The Filarmónica Joven de Colombia – also known under its English title Colombian Youth Philharmonic – was founded in 2010 by the Colombian foundation “Bolivar Davivienda”. The orchestra’s goal is to foster the individual musical capabilities of its members as well as their social responsibility and self-determination. The Foundation selects 100 particularly talented musicians aged 16 to 24 from among roughly 300,000 throughout the country. Thanks to a close working relationship with the Young Orchestra of the Americas, docents from North American music academies travel to Colombia to coach the orchestra members; the conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada has made use of his close contacts with the Houston Symphony and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra to help the orchestra’s cause. After concert tours of Brazil and the USA, the Colombian Youth Orchestra’s first European tour takes it to Young Euro Classic, but also to the Rheingau Music Festival, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, to Kassel, Stuttgart and Graz, Austria.
Konzerthaus, Berlin
Aged 39, Andrés Orozco-Estrada is one of the most interesting and sought-after conductor personalities of the younger generation. He has long been a regular guest of the world’s great orchestras, performing with the Vienna Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic and the American orchestras in Philadelphia, Cleveland and Chicago; in May 2017 he makes his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic. Since the 2014/15 season Orozco-Estrada has been chief conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Houston Symphony. Born in Medellín in 1977, he moved to Vienna at the age of 19 to study conducting, and still lives there today. Orozco-Estrada also has an impressive discography, including Stravinsky’s Firebird and Sacre du Printemps, and most recently he released the first CD of his Richard Strauss cycle (including Heldenleben and Macbeth), all with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Originally from Colombia, the soprano Juanita Lascarro began her vocal training in her native city of Bogotá and continued it at the Cologne Music Academy. Since 2002 she has been an ensemble member at the Frankfurt Opera, where she has performed mainly the great Mozart roles, but also Handel, Puccini and Strauss as well as the title roles in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Berg’s Lulu. She has also appeared in operas by Zemlinsky and Henze, in Martinů’s opera Greek Passion and in Leoncavallo’s La Bohème. Regular guest performances have taken her to the opera houses in Vienna, London and Barcelona; at the Deutsche Oper Berlin she sang the role of Daphne (Strauss). At the same time, Juanita Lascarro is a sought-after concert performer whose repertoire ranges from Handel oratorios to Strauss’ Four Last Songs to Kurt Weill. Together with the Twelve Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic she has sung Bachiana Brasileira No. 5 by Villa-Lobos in Berlin, London and Salzburg.
“América Salvaje“ (2006)
“Morgen“ Op. 27 No. 4 (1894)
“Traum durch die Dämmerung“ Op. 29 No. 1 (1895)
“Liebeshymnus“ Op. 32 No. 3 (1897)
“Cäcilie“ op. 27, Nr. 2 (1897)
Serenata “La calle está desierta“ (1977)
“Cuando lejos, muy lejos“ (1977)
“Algún día“ (1980)
“Le Sacre du Printemps“ (1913)
Staged choreography by the orchestra musicians, accompanied by video projections and lighting
PROGRAMME
The beginning of Young Euro Classic 2017 is already within reach in early July – and the Colombian Youth Philharmonic will increase the eager anticipation of the new festival season! Founded seven years ago, its goal is not only to support its young musicians’ special talents, but also to strengthen their sense of social responsibility and self-determination. Now the young musicians from South America come to Berlin’s Konzerthaus as part of their first European concert tour. And the Colombian Youth Philharmonic aims to prove its quality by performing one of the most spectacular works of modern times: Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps. It is led by a charismatic conductor who, at the age of 39, has long been a fixture at all the world’s major concert halls: the Colombian Andrés Orozco-Estrada. The cast is completed with a soprano who has chosen Germany as her second home: Juanita Lascarro performs songs by Richard Strauss and the Colombian national composer Jaime León.