Semyon Bychkov
(c) Sheila Rock
Summer 2014 will see the launch of The European Music Campus, an innovatory new centre for Europe’s talented young musicians and the first resuklt of a unique partnership between the European Union Youth Orchestra and Grafenegg Festival.Russian conductor Semyon Bychkov will conduct the orchestra and lead the Campus debate.
The Campus will contribute to the New Narrative for Europe announced by President Barroso in April 2013, and to Commissioner Vassiliou’s Creative Europe programme that commences in 2014, reinvigorating and renewing the ideals that first brought the countries of Europe together in a Union, through group music, culture and debate, and exploring how orchestral skills can help create a better and more sustainable Europe during a challenging economic period.
Each year, the European Music Campus will run throughout the summer season as part of a new residency of the EUYO at Grafenegg, bringing great musicians and thinkers from around the world to Grafenegg to participate in a series of workshops, seminars, open rehearsals and performances, and establishing a landmark campus at the heart of Europe.
The first edition of the European Music Campus will focus on ‘Looking East’ in Europe, towards the former Soviet Union and to the countries which were once, but are no longer, on the other ‘opposite’ side of Europe. Using Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 4 as a ‘text’ for the activities of the Campus, a series of open rehearsals, new format concerts, talks and debates will shine a critical light on the last half century of European integration in eastern Europe, in the process creating a campus that is a combination of summer university, festival and music school, thronging with young people learning and performing. This first edition of the European Music Campus will welcome a selection of young musicians from local Austrian and Eastern European conservatories to Grafenegg and include side by side informal performances, master classes, and open rehearsals.
