The Bosporus

An exciting bridge between Orient and Occident

The foundation for an outstandingly enriching and lasting cooperation between German and Turkish musicians was laid back in 2002, when the first Turkish orchestra took part in the Young Euro Classic Festival. In the years that followed, that cooperation became increasingly intensive thanks particularly to the very special commitment and contribution of the conductor and outstanding teacher Cem Mansur, who has conducted a number of the Turkish orchestras that have been invited to participate at Young Euro Classic.

"Berlin Days" in Istanbul

In June 2009 this long period of cooperation reached a new highpoint with the creation of a Turkish-German music project. The Young Euro Classic Orchestra Germany-Turkey performed the opening concert of the “Berlin Days” in Istanbul in the presence of the Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit and the Mayor of Istanbul Kadir Topbaş.

"Respect for this young project orchestra"

Since then Young Euro Classic has established regular musical links between the Orient and the Occident. In 2010, for instance, Turkish and German musicians built a bridge between the two cities that had been selected as that year’s European Capitals of Culture: Essen and Istanbul. As in 2009, the students joined forces under the baton of Cem Mansur to give a concert in Essen’s Philharmonia auditorium that won press plaudits including “respect for this young project orchestra.”

2011 - Young Euro Classic Festival Orchestra Turkey-Germany

In 2011 we took this cooperation one step further: for the first time, the Young Euro Classic Festival Orchestra Turkey-Germany included not just Germans and Turks but also young musicians from within the Turkish community in Germany. It was an opportunity for the musicians to get to know each other more closely – both personally and musically – and a major step towards mutual understanding. It was not, however, just the members of the Festival Orchestra Turkey-Germany who took up this challenge, but also their audience. Berlin’s Tagesspiegel newspaper had this to say about the exploration of ‘otherness’: "On Tuesday evening, compositions from the classical Turkish repertoire as well as two premieres of works by the young Turkish composers Ataç Sezer and Oğuzhan Balcı were greeted with just as much enthusiasm as Rossini and Beethoven."