Young Euro Classic Orchestra Essen – Istanbul

In 2010, Young Euro Classic is for the first time building a bridge between the two European cities of culture “Ruhr 2010” and “Istanbul 2010”. Young musicians from music schools in Essen and Istanbul are to join forces to form an orchestra. Following the rehearsal phase, the German-Turkish ensemble is due to give its first concert on 20th November 2010 at the Essen Philharmonic. The concept sends out a signal of high-caliber artistic cooperation between Germany and Turkey. Partners are currently being sought for a subsequent concert tour through Turkey.

The cooperation continues a project from the year 2009, when the German-Turkish Young Euro Classic Orchestra presented a symphony concert in Berlin’s partner city on the Bosphorus. As part of the capital city campaign “Be Berlin”, the concert was a component of the official “Berlin Days in Istanbul” programme.

Young Euro Classic Essen

In 2005 Young Euro Classic made the leap from the German capital to the Ruhr Region. The aim was not primarily to merely spread the word to Germany’s western regions of the good work being done by the festival, but to put the spotlight on one of the outstanding attractions of Young Euro Classic 2005: the Campus Project, bringing together Russian and German musicians, with a concert in the city of Essen as the crowning event of their ten-day collaboration.

And what an event! The former salt storage house of a coke oven plant that is part of the Zollverein World Heritage Site in the western German city of Essen proved a fitting backdrop for two new compositions by Olga Rajewa and Anno Schreier, each of which had just been premiered in Berlin, while works by Rossini and Richard Strauss as well as Tchaikovsky’s Dante-inspired symphonic fantasy Francesca da Rimini provided a Romantic contrast.