Press Release, August 17, 2025

Full House, Full Sound!

Young Euro Classic 2025 ends with a record 95% of occupied seats and standing ovations for young musicians from more than 36 countries.

Young Euro Classic set standards in 2025 – not just artistically, but also in terms of visitor numbers: with more than 95% of occupied seats and a total of approximately 24,000 visitors, the festival experienced one of its most successful editions ever. From August 1 to 17, sixteen youth orchestras including more than 1,200 musicians from at least 36 countries as well as the German National Youth Ballet made the Konzerthaus on Berlin’s Gendarmenmarkt a place of infinite musical enthusiasm. The ensembles featured in the festival-within-the-festival “FUTURE NOW – Tomorrow’s Traditions Today”, all of them presenting art music of their own classical traditions, also found an eager audience. Buoyed by impressive performances of international youth orchestras and joint music-making with the traditional music ensembles from various regions of the world, and also by the infectiously positive energy of the musicians, the audience took home an encouraging feeling of hope, despite these times of crises.

Resonant Finale: The Afghan Youth Orchestra in Exile

The final evening, on which the Afghan Youth Orchestra in Exile performed under the baton of Tiago Moreira da Silva, was equally moving and brilliant. The young musicians – who were forced to leave their homeland and their music school – have found a new home in Portugal. Since the seizure of power by the Taliban in 2021, this was the first time the full orchestra visited Germany. Its programme combined traditional Afghan music with orchestral arrangements, culminating in the setting of a Persian poem about spring – a powerful message of resilience. 

Dr Ahmad Sarmast, founder of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music: “The Afghan Youth Orchestra’s performance at Young Euro Classic is a powerful act of cultural resistance, sharing Afghan music with the world at a time when it is being silenced at home.”

Sustainable Support for Young Talents

„Young Euro Classic is more than a music festival: it is a living promise to the future,” as Alban Gerhardt and Mathias Hinke, the artistic co-directors of Young Euro Classic, emphasize. Young Euro Classic has always considered itself not merely a stage, but also a bridge between countries, cultures and generations. In 2025, the festival once again offered young musicians the opportunity to make music at the highest level, to forge international contacts and gather valuable experience. The remarkable performances by the conductors, soloists and young musicians, especially in instrument groups such as winds, brass and percussion, demonstrate once again that youth orchestras are increasingly striving for equality.

The 2025 European Composition Award goes to Jay Capperauld

Another highlight at the end of the festival was the awarding of the European Composition Award to Jay Capperauld from Scotland for the work “Galvanic Dances”, performed by The National Youth Orchestra of Scotland under the baton of Catherine Larsen-Maguire. The lay jury led by the conductor and composer Arnaud Arbet praised the composition: “The composer has his own musical language, which sounds very personal, tinged with black humour and a strong dramaturgy. The combination of instruments (solo accordion and orchestra) is original and felicitous. The orchestra is not relegated to the role of accompaniment; instead, accordion and orchestra merge, sounding like a crazy, infernal organ, which is absolutely appropriate to the theme of “Frankenstein”. Cerstin Richter-Kotowski, Undersecretary for Culture in Berlin, presented the award. 

Future Now – Festival within the Festival and newly-composed Encounters

With its successful festival-within-the-festival format “FUTURE NOW – Tomorrow’s Traditions Today”, Young Euro Classic has established another impulse to expand musical horizons – an initiative that met with positive resonance from the audience. Listeners took up pan pipes themselves during the concert of the Bolivian ensemble and delved into the meditative sonic world of Indonesian music from West Java. Musicians from Afghanistan (in exile), India, the Gambia and the Sámi region of Fennoscandia won over audiences with their rich and complex sound worlds, their joyful playing and experimental attitudes.

The fact that written scores are not the be-all and end-all, but spontaneous music-making has a special magic and is also an adventure was demonstrated by the encounters between the ensembles from Bolivia, the Gambia, India, Indonesia and the Sámi Region with members of the symphony orchestras playing the evening concerts. These “dialogues without words” gave artists from different cultures the possibility to develop a shared musical vocabulary from their commonalities and differences.

Europe at Heart – and Beyond

Young Euro Classic 2025 delivered a clear plea for an open, culturally rich Europe. The National Youth Orchestras of Romania (with star violinist Ioana Cristina Goicea), Spain, Scotland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia and France offered outstanding performances – from German premieres to unusual solo instruments and classics. This European display of diversity was flanked by international orchestras, including the European Union Youth Orchestra, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra and the O/Modernt New Generation Symphony Orchestra. Guest orchestras from Armenia and Georgia contributed special accents, including the Tbilisi Youth Orchestra with the 15-year-old pianist Tsotne Zedginidze, who received thunderous applause from the concertgoers.

NEXT GENERATION

The Young Euro Classic youth programme NEXT GENERATION continues to be highly popular. During the Children’s Day at the Konzerthaus, many visitors experienced intriguing concerts, performances and workshops. Mando Beatbox, the European beatboxing champion, gave children an exciting tour of the world of rhythm. The interactive concert “Kanchil and the Crocodiles” by Ravi Srinivasan invited children to fantastical jungle worlds. The vocal workshop by the conductor, composer and music pedagogue Sabine Wüsthoff allowed the participants to get a whole new feeling for their own voice. The workshops presented by QuerKlang and the Resounding Museum Berlin allowed children to build their own instruments or try out instruments. As part of a composition workshop by Berlin’s music initiative QuerKlang, participating children experimented, improvised and composed. The results were presented on the evening of August 9 at the Werner-Otto-Saal of the Konzerthaus Berlin to the interested public.

Streams and Broadcasts

Once again, selected Young Euro Classic concerts were streamed live and recorded for radio.

ARTE CONCERT live-streamed the following concerts, which continue to be available in the media library at www.arteconcert.com:

1. Aug 2025, 7 pm: National Youth Orchestra of Romania

2. Aug 2025, 7 pm: Yerevan Youth Symphony Orchestra

3. Aug 2025, 7 pm: Joven Orquesta Nacional de España

5. Aug 2025, 7 pm: European Union Youth Orchestra

6. Aug 2025, 7 pm: National Youth Orchestra of Scotland

The following concerts were recorded by Deutschlandfunk Kultur and have been or will be broadcast nationally on the dates below, all at 8 pm as part of the “Concert” feature – via radio. online and in the Deutschlandfunk app. After the broadcast, the concerts will be available on demand for 30 days online and in the Deutschlandfunk app.

2. Aug 2025: Yerevan Youth Symphony Orchestra
Broadcast date: Thursday, 07.08.25

9. Aug 2025: Tbilisi Youth Orchestra 
Broadcast date: Tuesday, 12.08.25

14. Aug 2025: National Youth Orchestra of Slovakia
Broadcast date: Sunday, 17.08.25

15. Aug 2025: O/Modernt New Generation Symphony Orchestra
Broadcast date: Thursday, 21.08.25

16. Aug 2025: Orchestre Français des Jeunes
Broadcast date: Sunday, 24.08.25

Acknowledgments

The presenter thanks the Mayor of Berlin and the European Parliament for taking on the patronage for Young Euro Classic. 

Without the support and trust of the festival’s major and long-standing partners, Young Euro Classic could not take place. The presenter thanks the Federal Government, the State of Berlin, the Hauptstadtkulturfonds, the KfW as well as the Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken, the GVL, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Ströer corporation, the high-end audio manufacture Burmester, the Karl Schlecht Foundation, the festival’s media partners, its numerous donors and supporters and its wonderful audience. 

The festival-within-the-festival “FUTURE NOW – Tomorrow’s Traditions Today” was supported by the Lotto Foundation Berlin. The concert of the Karthik Mani India Ensemble took place in cooperation with the Embassy of India, Berlin and the Tagore Centre. 

For making NEXT GENERATION possible, the Festival thanks the Federal Ministry of Families, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. 

Perspective – Tomorrow’s Musicians Today!

Young Euro Classic. Festival of the best youth orchestras of the world 
July 31 to August 16, 2026 at the Konzerthaus Berlin
www.young-euro-classic.de

Download the Press release here.