Bundesjugendorchester
(National youth orchestra
of Germany)
The Stiftung Schloss Neuhardenberg foundation will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The events diary marks this special jubilee with a programme of performances on the open-air stage in the Neuhardenberg castle park from 21 June to 3 July 2022. One of the highlights of this programme will be the concert by the Bundesjugendorchester, the national youth orchestra of Germany, whose partner orchestra is the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. Taking its inspiration from the Bundesjugendorchester, it was established six years ago. The Bundesjugendorchester concert at Neuhardenberg hosted by the Schloss Neuhardenberg foundation will be a benefit concert. The income from the admission ticket sales will benefit the families of the Ukrainian youth orchestra's members. A few young musicians from Ukraine will also perform together with the Bundesjugendorchester.
To make a stand for the defence of democracy and humaneness, the actor Jutta Hoffmann will read texts written by the Prussian state chancellor Karl August Fürst von Hardenberg and Carl-Hans von Hardenberg, who was actively involved in the failed attempt on Hitler's life on 20 July 1944.
Germany's national youth orchestra Bundesjugendorchester is the country's youngest top orchestra. Its members are up-and-coming young musicians aged fourteen to nineteen; its patron is the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. It was established by the German Music Council in 1969. Conductors such as Andris Nelsons, Ingo Metzmacher or Kirill Petrenko have already stood on its podium; its Honorary Guest Conductor is Sir Simon Rattle. It has also been joined by soloists such as Christian Tetzlaff, Tabea Zimmermann, Sting and Peter Maffay. The orchestra has toured all over Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa. Conducted by Kurt Masur, the ensemble performed a concert in New York to mark the 50th anniversary of the Berlin airlift. It has drawn attention to the ecological conditions in India within the scope of the Embrace Our Rivers public art project, and has supported music education projects in the Soweto township in South Africa. The orchestra's concert in the Neuhardenberg Castle park will be conducted by Josep Caballé Domenech, Music Director of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic and chief conductor of the Moritzburg Festival Orchestra. Jan Vogler is one of the great cellists of our times. He regularly performs as a soloist at all of the major concert halls and together with the most important conductors and orchestras; he has also collaborated with many famous fellow artists in the course of his chamber music work. He is also the director of the Dresden and the Moritzburg festivals.
The stage and movie actress Jutta Hoffmann appeared in many of the great DEFA films. After leaving the GDR, she performed at theatres in Munich, Hamburg and Salzburg to great acclaim. Following the reunification of Germany, she starred in numerous TV and film productions. The concert is made possible by the generous support of the DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale, one of the Bundesjugendorchester's main sponsors.
