Davis Senior High School Baroque Ensemble
(USA)
At present the DHS Orchestra Program has grown four times its’ original size in the past 16 years. By 2008, the program had developed into two groups the “DHS Chamber Orchestra”, a 55-member non-auditioned string orchestra, and the “DHS Symphony Orchestra”, an auditioned full 75- piece symphonic orchestra.
There are 130 students between two groups. As the two orchestras continued to grow there came the need for a third orchestral ensemble, so the DHS Baroque Ensemble became a natural extension of the DHS Orchestra Program, as well as the second audition orchestra at DHS. This group provides students the opportunity to focus on Baroque music, Baroque performance practices, and master technique skills on period style instruments in a smaller ensemble.
The period style instruments allow the unique style of the era to be further developed making the overall performance experience more historically accurate and engaging for the student musicians.
The DHS Baroque Ensemble made its debut on the main stage at the 2014 Berkeley Baroque Festival and is proud and honored to have been invited back to the main stage for the 2016 Festival. Mr. Moreno has been directing orchestras in the Davis Joint Unified School District since 2000.
He is currently the Director of the Davis Senior High and Holmes Junior High School Orchestra Programs, and the founder of the Davis High School Baroque Ensemble. From 2005 to 2014, Mr. Moreno has received numerous awards as Teacher of the Year as well as conductor of Best Classical Ensemble at the high school level.
Angelo Moreno conductor
Orchestre Des Etudiants De Louvain-La-Neuve
(Belgium)
OSEL stands for Louvain-la-Neuve Student Symphony Orchestra in French and counts over 60 musicians, mostly students from the Université Catholique de Louvain (Catholic University of Louvain). Philippe Gérard has conduc-ted the orchestra for over 15 years now.
The orchestra offers the possibility to students, faculty and other musicians from the area to participate in challenging musical projects. Being part of the OSEL also means sharing a love for music in a student atmosphere during rehearsal weekends, concerts and tours abroad.
The OSEL plays a key role in the cultural life of Louvain-la-Neuve, with regular concerts in its main concert hall: the Aula Magna. Other concerts in Belgium are organized through relationships with institutions such as the Royal Conservatory of Music of Brussels, the Royal Theatre ‘La Monnaie’ and the Festival de Wallonie.
The orchestra regularly represents the University and the City abroad during tours and festivals. The Orchestra was founded in 1980. Today, it is managed by the OSEL not-for-profit organisation, which organizes concerts, tours abroad and day- to-day operations. The not-for-profit is composed of musicians in the orchestra and a new board is elected every year.
Concerts are held at least twice a year in the Aula Magna in Louvain-la-Neuve, with regular concerts in other Belgian cities. Soloists who played with OSEL include Daniel Blumenthal, André Siwy, Vinciane Baudhuin, Olivier de Spiegeleir, André Grignard, Jacques Dupriez, Adam Korniszewsky, Sergio Bernal, Lorenzo Gatto, Elisabeth Wybou, Thibault Lavrenov, Xavier Locus, Tamsin Waley-Cohen, Giovanni Ricciardi, Ronald Van Spaendonck, Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, Rita Matos Alves, Laurent Pigeolet, Sarah Dupriez and Camille Thomas.
OSEL also played more adventurous music with rock group Amanda and modern composer Fabrizio Cassol. Osel is Cultural Ambassador of UCL since 2003 and the orchestra takes part to international music festivals where it represents both UCL and Belgium (festivals in Spain, Italy, France, Latvia, Portugal, etc.).
Philippe Gérard conductor
Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras & Delaware Youth Symphony
(USA)
The Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras (MCYO) and The Delaware Youth Symphony Orchestra are oart of a youth orchestra program at the state-of-the-art Music Center at Strathmore, enjoying musical relationships with both the National Symphony Orcherstra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
With 6 orchestras and several chamber ensembles, 500 students from DC, VA and MD annually comprise the highly selective program, making MCYO not only the oldest, but the largest and most prestigious orchestral traning program in the Washington DC Metroplitan region.
MCYO organizes a Touring Orchestra to perform nationally and abroad in festivals and for concert tours and special event orchestras are formed for collaborative projects.
Over the past 10 years, the Touring Orchestras have performed at festivals in Vienna/Prague, London’s New Year’s Celebration, the Netherlands and Belgium, and have performed nationally with the Afghan National Youth Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, at Carnegie Hall festivals and with Australia’s Scotch College Orchestra at Strathmore.
Many MCYO alumni have continued their music studies at preeminent institutions. Some have performed with prestigious American and European orchestras and some have become music teachers.
The orchestras are conducted by Simeone Tartaglione, who studied composition and conducting in Rome at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory, and piano performance at the Bellini Institute. M° Tartaglione has won numerous competitions and prizes, and from 2005 works in the US as Conductor and Music Director at the Delaware Music School among many other important Institutions.
Simeone Tartaglione conductor
Jugendsinfonieorchester der Musikschule Bochum
(Germany)
The orchestra was founded by the conductor Guido van den Bosch. He established a very capable orchestra, which traveled to the USA, Italy, Russia and Israel.
Since 1999 Norbert Koop conducts this orchestra of young musicians, which are 13 to 23 years old, and rehearses about 3-4 programs every year. The orchestra has about 70 members and it has already played at the Kölner Philharmonie, the Brucknerhaus in Linz, the Auditorium Murcia and the theatre in Cesena, Italy.
At the “International Youth Orchestra Festival” in Murcia the instrumentalists came in contact with a youth orchestra from Tirana, Albania. A German-Albanian orchestra was formed, which performed concerts in both countries. This was followed by further co-operations with youth orchestras during festivals and with the “Chiba Prefecture Youth Orchestra” from Japan.
The most extraordinary events of the last years were the participation at the “European Music Festival” in Linz in 2009 and in the Emilia Romagna in 2012, and the repeated winning of the German orchestra-competition in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Norbert Koop conductor
Dusika Youth Symphony Orchestra
(Denmark)
DUSIKA – Copenhagen Region Youth Symphony Orchestra
The orchestra was established in 1988 on the initiative of the County council of Copenhagen. DUSIKA has about 60 members in the ages 13 to 25. The orchestra gives young musicians in the Region of Copenhagen an opportunity to be a part of a symphonic orchestra with a thoroughly and professional instruction.
The orchestra members plays classical music with passion and contagious enthusiasm and some of them studies at The Royal Accademy of Music in Copenhagen. The Orchestra likes to play Carl Nielsen – one of our Danish composers and Romantic music.
Christian Schmiedescamp has been conducting DUSIKA for the last five years. He is very ambitious and he isis also working as principal trombone with the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra. DUSIKA gives about 8-10 concerts every year, and frequently visits other countries.
In recent years Dusika has been to the Faeroe Islands, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Polen, Germany, Russia, Estonia, Scotland, Czech republic and Australia.
Christian Schmiedescamp conductor
Britten Youth String Orchestra
(Netherlands)
The Britten Youth String Orchestra was founded in 2007 by their conductor Loes Visser. She created the orchestra to provide a platform for young talented string instrument players that want to develop their skill in an inspiring, high level, and musically demanding environment. The joy to play wonderful music however is very important and always present.
Loes Visser and the orchestra are closely related to the ArtEZ Conservatory in the Netherlands. The symbioses between the three yields fine young musicians that are ready to go on in a musical education at the conservatory. The Britten Your String Orchestra aims to perform with young talented soloists and inspiring soloists of more experienced level.
Every year the orchestra performs with the winners of the national ‘Britten Violin or Cello competition’. Among the great soloists that played with the orchestra are Daniel Wayenberg (piano), Liza Ferschtman (violin), Maria Milstein (violin), Gavriel Lipkind (cello), Anna Lipkind (violin) and Charlie Siem (violin).
The orchestra has performed three times for the Dutch Royal family and is a regular guest in Dutch theaters and country estate concerts. Every year the Britten Youth String orchestra goes on tour. The orchestra has been invited to play a.o. in Italy, France, Switzerland and Spain and last year it won the 1st price at the music competition of the Summa Cum Laude Youth Music Festival in Vienna, Austria.
At the end of each season the Britten Youth String Orchestra records a CD. The 8th CD was launched last November 2016. Former CD’s were well received by Dutch classic radio and press and were often praised for their sound and profoundness despite the young age of the musicians.
Loes Visser conductor
Central Swiss Youth Symphony Orchestra
(Swisse)
Founded in 2011, the Zentralschweizer Jugendsinfonieorchester ZJSO is the first inter-cantonal platform for young and motivated orchestra musicians in Central Switzerland. To them, the ZJSO offers an opportunity to play symphonic music on a regular base within a group of talented people of the same age, to work together with accomplished professional musicians and to discover new artistic spheres.
Its repertoire reaches from Beethoven to contemporary swiss composers like David Jegerlehner, from symphonic pieces by Antonin Dvorak to arrangements of popular music.All that makes the ZJSO more than just another youth orchester. A new access to classical music is created by combining unique productions, innovative music selection and a juvenile perspective.
The ZJSO cares about a culture where young musicians take responsibility and are included into the process of creating a project. The ZJSO hosts several community activities outside of rehersing and concerting.In this spirit, the ZJSO actively promotes youth culture and talents, connects young artits and ignites new enthusiasm for classical music with the people involved as well as the public.
To accomplish this, the ZJSO is supported by professional musicians on a voluntary base. Since its foundation, the ZJSO has grown rapidely. It is now happily reporting about 200 active members between 15 and 26 years of age and more than 6.000 viewers in total.
It was involved in the production of a CD by a well known swiss hip-hop musician, has won a second price at a national competition, has played at the Lucerne Festival and in the KKL Lucerne and has created unforgettable memories when it comes to novel and innovative creations of both music and culture. More information: www.zjso.ch
Joseph Sieber conductor
Orchestra Giovanile Istituto Musicale Sammarinese
(San Marino)
The IMS Youth Orchestra is part of the historical Music School “Istituto Musicale Sammarinese”, in San Marino. The orchestra is formed by young students between 11 and 19 years old, together with their teachers, ex students and friends musicians.
The students and teachers passion for music, brought them to reach a very good musical level, in fact they collaborate and perform with many important local and International Institutions. The orchestra regularly give concerts within the many events organized during the year by the school “Istituto Musicale Sammarinese”.
This is their first participation to the Florence Youth Festival. For the occasion, Massimiliano Messeri, the orchestra conductor since 2002, composed a piece which is a world premiere. Massimiliano Messeri (born in Bologna, 1964) is a composer and a orchestra Director.
He received many important commissions from teathres and festivals from Italy to Prague, Poland and USA, and won many prizes, his scores were performed in many imprtant teathres with success. He hold masterclasses and lectures at the Conservatory of Music in Cracow, DAMS University in Bologna, Kennesaw State University, International Forfest Festival in Kromeriz, IULM University in Milan, a La Sierra University in Riverside.
Davide Alpini flauto
Massimiliano Messeri conductor
Jeugdharmonie Jong Eendracht Aalbeke – Kortrijk
(Belgium)
The Youth Wind Band is based in Aalbeke, a village of 3000 inhabitants that is a part of the town of Kortrijk (Belgium).
It started in 1958 as an initiative of the then school principal and conductor of the local Royal Symphonic Wind Band Eendracht.
The aim was (and is) to prepare youngsters to their admission as musicians of the adult symphonic band. Especially after the establishment of a local department of the Kortrijk academy of music in 1966, the musical education of the youngsters improved in a striking way.
Since, the orchestra upholds a tradition of participating at different festivals and contests in Belgium and abroad (f.e. France, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria). The band received several first prices, even some ‘cum laude’, at the well-known European Wind Band Festival in Neerpelt (B). Every year, the band plays a concert in Christmas time.
A music camp, where intensive rehearsals are combined with moments of social activities, prepares this concert. During the whole year, the young musicians meet every week on Friday evening for a rehearsal. The very first beginners, aged 8-9, have their own little orchestra where they learn the basic skills of playing together.
At 10, after having studied for at least two years at the music academy, they enter the youth band. The band plays all kind of music, mostly the specific actual wind band music of Belgian and foreign composers. Since 2016, the youth band conductor is Stan Christiaens (°1996).
He is studying trumpet at the Royal School of Arts in Ghent and plays as a musician with several symphonic wind bands and brass bands.
Stan Christiaens conductor
Mondaino Young Orchestra
(Italy)
The MYO – Mondaino Young Orchestra, is one of the younger Jazz Bands in Europe (average age 15 years old). The MYO propose a program dedicated to jazz from it origins, between Hot Jazz and Swing Era.
In 2013 and 2014 the Band won both editions of the “World Festival of School Music” held in the Sanremo main teathre and participated to the “5th International Jazz Competition Città di Treviso”.
The band is conducted by M° Michele Chiaretti and in the past five years of activity, performed in many important events like the Umbria Jazz Festival and Expo Milan 2015.
The band had collaborations with some of the most important Italian jazz players like Roberto Gatto, Gabriele Mirabassi, Maurizio Giammarco and Antonello Salis. In 2017 the MYO presented its second project “MYO and Friends”.
Michele Chiaretti conductor
Festival Partnerships
- Festival Sinfonico
- Francigena Interational Arts Festival
- Musica dal Mondo Festival
- Prato Estate Festival
- Temporale Festival
- Cremona Summer Festival
Full Program
Principal festival’s venues:
Loggia dei Lanzi (Florence), Biblioteca Lazzerini (Prato), Terme Tettuccio (Montecatini Terme), Piazza Duomo (San Gimignano).
CONCERTS IN FLORENCE
04th July 21,15 | Loggia dei Lanzi
Davis Senior High School Baroque Ensemble
program: A. Vivaldi, J.S. Bach, F. Biber, F. Geminiani
conductor: Angelo Moreno
10th July 20,30 | Loggia dei Lanzi
Orchestre Symphonique Des Etudiants De Louvain-La-Neuve
program: E. Chabrier, J. Rodrigo, G. Bizet, M. de Falla
conductor: Philippe Gérard
11th July 20,30 | Loggia dei Lanzi
Maryland Classic Youth Orchestra & The Delaware Youth Symphony Orchestra
program: G. Rossini, F. Kreisler, L-Bernstein, A. Simpson, A. Dvorak
conductor: Simeone Tartaglione
18th July 20,30 | Loggia dei Lanzi
Bochum Youth Symphony Orchestra
program: F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, R. Vaughn-Williams, C. Gounod
conductor: Norbert Koop
21st July ore 21,15 | Loggia dei Lanzi
Dusika Youth Symphony Orchestra
program: N.W. Gade, D. Lovreglio, C. Nielsen, A. Dvorak
conductor: Christian Schmiedescamp
23th July 21,15 | Loggia dei Lanzi
Britten Youth String Orchestra
program: A.Piazzolla, M. Arnold, M.Bruch, G.B. Pergolesi, G. Rossini, A. Dvorak
violino: Tina Draadjer, Vivian de Graaff
viola: Jeltije Quirijnen
soprano: Roza Herwig
conductor: Loes Visser
28th July 21,15 | Loggia dei Lanzi
Zentralschweizer Jugendsinfonieorchester – ZJSO
program: G. Rossini, R. Wagner, A. Dvorak, Coldplay
conductor: Joseph Sieber
30th July 21,15 | Loggia dei Lanzi
Orchestra Giovanile Istituto Musicale Sammarinese
program: A. Vivaldi, M. Messieri, L. Mozart/J. Haydn
flauto: Davide Alpini
conductor: Massimiliano Messieri
&
Mondaino Young Orchestra
program: V. Giordano, A. Sisters, A. Shaw, T. Layton, D. Ellington, C. Porter, C. Mingus, B. Goodman
conductor: Michele Chiaretti
02nd August 21,15 | Loggia dei Lanzi
Jeugdharmonie Jong Eendracht Aalbeke-Kortijk
program: H. Berlioz, G. Rossini, A. Lloyd Webber
conductor: Stan Christiaens
CONCERTS IN MONTECATINI TERME
CONCERTS IN SAN GIMIGNANO
CONCERTS IN CASTELLO
CONCERTS IN PRATO
CONCERTS IN PERUGIA
CONCERTS IN CASERTA
CONCERTS IN SORRENTO
CONCERTS IN CREMA
CONCERTS IN CREMONA
CONCERTS IN RIVA DEL GARDA
