© fotonick – Axel Nickolaus
Since its first performance at Young Euro Classic in 2009, the MIAGI Orchestra has been an absolute audience favourite. The orchestra exudes a vibe of enthusiasm for its music that is rarely felt even at Berlin’s Konzerthaus. Since 2001, MIAGI – an abbreviation for “Music Is A Great Investment” – has pursued its goal of “bringing young people together and contributing to their positive social development.” The musicians are from all social strata of South Africa, and the MIAGI Orchestra’s repertoire is purposefully broad: it includes everything from classical music to jazz and traditional African music as well as diverse kinds of South African music from the 1940s to the present day. Active throughout South Africa, MIAGI is dedicated to music education in the broadest sense of the word and has built and developed a flourishing music and community centre in Soweto, the Morris Isaacson Center for Music. It also collaborates with local music and other educational initiatives throughout South Africa. In 2020, the Swedish organization The Nobel Prize produced a documentary about the MIAGI Orchestra in the context of Nelson Mandela, entitled An Unfinished Symphony.
Konzerthaus Berlin
Christoph Zeilinger
The musical education of the Austrian musician David Panzl began in childhood, and at the age of thirteen he performed as a percussion soloist with the Bad Reichenhall Philharmonic Orchestra. During his time at the high school for fine arts, Musisches Gymnasium Salzburg, he completed several study trips to New York with a focus on jazz. After graduating from high school, Panzl went to Vienna, studied percussion at the music and arts university of the city of Vienna, MUK, and graduated with a Master of Arts with distinction in 2013. Most recently, Panzl studied marimba in Tokyo at the Toho Gakuen School of Music with Prof. Keiko Abe. This was followed by a teaching position at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. He gives master classes worldwide and is also a juror at numerous international music competitions.
As a soloist, he has performed at the Suntory Hall Tokyo, the Seoul Art Center, the Vienna Concert Hall, the Seoul Drum Festival and the Salzburg Festival Opening Ceremony, among others. He worked with exceptional artists such as Keiko Abe, Nebojsa Zivkovic, Jeff Queen and Nanae Mimura. Solo concerts with the Innsbruck Symphony Orchestra, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, the German Chamber Orchestra Berlin and the Bad Reichenhall Philharmonic Orchestra followed. As part of these concerts, he played premieres by composers such as Keiko Abe, Shih, Johannes Motschmann, Peter Koene, Jorge Sánchez Chiong and Enjott Schneider. Panzl appears on recordings by Paraty (Harmonia Mundi), Wergo (Schott) and “Neue Meister” Berlin Classic (EDEL). His sheet music is published by Musikverlag Doblinger and Pulsa Musica. As a conductor, he has led the mdw Percussion Ensemble since 2016 and recently also the MIAGI Orchestra. David Panzl has endorsements from YAMAHA, Zildjian, Vic Firth, Mike Balter and Loyal Drums.
© Filadelfia Convention Center
Anders Paulsson is a Swedish musician, composer, soprano saxophone artist and environmentalist. Since his Carnegie Hall debut in 1992, he has inspired international composers to write more than 100 new pieces for him, including solo concertos and chamber music. He has recorded 27 CDs and performed concerts in 28 countries in major music halls like the Berlin Philharmonie, Alice Tully Hall, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall in London, Palau de la Musica in Valencia, Moscow International Performing Arts Centre and Kitakyushu Performing Arts Centre in Japan. Anders Paulsson studied at the Royal Academy in Stockholm and with Jean-Marie Londeix in France, as well as with Joseph Allard and Bob Mintzer at the Manhattan School of Music, New York. In 2012, he was awarded the Swedish Royal gold medal “Litteris et Artibus” for his artistic achievements. Anders Paulsson is also an award-winning composer, with over 30 compositions published by Gehrmans. He is the co-founder and artistic director of CoralGuardians.org – an initiative highlighting successful coral reef stewardship around the world with music.
“Cuban Overture” (1932, arr. Markus Geiselhart, David Panzl)
“Celebration Suite” (2018)
“Blue in green” (1959, arr. Markus Geiselhart)
“Black Child” (2022)
“Musica para charlar” (1937, arr. David Panzl)
“Soweto Protocol” (2024)
“Missing Soest” (2015)
“A Bubble is a nice Friend to have” (2013, arr. David Panzl)
“Birdland” (1977, arr. Markus Geiselhart, David Panzl)
About the concert
The MIAGI Orchestra from South Africa needs no introduction to the Young Euro Classic audience. Since its festival debut in 2009, its young musicians have created indelible memories with their passion for music – no matter whether European classical or South African music. In 2024 the MIAGI Orchestra brings a fully equipped jazz band on its tour, and from the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts, MIAGI’s partner in Europe, comes a large percussion ensemble. Together, the 60 musicians go “In Search of the African Footprint”. In special arrangements by the percussionist and conductor David Panzl and the jazz luminary Markus Geiselhart, they present works by European, American and South African composers: from the USA, there is George Gershwin, from Mexico Silvestre Revueltas, and then there is the Celebration Suite by Anders Paulsson, which is based on South African freedom songs and recalls the long struggle against Apartheid. Compositions such as Black Child, Birdland or the Miles Davis classic Blue in Green round out the unusual programme – between classical orchestra sound, moving harmonies and catchy rhythms, there is so much to discover!
Broadcast
The concert will be recorded by Deutschlandfunk Kultur and broadcast nationwide on Sunday, 01.09.24, 20:03 in the program “Concert”– on the radio, online and in the Dlf Audiothek app.
This concert will be streamed live by ARTE CONCERT and will be available in the media library afterwards: www.arteconcert.com
