EUYO's Coronavirus Response

Only a week after the cancellation of the spring tour, the EUYO announced the launch of a new EUYO Digital initiative and a 23 day Spring 2020 Online Residency for the Orchestra. For Europe Day, special online EUYO concerts were broadcast by six television channels in four different countries in two continents, with a special online concert “Hope through Music”.

We are currently configuring a major Summer tour of both online and (where possible) live socially distanced performances throughout Europe in partnership with our summer home at Grafenegg, details of which will be announced by the end of June.

We started by creating and launching a new digital website to house our new digital activities and resource centre. 

This new members only web space, under the direction of a newly appointed Digital Coordinator, is part of the EUYO Digital initiative, our new online platform for training, learning and digital performance. All of our new digital activity runs through the new platform.

Thanks to Harry and everyone at Outlandish for helping create the new webspace in less than a week, and to our designer Jon at we are noun who put our EUYO Digital logo together in about one day! 

For the Spring 2020 Digital Residency we created, in the space of ten days, six new primary areas of digital activity: a meeting arena, practice lab, performance stage, well being space, hangout area and cinema. 

Our first digital residency involved more than 120 young musicians from the 27 EU member states and the UK, an online teaching faculty of 12 world-class tutors, a management team of 11 people, conductors Vasily Petrenko (EUYO Chief Conductor), Iván Fischer and Sascha Goetzel, Rehearsal Director Peter Stark, and other musicians including soprano Christina Landshammer, pianist Simon Trpčeski, cellists Steven Isserlis and Julia Hagen, and writer and music journalist Tom Service.

Events included a webcast to the Orchestra’s home city of Ferrara, chamber music workshops, a session with Europa Nostra Secretary General Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović on the future of orchestras in the age of Coronavirus, and online performances culminating in a final online concert.

The EUYO launched straight into Europe Day 2020 with a special online concert “Hope through Music” commissioned by the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey and in association with Europa Nostra. The performance included 112 Young European musicians from 30 countries, each rehearsing, practising and performing from their homes across Europe, with the help of sound and video editors in Austria, Germany, Italy, Romania, the UK, the USA and Dubai.

The concert was televised on 3 TV channels in Turkey and an international version was broadcast by EUYO social media, reaching 40,000+ people. A post-concert Hangout session brought some back stories from notable guests such as conductors Vasily Petrenko and Marin Alsop, EUYO Alumni players, and sound and video editors, including the legendary music animator Stephen Malinowski.

During Europe Day, in addition to Turkey, EUYO concerts were also broadcast on the state TV of Cuba, Panama and Santo Domingo. Thanks go to the EU Commission Delegations in those countries who were responsible for the broadcasts.

Together with our National Associate Partners we are changing the process for the autumn 2020 auditions to enable a completely online process. In 2020 only, since they have not had the opportunity to meet and perform physically, members of the 2020 Orchestra are invited to become members for 2021. All other EU musicians aged 16-26 are invited to audition.

As an exceptional measure, every musician auditioning will be judged by an EUYO tutor expert in their instrument(s), and will also receive individual online feedback from either a member of the senior EUYO audition panel, or an EUYO alumni tutor. Therefore, all musicians applying for the EUYO autumn 2020 auditions will receive personal feedback sessions. Have a look here to learn more.