The Festival celebrates the cultural diversity, but also the common heritage of the Baltic Sea States. It seeks to promote musical exchange and international understanding.

In 2010, the Baltic Youth Philharmonic is planning four working periods between June and September, the first three led by Founding Conductor & Music Director Kristjan Järvi.

The first working period is planned for two weeks in June and July, with a rehearsal and recording week in Berlin, Germany, and a subsequent tour of the Baltic Sea region. BYP returns to Berlin in August for a concert engagement at the Young Euro Classic Festival. In early September, there is another working period with concerts planned in Stockholm and Tallinn; and on September 25, 2010 the Baltic Youth Philharmonic opens the Usedom Music Festival in Peenemünde, Germany, with guest conductor Neeme Järvi and violin soloist Baiba Skride.

In July of 2009, the Baltic Youth Philharmonic completed its first tour of the Baltic region. Between July 16 and 21 the orchestra performed in Tartu (Estonia), Helsinki (Finland), Vilnius (Lithuania) and Copenhagen (Denmark.) This was preceded by an intensive week of coachings, rehearsals and recording sessions in Tartu - hard work that was rewarded by full concert halls and enthusiastic audiences.

After a first season with two concerts in 2008 in Riga and at the historic site of Peenemünde on September 21, the orchestra's second season featured seven concerts already. After its tour in July, the orchestra participated in the opening festivities of the 20th Bremen Music Festival on August 22, 2009, where it gave three sold-out concerts as part of the opening night concert marathon. The Baltic Youth Philharmonic then returned to the island of Usedom to open the 16th Usedom Music Festival on September 19, 2009. A special concert was performed place on October 5, 2009 in Stockholm (Sweden) as part of the Baltic Development Forum conference.