Young Euro Classic music festival
The world’s best youth symphony orchestras play at the Young Euro Classic music festival in Berlin.
If you have established yourself as one of the best fresh international orchestra talents and receive the chance to play at the Young Euro Classic (YEC) music festival, you are already well on the way to success. The YEC is an annual international music festival in which the world’s best youth symphony orchestras participate. It has been held at Konzerthaus Berlin every year since 2000. In 2015, audiences will have the opportunity to experience a total of 1,400 young musicians performing on stage. They are presenting a combination of works from the classical repertoire and the traditional music of their countries of origin. Contemporary works also play a major role; 11 world and German premieres can be heard at YEC 2015 alone.
Above all, the roughly 28,000 visitors who attend each year appreciate the enthusiasm of the young musicians and the unique spirit that energises the festival. The word “Euro” in the festival’s name stands for European orchestral culture, for the orchestra as a metaphor for cooperation. The values of liberty, equality and fraternity are filled with life by the young musicians and break down boundaries between them. For example, the audience will be able to hear the German-Israeli Young Philharmonic Orchestra Jerusalem Weimar perform at the opening. Furthermore, Kazakhs, Khyrgyses and Tajiks play alongside one another in the Central Asian Youth Orchestra, while the I, Culture Orchestra brings together musicians from Poland, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
Successful career with the Berlin Philharmonic
In addition to the obligatory performances of the Federal Youth Orchestra, the foundation of a peace orchestra is also planned for the end of the festival. The performances at the Konzerthaus can also be among the most influential in the careers of up-and-coming professional musicians, which often receive a considerable boost after participation in the YEC. For example, Wieland Welzel, who performed as a member of the Federal Youth Orchestra, is now solo timpanist with the Berlin Philharmonic, and Lars Vogt has become one of the most important internationally recognised contemporary German pianists. The former young musicians do not forget the YEC even after they have achieved success. Take Lise de la Salle, for example. The French pianist, who performed at the YEC at the tender age of 16, was acknowledged by the critics to have “extreme talent”. In 2015 she is returning to Berlin with the Moritzburg Festival Orchestra.
Young Euro Classic from 6 to 23 August 2015 in Berlin
