 |
 |
 |
The RIAS Youth-Orchestra was founded in 1948 (it first performed a concert in 1949). It is the oldest Youth-Orchestra of Europe. The RIAS Youth-Orchestra’s main tasks include the promotion of young musicians and the completion of the study program for future orchestral musicians. The orchestra’s work is project-orientated with world-renowned conductors and soloists (Vladimir Ashkenazy, Guiseppe Sinopoli, Rudolf Barschai, Gerd Albrecht, David Geringas, Yehudi Menuhin) as well as remarkable young talent (e.g. Thomas Hengelbrock, Markus Groh, Markus Stenz).
It goes without saying that advanced music students from the most distinguished German schools play together in the RIAS Youth-Orchestra. Perhaps less obvious is the variety of our programmes, which combine symphonic and chamber musical literature of the past and present. Not only is the popular classic/romantic repertoire performed but also rarely played and relatively unknown works. The vast number of world premieres in the history of the RIAS Youth-Orchestra programme (Haas, Ullmann, Henze, Rabe, Turnage, von Bose to name but a few) provides evidence of this ambitious concept. In 2001, for example, the RIAS Youth-Orchestra, conducted by Hermann Bäumer, performed the scenic Berlin first performance of the operatic triptych of Paul Hindemith.
The RIAS Youth-Orchestra has received many awards since its foundation 60 years ago and is globally recognised for some of its exceptional projects: The RIAS Youth-Orchestra was the first orchestra to perform in Israel after World War II. In 1958 it was awarded "Greatest Youth-Orchestra in the World" at the Brussels World Exposition contest. The winning concert was the first western orchestra to be broadcast throughout the Soviet Union. In 1982 the RIAS Youth-Orchestra won the prize of the "German Music Council" (Deutscher Musikrat) and at the beginning of 2003 it appeared as a guest in Szczecin, Poland, once again as the first Berlin ensemble after World War II. Conducted by Michail Jurowski, they played the Szczecin first performance of the XIV symphony of Dimitri Shostakovich.
The orchestra was certainly influenced by Germany and, more specifically, by post-war Berlin: Before the wall was built in 1961 about a third of the young musicians were from the East Berlin. After the wall came down in 1989 music students from West Berlin’s "Hochschule der Künste" and from East Berlin’s "Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler" came together in the RIAS Youth-Orchestra and announced the "Philharmonic launch". In February 1990, directed by Hans-Martin Schneidt, the young musicians performed concerts that were received with enthusiasm in both parts of Berlin, in Lübeck and in Leipzig. The orchestra was demonstrating quite literally what it means to "coalesce". To begin of 2005 the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (chief-conductor: Ingo Metzmacher) took a partnership of RIAS Youth-Orchestra. more>>
Since the closure of the RIAS (Radio in the American sector) in 1994 the orchestra has continued to be supported by DeutschlandRadio, which records and broadcasts every RIAS Youth-Orchestra concert. The orchestra now consists not only of students from the two Berlin music academies but also of visiting students from about 20 other nations. What once started as an "east-west German unification" has since become a European, or more accurately, a global means of communication based on music.
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Why "RIAS"?
Next project: