03/08/2022 - A welcome return to Young Euro Classic, the European Union Youth Orchestra will perform in Berlin Konzerthaus on 8 August at 8pm a concert as part of the Peace in Europe series with EUYO alumni as conductor and soloist: Gustavo Gimeno and Renaud Capuçon
THE PEACE IN EUROPE CONCERTS
Preceded by a minute of silence, the 8 August EUYO concert in Berlin’s Konzerthaus is part of a series of Peace in Europe concerts that started in Italy in March 2022, proceeding to Helsinki and the sacred island of Delos, and continuing now in Berlin.
All dedicated to the cause of peace and the plight of victims of violence, the concerts are performed by the Orchestra in seven countries across Europe, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, and from the Atlantic to near the border of Ukraine. All will promote youth, culture and cooperation as the best hope for harmony in Europe, with the EUYO’s musicians coming from 27 different EU member states as tangible evidence and embodiment of the EU principle of Unity in Diversity.
THE ARTISTS
In a unique combination that strengthens the bonds between all the artists on stage, both the conductor Gustavo Gimeno and the solo violinist Renaud Capuçon are EUYO alumni: this is a testament of the EUYO’s ability to foster tomorrow’s musical leaders. Gustavo Gimeno is currently Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg and was recently appointed to the same role at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and with this tour he makes his conducting debut with the EUYO. On the other hand, French violinist Renaud Capuçon, widely recognized as one of the most sought-after musicians of his time, performed as a soloist with the EUYO for the first time in 2009.
THE MUSICAL PROGRAMME
The evening will open with the Young Euro Classic Festival hymn by Iván Fischer, a piece that every time is performed in surprisingly different versions, being a musical joke with funny improvisations. It will be followed by Igor Stravinsky’s Scherzo fantastique, and some notably virtuosic French repertoire: Ernest Chausson’s Poème, Camille Saint-Saëns’ Havanaise, and Maurice Ravel’s La Valse, the latter preceded by Richard Strauss' imposing Suite from Der Rosenkavalier. All are works composed between the last decades of the 19th and the first years of the 20th century, offspring of a musical world that was about to be rapidly destroyed by the First World War, with the final notes of La Valse looming as a ‘danse macabre’ – a harrowing memory for today’s listeners of the horrors of the war and the necessity of peace.