Looking back at Season 2026
On August 16, the final concert of Young Euro Classic 2026 came to an end. More than two inspiring weeks of music, encounters, and special moments are now behind us, and we are grateful for everything we experienced together.
There are festivals that primarily celebrate their own traditions. And there are festivals that show what the future looks like. For many years, Young Euro Classic has belonged to this second category.
An emotional opening
From the very opening concert and the subsequent audience festival with musicians from the Bundesjugendorchester and the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, a sense of openness and enthusiasm was palpable – musical excellence at the highest level combined with an unbridled joy of making music together.
Seven piano concertos demonstrated the versatility of this instrument. The soloists Giorgi Gigashvili, Illia Ovcharenko, Joseph Moog, Kirill Gerstein, Sun Yutong, Özgür Ünaldı and Shaislam Komildjanov brought the grand piano to life, each with different colours and individual sounds.
Music That Moved Us
Jong Metropole got everyone in the mood for dancing with its groovy Latin American sounds, while conductor Jacomo Bairos immediately captivated the audience with his positive energy. This energy carried through into the evening featuring the Orchestra of the Americas and the Penderecki Youth Orchestra, when twelve percussionists took over the second half of the concert and the audience could no longer contain itself. It was an evening that many will remember as a highlight of the festival.
Once again, there were particularly moving moments with the Jovem Orquestra Portuguesa and the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. Both concerts made the resistance to war and oppression palpable and demonstrated how powerfully music can take a stand. During the Portuguese ensemble’s sung encores, the entire orchestra joined in with two Portuguese anti-war songs. Eyes were shining both on stage and in the audience – a moment that will resonate for a long time to come.
Positivity, Laughter and a Joyful Spirit of Participation
The NEXT GENERATION Children’s Day was also full of captivating moments – for example, when the Vokalhelden invited the audience to sing along with infectious energy, or when Suli Puschban & die Kapelle der Guten Hoffnung made the Grand Hall of the Konzerthaus reverberate with uplifting and empowering songs. With the support of BlockBox Musikstudio, the young audience even composed a new summer anthem. Explore this season's Children's Day!
In Dialogue with Other Cultures
International encounters were a defining feature of the festival throughout. This was particularly evident in the German-Indian encounter, in which Jakob Manz and his trio, together with Karthik Mani and his ensemble, immersed themselves in each other’s musical language:
“The jazz musicians excelled in embracing the Indian musical idiom, while the Indian rhythms added even more groove. The result is a successful symbiosis that also encouraged the consistently enthusiastic audience to sway, dance and clap along […] Conclusion: More of this, please!”
Marleen Hoffmann, Berliner Morgenpost, 13 August 2026
Musical Surprises
There were plenty of musical surprises along the way: when the Ulster Youth Orchestra played a bodhrán (a traditional Irish drum) during their encore; when a musician from the Orchestra of the Americas used a seashell as an instrument; when Lauri Porra seamlessly blended his electric bass with the Slovenian Youth Orchestra’s sometimes gentle, sometimes energetic orchestral sound; when the EUYO played their final encore while dancing on stage; or when the Estonian National Opera Boys’ Choir celebrated its YEC debut with the wryly arranged Eurovision hit – and now YEC hit – “Espresso Macchiato”.
New Perspectives, New Sounds
There were further special musical moments at the FUTURE NOW Musical Diaries concerts: two orchestral musicians from Luxembourg joined forces with the Vietnamese duo Lách Tách to present their collaborative composition, while ni-va & Stellan Veloce took the audience on an electronic and semi-acoustic musical journey featuring texts by Mercedes Sosa. These concerts opened up new sound worlds for the audience – future music in every sense.
You can find out more about the FUTURE NOW Musical Diaries concerts here.
As festively as the season began, so festively did it come to an end: with an Italian flair, the AYSO – Accademia Youth Symphony Orchestra from Italy brought the festival to a close. A particular highlight was the presentation of the 2026 European Composition Prize to César Rafael for his work Saudades, só portugueses. The audience then bid farewell with a standing ovation, heading out into the mild summer evening.
17 Days, 25 Concerts
These are just a few highlights from a festival filled with special encounters, moving moments and unforgettable musical experiences. We would like to thank the Bundesjugendorchester, Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Orchestre des Jeunes du Luxembourg, European Union Youth Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, Orchestra of the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music, Jong Metropole, Jovem Orquestra Portuguesa, National Youth Symphony Orchestra of Türkiye, Suli Puschban & die Kapelle der Guten Hoffnung, Ravi Srinivasan, Vokalhelden,Youth Symphony Orchestra of Turkmenistan, MOHIRON, JISR, L´ach T´ach, ni-va& Stellan Veloce, &ñịoن, Orchestra of the Americas & Penderecki Youth Orchestra, The Jakob Manz-Karthik Mani Project, Ulster Youth Orchestra, Slovenian Youth Orchestra, Vokalhelden, Angelika Prokopp Summer Academy of the Vienna Philharmonic, Estonian National Opera Boys’ Choir, and AYSO – Accademia Youth Symphony Orchestra for these wonderful evening concerts!