Summer Tour 2016

Welcome Message
Monday 8 March and Thursday 22 April 1976 were seemingly unremarkable
days. Yet when the cultural history of the EU comes to be written they
could enter the history books, for these were, respectively, the dates
when the European Parliament passed a unanimous resolution to found
the European Community (now Union) Youth Orchestra and when the
European Commission confirmed its official Patronage of the Orchestra.
The scale of achievement of the EUYO in the ensuing years is articulated in
the following pages by tributes from a number of the world’s great artists,
politicians and – surely most profoundly – the players themselves. By any
measure, the EUYO has combined performance excellence with a unique
cultural ambassadorship for the EU, acting as an emblem for the European spirit
of freedom, co-operation and creativity, in Europe and around the globe.
To celebrate this tradition, the Orchestra is launching ‘Capital Sounds’, an
ambitious project to visit all the EU Capital Cities in the coming years with
performances that reflect not only the pan-European nature of the Orchestra,
but also focus on the cultural identities of each country. The Project launches
in Bratislava on 7 August in celebration of Slovakia’s EU Presidency, and
continues this summer to Amsterdam, Berlin, Ljubljana and Warsaw.
Amidst celebration however, it is impossible not to mention the crisis in EU
funding for the EUYO earlier this year that nearly caused its closure, a reminder
that even the most impressive achievements are eternally at risk if they are not
properly safeguarded. We hope very much that a solution to the Orchestra’s
funding from the EU can be found, for as I write discussions are ongoing but
not yet resolved. Should they be resolved, then a question is worth posing:
as the world changes, increasingly complex, progressively more connected,
how can the EUYO best be of service, developing its role as a tangible beacon
of the EU’s finest ideals during such an undeniably testing time for Europe?
For now, though, we welcome you to our summer 2016 anniversary tour.
Marshall Marcus
Chief Executive,
European Union Youth Orchestra
EUYO > WELCOME
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