First International Festival of European Youth Orchestras

The project aimed to pursue four objectives :

• realization of the first edition of an International Festival of European Youth Orchestras which, for the quality of the participating musicians and the venues of the concerts, constituted a unique event of international interest;
• carrying out training activity which were a significant experience in the curricula of the young musicians involved. The project had two training components:
  • an intrinsic component insofar as all of the musicians involved were students of conservatories and colleges who benefited by a highly meaningful opportunity for cultural exchange and professional enrichment. In this regard it should also be considered that an important aspect of the Festival was the presence of well-known European professional soloists, who played with the symphony orchestras. This allowed the young musicians to receive precious advice, technical information and concepts of interpretation extremely useful for their future careers.
  • an explicit training component consisting of the courses which was taught by renowned professionals coming from all of the European nations represented.
• consolidation and extension of the network of organisers of the initiative, to ensure that the Festival would be repeated and developed in the years to come, regardless of the possible presence of other EU contributors in the future.
• diffusion and valorization of an important component of of world music, especially among young audiences.

The project was submitted by Accademia San Felice Firenze with the assistance of Euridea and got a grant from the EU Kaleidoscope program.