The year 1998 was an important one for music in the Dominican Republic: inspired by the UNESCO programme “On the Way to a Culture of Peace”, not only the National Organization of Youth and Children’s Orchestras was founded, but also the National Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional Juvenil (OSNJ). Ever since, thousands of young people from all social strata have played in this orchestra. The young musicians have performed not only at the National Theatre and at great concert halls, but also in town halls, churches, parks and many cultural institutions. In this manner, the OSNJ fulfils an important pedagogical and socio-cultural mission in the Caribbean country. This summer, the OSNJ makes its debut at Young Euro Classic at Berlin’s Konzerthaus.
Konzerthaus, Berlin
© SenatKultEuropa
Mayor and Senator for Culture and Europe in Berlin
Dr. Klaus Lederer was born in Mecklenburg in 1974 and spent his childhood and early adolescence in Frankfurt an der Oder.
After the end of the GDR, he was active in leftist youth organizations and joined the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) in 1992.
He spent the 1990s studying law at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin’s law school, where he earned a doctorate, and working for the PDS as a local politician. In December 2005 Klaus Lederer was elected chair of the Berlin Left Party, a position he held until December 2016. From 2003 to January 2017, Dr. Lederer was a member of the Left Party parliamentary group in the House of Representatives, Berlin’s state legislature, and was its spokesperson on legal policy. Dr. Klaus Lederer has been Mayor and Senator for Culture and Europe in Berlin since December 2016.
Born into a family of musicians, Alberto Rincón received his first violin lessons from his father at the early age of four, continuing his education at the Elementary School Elila Mena. Later, he continued his music education at the National Conservatory of Music in Santo Domingo, completing his studies with Yolanda Yankar. In 2010 Rincón initiated a great musical development programme in his Dominican homeland, which culminated in the founding of the youth symphony orchestra “Appassionato filarmonico” and the children’s orchestra “Appassionato juvenile”. In 2016 the conductor was also appointed director of the Organization of Children’s and Youth Orchestras and the National Youth Symphony Orchestra, both supported by the Cultural Ministry of the Dominican Republic. Rincón is also responsible for a musical exchange programme with the University of Hamburg and Samford University in Alabama.
Fantasy Overture for "Romeo and Juliet" (1880)
"El amor brujo" ("Love, the Magician", 1915)
"Punta Cana" (World Premiere)
Symphony No. 9 in E Minor Op. 95 "From the New World" (1893)
PROGRAMME
The National Youth Orchestra of the Dominican Republic, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional Juvenil, presents itself to the Young Euro Classic audience for the first time this year. For this calling card, it has chosen a programme which combines great emotions with colourful orchestral sounds. The evening opens with Piotr Tchaikovsky’s Fantasy Overture Romeo and Juliet, which intensifies the tragic love story in a brilliant composition. Spanish temperament imbues Manuel de Falla’s no less famous Fire Dance, the centrepiece of his ballet suite El amor brujo. Nor can Antonín Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony “From the New World”, which is performed after the intermission, complain of a lack of popularity. And in keeping with the Young Euro Classic tradition, the orchestra from the Dominican Republic also contributes a world premiere to the competition for the European Composers Award.
Broadcast
This concert will be recorded and broadcast nationwide by Deutschlandfunk Kultur – via FM, DAB +, Kabel, online and app.
