Irish Association of Youth Orchestras

HIYF is a unique music and performing arts Festival that offers a richly rewarding opportunity to meet and perform with other ensembles from around the World, across the UK and from the Harrogate and North Yorkshire area.

Since 1973 HIYF has welcomed more than 36,000 participants from 37 countries, with many long term friendships being formed along the way. This is just one of the reasons why HIYF is recognised as one of the leading youth music and performing arts events in the UK.

We provide both a standard programme offering the full 7 day festival attendance, as well as a range of programme extensions allowing you to explore further afield from Harrogate. Why not visit Edinburgh, Oxford, Cambridge or London … or what about travelling to them all?

Packages are created to include all accommodation (from budget hotel accommodation, prestigious private schools to 4 star hotels), meals, travel, local visits and of course participation in a variety of concerts throughout the Festival.

To enquire about participating, click here.

Choir Contact Ireland (CCI) work with youth orchestras and choirs offering them the opportunity to share their love of music with orchestras and choirs from around the world via participation in the young2014prague festival and competition, which runs next year from 27-30 March 2014.

Join choirs, bands, and orchestras from around the world at young2014prague, one of the most culturally diverse and enjoyable European events for young musicians aged 8-26 years.

This festival and competition, now in its 12th year, gives youth choirs, bands and orchestras the unique opportunity to showcase their talent and skill along with over 1,000 other musicians from around the world. All who attend will be enriched by new friendships and enjoy cultural exchanges in the magical city of Prague. Your group may choose to participate in either the competitive or non-competitive section.

Whether you choose to participate in the competition or just simply take part in the non-competitive festival category, this is sure to be a wonderful and educational experience for your choir or orchestra. Whatever category you choose, CCI will work with you to ensure that young20414prague is a wonderful and educational experience for your group.

The European Music Festival for Young People (EMY) takes place this year from the 3rd to the 6th of May 2013 in Neerpelt, Belgium.

More than 3400 young musicians from all over Europe, from the Far East and from the North of Africa have enrolled for this 61st edition of the festival to give the best of themselves before an international, professional jury. Their love of music will quickly make them feel at home in the multicultural framework of EMY.

EMY state that “Our Festival is not a competition but a moment of evaluation, focussing on the balance between musical efforts and mutual fraternization. It is our intention to stimulate youngsters to make music and to realize mutual cultural relations and contacts. Our participants are likely to come to Neerpelt as strangers and to travel back home as friends.”

We would like to thank the European Commission, the Flemish Community, the Province of Limburg, the Town-council of Neerpelt, the numerous sponsors, the friends of the Festival and all volunteers for their structural support to our multicultural music-event. We hope we can rely on an intense co-operation in many more years to come.”

You can find out more information on their website.

The seminar that takes place in Greece is organised in the seaside of Larisa perfecture by the modern conservatory of Larisa and Agia Municipality. The seminar is addressed to musicians, music groups, choirs, orchestras and music lovers. The aim is for the musicians to create new music productions under the supervision of experienced teachers and conductors, via seminars, workshops and lessons.

The seminar that takes place in Serbia is organised by Modern Conservatory of Larisa Greece and the Cultural Center of Smedervo KCC Serbia. The Greek Chamber Orchestra and Choir will participate in the festival as tutors and performers.
Working with the choir and orchestra, they will focus on secular and sacred music of the Renaissance, folk music of the Balkans, modern music and work with the children’s choir.

For more information on how to apply for both of these courses/festivals, please visit the website.

Accademia San Felice is delighted to announce the annual Provençal Festival - now in its 8th year, this unique and exciting project continues to develop each year, offering more and more opportunities for unforgettable concerts and tours for all youth orchestras and ensembles in the spectacular ancient towns and villages of Provence (southern France).

Concerts are organised throughout June, July and August in collaboration with major Town Halls, Music Institutions and prestigious local and regional Festivals in the area. Renowned towns of great historical, artistic and cultural importance offer superb performance venues and dedicated audiences, with magnificent settings in cathedrals, chateaux, main squares, palaces, open-air amphitheatres and concert halls. Sleep, perform and relax in some of the country’s most beloved and inspiring towns, including Aix-en-Provence, Nice, Avignon, Arles, Nimes, Aigues Mortes, Montpellier, Menton, Marseille, Villefranche-sur-Mer… the possibilities for fantastic performances and cultural sight-seeing are endless. The area has been made famous for its close connections with world renowned artists Cezanne, Chagall and Van Gogh, its ancient traditions, glorious coastlines, scenery and irresistible food culture. A week is hardly enough to fit everything in, and each new place you discover will leave you wanting more.

For those orchestras interested in playing a concerto, the Festival is delighted to be able to propose young and talented local soloists with whom to perform. Past co-productions of this kind have included performances of Mozart and Rachmaninov piano concertos and Saint Saens’ cello concerto.

Please contact info@florenceyouthfestival.com with details or proposed tour numbers, dates and repertoire and we will be happy to prepare a draft quote and itinerary for your tour.

For more information, please visit their website.

29th MARCH – 4th APRIL 2013

With the arrival of Easter, the opening of the 40th Harrogate International Youth Festival is only a couple of days away.

This truly international event presents a great programme this year, with acts performing in the Grand Opening Concert including The Cantabile Youth Singers of Kingston, Ontario, Canada. This award-winning teen choir sings a wide range of repertoire from traditional classical and folk-songs to more contemporary experimental works, popular and multi-cultural works.

Also at the Royal Hall will be The Crazy Hoppers – 18 girls and boys between 13 and 20 years who play as a Big Band with Saxophones, Trumpets, Trombones, E-guitar, E-base, E-piano and a Drum-kit.

Community concerts at Ripon Cathedral and Fountains Abbey will showcase the talents of the Grand Prairie Choirs, who will perform both secular and sacred music, The Joven Orquesta de Cuenca from Spain, created with the initiative of a group of students in 1991 focussed on professional development, youth cooperation and classical training, and also Juja Choir from Kenya whose repertoire ranges from Afro Fusion, Contemporary Western Music, Classical and Traditional African Music with one message of uniting the world.

The festival will close with the Grand Finale Concert, bringing together the massed band to perform the specially commissioned piece ‘Inspire’, by Nic Mills.

Further information can be found on their website.

The World Orchestra Festival “One Future” will be held in Vienna, Austria, from July 25th to July 28th, 2013.
The festival will provide a platform for youth symphony orchestras, brass orchestras, folk music ensembles and percussion ensembles from all over the world where they can communicate with each other, learn from each other and hopefully build long-lasting friendships.
The festival is devoted to providing the young generation with top stages for their performances. Among other places, concerts will be held in the Haydn concert Hall (in the home town of Josef Haydn), Liszt Concert Hall (at the birth place of Franz Liszt), and the closing ceremony will be held in the famous Golden Hall of the Musikverein.
For the purpose of the World Orchestra Festival, the organizing committee will invite professors from Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts, principal members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and other famous musicians and educators to give master-classes. By attending master classes, the young participants of the festival get the chance to get in touch with top music educators and profit from their advanced teaching methods.
In addition to the other events, orchestras can chose to participate in the orchestra competition lead by a jury consisting of Prof. Mark Stringer, principal members of the famous Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra as well as famous Austrian musicians and music educators. The jury will lead an international competition in an open, fair and impartial manner.
Website: www.orchestra-festival.org

The 36th Bydgoszcz Musical Impressions will be held in July, from 1st to 6th , 2013. It is an international competition open to ensembles such as choirs, orchestras, instrumental groups, vocal groups and other forms

Just we hosted the young music groups from 35 countries.

They offer the participation in the competition along with a host of other activities, such as concerts, a national evening, a parade, sightseeing in Bydgoszcz and the region, a gymnasium and a swimming pool.

Conditions of participation

· the age of participants – no more than 25 years

· the repertoire of the competition 15-30 minutes

· one Polish piece in this repertoire obligatory

· Fee – €60 euro per person

The detailed information (regulations, application and the gallery) is available on the website.

[It has been brought to our attention that the Ahrensburg Youth Orchestra Festival management team are inviting IAYO member orchestras to submit applications to take place in their next Festival in 2014. See letter below for more details]

“Dear IAYO members, My name is Jens Voss, and I am the chairman of the Support Association of the Youth Orchestras of Ahrensburg (Verein Jugendorchester Ahrensburg). Ahrensburg is a small city approximately 30 kilometers North-East of Hamburg (Germany) and is the home of a quite renowned Youth Symphony Orchestra as well as several “preliminary” orchestras. Since 1986, my association has been organizing a chamber orchestra festival which has taken place every two years. During a period of 5 days, the Ahrensburg Youth Symphony Orchestra is welcoming three orchestras from Germany and other countries and is hosting a number of concerts with them. In addition, the guest orchestras have the opportunity to go on sight-seeing tours to Hamburg and will be invited to a great common party. During their stay, the guest musicians are accomodated and catered for privately, so the only noteworthy expense for the participating orchestras is the journey to Ahrensburg and back. We attempt to have at least two orchestras from different foreign countries in order to emphasise the international character of the festival. In particular, we are looking for ensembles with good (or very good) musical level, interesting repertoire (ideally at least partially by composers of their own country), manageable size (something between 20 and 40 players), and ages of approximately between 12 and 30 years. The next festival will take place from Thursday, March 27th to Monday, March 31st in 2014. Would you know of an IAYO member orchestra that might be interested in participating in next year\’s festival in Ahrensburg? Kind regards, Jens Voss jens.voss@vjoa.de http://www.vjoa.de”

The 1st international Youth Orchestra Festival in Israel (YOFI) will take place between the 2nd of June to the 13th of July 2013. Applications are open to orchestras and ensembles to partake in the festival, which will be held in towns and venues across the northern and central regions of the country.

General information regarding the festival can be found here.