Celebrating 40 years of one of the European Union’s great cultural institutions with performances in every capital city of the EU’s 28 Member States
Capital Sounds, a major new pan-European project, is an initiative marking the 40th anniversary of the founding of the European Union Youth Orchestra. Capital Sounds will run from summer 2016 to summer 2020. During this period, there will be concerts in every capital city of the EU, with each event designed to promote the national culture of each EU country and also to celebrate a great pan European orchestral tradition.
The Pan European Capital Sounds Project
Capital Sounds will be composed of 28 events over four years, each event a performance in a different EU capital. The events will include a key note speech by a significant cultural figure of that country, a concert featuring the EUYO, and performances by young people - separately curated in each country - to reflect the musical tradition of that country. The Capital Sounds project is presented in association with the music agency Askonas Holt, and is being developed jointly with the EUYO’s network of 28 National Associate Partners and 28 grant-giving organisations in all the EU’s member states. It launches in Bratislava on 7 August 2016, in a joint celebration of the EU Presidency and the 40th anniversary of the Orchestra’s founding.
The Importance of National Identity
A vitally important element in this celebration will be the opportunity for each country of the EU to celebrate its own cultural identity within the EU as part of Capital Sounds. The key note address by a cultural or political leader from the host country will contextualise that country’s cultural place and identity within Europe and the EU. Each address will be followed by a performance by the EUYO and a short performance by a group of young players from within the host country, culminating in them joining the EUYO in a concluding encore composition. Wherever possible the concert will include music with a national association with the host country. In this way the EUYO is celebrating an important EU anniversary through the prism of the nations that constitute the EU, and without whom it would not exist. Capital Sounds will therefore not only celebrate an important EUYO landmark, it will make tangible the EU ideal of 'Unity through Diversity' in great performances by young musicians coming together from all 28 EU member states.
To see our Summer 2016 Tour Dates, please click here
For further information, please contact our Communications Assistant at rebecca@euyo.eu