Press Release, July 29, 2025

The Sound of the Future!

Young Euro Classic begins on August 1

For its 26th edition, Young Euro Classic once again offers a highly diverse festival programme, featuring youth orchestras from all over the world. From August 1 to 17, the audience at the Konzerthaus Berlin can enjoy 17 evening concerts and six ensemble concerts. Classical, jazz, dance, symphonic works, older masterworks and German premieres combine in a musical experience conveying the European idea of liberty, equality and solidarity in all its topicality. On the Festival weekends, the ensemble concerts that form part of the festival-within-the-festival “FUTURE NOW – Tomorrow’s Traditions Today” offer insights into the traditional music cultures of Bolivia, Indonesia, The Gambia, Afghanistan (in exile), India and the Sami Region.

“Every summer, Young Euro Classic brings together musicians from all over the world, giving us a taste of the future. The energy and passion of these outstanding artists shows us that tomorrow’s orchestras are radiant and energetic. They have a mission to fulfil through the compelling power of classical music. As a European cultural metropolis, Berlin is the perfect location for this window onto the world!” says Sarah Wedl-Wilson, Berlin’s Senator for Culture and Social Cohesion.

Europe at Heart

The focus of this year’s edition of Young Euro Classic is on Europe as part of a musically rich world. In the evening concerts, the orchestras act as a beacon for the vibrant and rich traditions of Europe – in these unquiet times, when people are losing their homelands and misinformation causes discord and a lack of empathy. The diversity and the many connections between these traditions are illustrated by the national youth orchestras from European countries, which are participating this season in great numbers. The festival’s opening night features the National Youth Orchestra of Romania (Aug. 1), conducted by the young Austrian Katharina Wincor and including a solo performance by the Romanian violinist Ioana Cristina Goicea. The Joven Orquesta Nacional de España (Aug. 3) has demonstrated its outstanding quality numerous times at Young Euro Classic. This year, it plays works by Igor Stravinsky and Isaac Albéniz, in addition to a German premiere by the young composer Fabià Santcovsky. After a long hiatus, the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland returns to the Festival on Aug. 6. Its programme includes a work for accordion – an instrument rarely heard in classical concerts – in a German premiere. The Bundesjugendorchester or National Youth Orchestra of Germany (Aug. 11) performs Gustav Mahler’s Fourth and Leonard Bernstein’s First Symphony, as well as a recent work by the Turkish composer Fazil Say. From the Netherlands, the Nationaal Jeugdorkest (Aug. 12) plays works by Wagner and Prokofiev, but also the 2012 piece HandsFree by Anna Meredith, for which the musicians will put down their instruments. One of the oldest national youth orchestras is the Norwegian Ungdomssymfonikerne (Aug. 13), returning once again under the baton of its chief conductor Johannes Gustavsson. The group of national youth orchestras is completed by the National Youth Orchestra of Slovakia, conducted by the Frenchwoman Sophie Dervaux on Aug. 14, and the Orchestre Français des Jeunes, led by the Estonian conductor Kristiina Poska on Aug. 16.

Beyond Borders

The fact that Europe’s musical riches can only gain from international encounters is also reflected by the international orchestra formations. The epitome of pan-European harmony is the European Union Youth Orchestra (Aug. 5), which provides orchestral highlights almost every year at Young Euro Classic. Another international orchestra is the renowned Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra (Aug. 8). The O/Modernt New Generation Symphony Orchestra (Aug. 15) unites young talents from all over the Baltic Sea region and combines old and new repertoire in unusual ways under the baton of its founder Hugo Ticciati.

European neighbours also maintain classical traditions of their own. Cases in point are the Armenian Yerevan Youth Symphony Orchestra in its Festival debut (Aug. 2) and the Tbilisi Youth Orchestra from Georgia (Aug. 9). The latter features the pianist Tsotne Zedginidze as a soloist – a rising star at the age of only 15.

Music of Hope

From its founding, Young Euro Classic has stood up for a Europe where various cultural influences have found, and continue to find, a home. Hardly a youth orchestra illustrates the importance of this as clearly as the Afghan Youth Orchestra in Exile (Aug 17). After the only music school in Afghanistan was closed and looted by the Taliban in 2021 and all music-making outlawed, the musicians escaped to Portugal – the only country to offer them asylum.

Jazz and Dance

As special notes, the Young Euro Classic programme also includes jazz and dance. The JM Jazz World Orchestra makes its Festival debut on Aug. 7 under the artistic leadership of Luis Bonilla, playing tailor-made arrangements. The German Bundesjazzorchester (Aug. 10) dedicates its performance to music by artists persecuted by the Nazis, for example Bronisalv Kaper and Friedrich Hollaender. Finally, the Bundesjugendballett, a perennial audience favourite, presents choreographies from its comprehensive repertoire on Aug. 4. 

Festival within the Festival: “FUTURE NOW – Tomorrow’s Traditions Today”

For the third time, Young Euro Classic presents a “festival within the festival”: entitled “FUTURE NOW – Tomorrow’s Traditions Today”, this season six extraordinary ensembles from Bolivia, Indonesia, Afghanistan (in exile), India, The Gambia and the Sami cultural region bring the “classic” music cultures of their homelands to the stage. On the Festival weekends – always at 5 pm – musical innovation from diverse cultural perspectives can be heard and experienced. Apart from the Afghan Azada Ensemble (in exile), which performs at the Französische Friedrichstadtkirche, all ensemble concerts take place at the Werner-Otto-Saal of the Konzerthaus Berlin. A new feature this season are the encounters between the FUTURE NOW ensembles and musicians from some of the orchestras performing at Young Euro Classic – always on the evening preceding the ensemble’s performance. These encounters feature musical dialogues between various cultural backgrounds and musical traditions – without pre-arranged scores and with plenty of creative freedom. The programme for the festival-within-the-festival can be found here.

NEXT GENERATION

NEXT GENERATION, the Young Euro Classic youth programme, is highly popular. On August 9, 2025, on the Young Euro Classic Children’s Day, the Konzerthaus Berlin will transform into a living soundscape for children and young people aged 3 and up. Mando Beatbox, the European beatboxing champion, performs his concert “Disco Lips”, demonstrating how rhythm and melody can be created with the voice alone. The fairy-tale concert “Kanchil and the Crocodiles” with Ravi Srinivasan takes the young audience on an adventure in the jungle. During a vocal workshop with Sabine Wüsthoff, the former director of the Berlin Girls’ Chorus, young and older visitors can get to know their own voices better. The music educators from the Resounding Museum and the QuerKlang programme invite young people to try out instruments and even build them themselves. The NEXT GENERATION 2025 programme begins with the composition workshop by QuerKlang, offering insights into the art of composing from August 4 to 8, 2025. The complete programme is available here.

European Composition Award

Since its beginnings, the European Composition Award has been an integral part of Young Euro Classic. Carrying a cash value of 5,000 Euros, the prize is presented by the Mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner, to the best world or German premiere performed during the Festival. A jury consisting of amateur volunteers chooses the winning composition from this year’s eligible works. The jury chairman this year is the composer and conductor Arnaud Arbet. The seven eligible compositions can be found here.

Acknowledgments

The presenter thanks the Mayor of Berlin and the European Parliament for taking on the patronage of 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 company 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” is supported by the Lotto Foundation Berlin. The concert by the Karthik Mani India Ensemble is presented in cooperation with the Indian Embassy Berlin and the Tagore Centre.

For making NEXT GENERATION possible, the Festival thanks the Federal Ministry for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.

Tomorrow’s musicians today!
Young Euro Classic. The Festival of the World’s Best Youth Orchestras 
August 1-17, 2025 at the Konzerthaus Berlin
The detailed Festival programme is available from April 10 at:
www.young-euro-classic.de

Please note: all evening concerts begin at 7 pm in 2025!

Ticket price categories 36 € / 27 € / 16 € (plus advance ticketing fees).
Tickets can be purchased via the Young Euro Classic website, the Ticket Hotline 
(+49 / (0)30 / 8410 8909, Monday to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm) and at all regular ticket sales points.
Festival within the Festival “FUTURE NOW”: all individual tickets 18 €
Festival Pass for all five “FUTURE NOW” concerts: 70 €
Festival Pass for a selection of three “FUTURE NOW” concerts: 45 €

Download the Press release here.