Founded in 1992, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Infantes y Jovenes, the National Youth Orchestra of Chile, offers teenagers and students aged 16 to 24 an introduction to the symphonic repertoire, under the guidance of professional musicians. The student members are supported by a stipend offered by the parent organization, FOJI (Fundación Orquestas Joveniles e Infantiles de Chile, Foundation for Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Chile). Throughout the country, FOJI organizes about 500 youth and children’s orchestras, with 25,000 participants and about 3,000 concerts per year. In addition to performing all over Chile, the National Youth Orchestra of Chile has also been invited to tour Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, the USA and Europe. Its repertoire includes symphonies by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Bruckner and Mahler, but also works such as Orff’s Carmina Burana and the operas Tosca and Don Pasquale in concert versions.
Konzerthaus, Berlin
Television Presenter
Sascha Hingst was born in Berlin in 1971 and grew up in Berlin and Leipzig. After graduating from school in 1990, he studied law in Heidelberg, taking his state examinations in law in 1998. While still a student, Hingst worked for the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) in Leipzig, the Südwestrundfunk (SWR) in Mainz and the German-French cultural TV channel ARTE in Strasbourg. From 2001 to 2007 he presented the “Hessenschau” on Hessischer Rundfunk (HR). Since September 2007 Sascha Hingst has presented the “Abendschau” on Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb). On November 20, 2015 Sascha Hingst won the Bremen Television Award in the category “Best Presenter”. Starting in January 2017, he has also presented the quiz show “Jede Antwort zählt” and the new ARD feature “Mittagsmagazin” from Berlin, the latter together with Jessy Wellmer.
Originally from Santiago de Chile, the conductor Maximiano Valdés began his studies in his hometown, moving on to the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. His professional career began as an assistant at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice; a scholarship allowed him to participate in the Tanglewood Festival as a conducting fellow, where he met Leonard Bernstein. Since the 1980s, Valdés has been invited to conduct numerous orchestras in Europe and Asia, but mainly in North and South America. In the USA, he has conducted the orchestras of Baltimore, Callas, Houston, St. Louis and Washington DC. Since 2008 Valdés has been chief conductor of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra; last year he was appointed the artistic director of the National Youth Orchestra of Chile. For the label Naxos, Valdés dedicates himself to recording Spanish and South American composers. He has recorded the complete symphonic works of Joaquin Rodrigo as well as pieces by Manuel de Falla, Jesús Rueda and Julián Orbón.
Born in Santiago de Chile in 1964, Luis Orlandini studied at the University of Chile from 1979 to 1986, then with Eliot Fisk at the Cologne Academy of Music. Winning the International ARD Music Competition in 1989 paved the way for his international career: ever since, the guitarist has performed regularly in Berlin, Paris and London, but also in Moscow, Tokyo and Buenos Aires. Among his CD productions, the works of Joaquin Rodrigo stand alongside Mauro Giuliani’s Rossinianas and Fernando Sor’s Fantasias. In his homeland, Orlandini has given world premieres of no less than 50 works by Chilean composers, including many commissions, and has edited an anthology of guitar music by contemporary Chilean composers. In addition to his busy international concert schedule, Luis Orlandini holds a professorship for guitar and chamber music at the University of Chile and at the Papal Catholic University in Santiago de Chile.
"Retratos australes" (2019)
Concert for Guitar and Orchestra (1951)
Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major Op. 55 "Eroica" (1803)
7 pm: Pre-Concert Talk with Anne Kussmaul at the Werner-Otto-Saal
Free admission with concert ticket
PROGRAMME
The first part is Latin American, the second European: such is the calling card of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional Juvenil, the National Youth Orchestra of Chile, for its Young Euro Classic debut at Berlin’s Konzerthaus. This orchestra has existed for more than 25 years already – the tip of an impressive pyramid of no less than 500 youth orchestras throughout Chile. Thus, the young musicians have every reason to consider themselves ambassadors of Chile. They are guided and reinforced by two compatriots: on the one hand by the composer Miguel Farias, whose latest work, Retratos australes, has its premiere on this European tour, and on the other hand the excellent guitarist Luis Orlandini, who has performed all over the world since winning the renowned ARD Music Competition in Munich. After the intermission, Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony graces the programme: part of the complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies at this festival, and a welcome challenge for the young Chileans and their experienced conductor Maximiano Valdés.
Broadcast
This concert will be recorded and broadcast nationwide by Deutschlandfunk Kultur – via FM, DAB +, Kabel, online and app.
