History
Since 1994, the Cultural and Social Foundation International Young Orchestra Academy foundation annually presents charity concerts at Easter. This is in conjunction with the Bayreuther Osterfestival, the Osterfestival Nördliche Oberpfalz, and remote concerts presented in Selb and Bielefeld for the benefit of children suffering from cancer. The foundation was founded by its current chairman, Prof. Dr. Ulrich S. Schubert, and Dr. Andreas Göldel, in co-operation with director August Everding and Australian conductor Sir Charles Mackerras. Every year, the orchestra accepts applications for approximately 110 young musicians from over 30 nations worldwide. The foundation has three main aims: primarily to help and support children suffering from cancer; secondly, to give young talented musicians from all over the world the ability to study and make music together; and, thirdly, to promote musical cultures. All the proceeds from the concerts go to support charity.
In 2007, a curatorship of the Young Orchestra Academy foundation was created. Members include: Peter Hahne, deputy director of ZDF television, Berlin; stage director Katharina Wagner; Prof. Claus Hipp, a freelance artist; Dagmar Wöhrl, parliamentary undersecretary at the Ministry of Economic Affairs & Technology; and, Dr. Manfred Spindler, Degussa Corporation board member.
Workshops
In workshops lasting two weeks, the intended concert programme is studied by the young musicians in their orchestral sections, under the guidance of coaches who are themselves renowned musicians. The coaches are drawn from the Musik Hochschule in Cologne, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the ROS Frankfurt-am-Main, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.
During the two weeks' workshop, the players then also come together in tutti rehearsals with the conductor. The conductors include Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez, Christoph Ulrich Meier and Bob Ross. Since the foundation, the Orchestra has given about 260 concerts in Germany and Europe. The programme usually includes (among other works) a great symphonic piece of the 19th century.
The young musicians also have the opportunity to play in the opera orchestra—the Bayreuth Easter Festival presented an opera for the first time in 2007, conducted and directed by Christoph Ulrich Meier—or at Festival-Brass (directed and conducted by Bob Ross, Blechschaden). In addition, there are Jazz and Salon orchestra workshops.
- Scholarships
Talented musicians who cannot afford to participate in the Academy have the opportunity to obtain a scholarship. Most of the scholarships are made possible by the Friends of the Bayreuth Easter Festival ("Freunde des Bayreuther Osterfestivals e.V").
Dame Janet Abbott Baker is an English mezzo-soprano best known as an opera, concert, and lieder singer.
Mariss Ivars Georgs Jansons was a Latvian conductor, best known for his interpretations of Mahler, Strauss, and Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Shostakovich. During his lifetime he was often cited as among the world's leading conductors; in a 2015 Bachtrack poll, he was ranked by music critics as the world's third best living conductor. Jansons was long associated with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra as music director.
Stephen Grady Gould was an American heldentenor and leading interpreter of Richard Wagner's stage works. He performed around 100 times at the Bayreuth Festival, notably as Tannhäuser starting in 2004, and later Siegfried and Tristan. In 2022, his performance in all three roles earned him nicknames such as Iron Man.
The Rückert-Lieder is a collection of five Lieder for voice and orchestra or piano by Gustav Mahler, based on poems written by Friedrich Rückert. Four of the songs were written in the summer of 1901 at Maiernigg, with one completed in the summer of 1902, also in Maiernigg. Both smaller in orchestration and briefer than Mahler's previous Des Knaben Wunderhorn settings, the collection marked a change of style from the childlike, often satirical Wunderhorn settings, to a more lyrical, contrapuntal style. The collection is often linked with the Kindertotenlieder, Mahler's other settings of Rückert's poetry, and with the 5th Symphony, and both were composed concurrently with the collection and contain subtle references to the Rückert-Lieder.
Des Knaben Wunderhorn is a series of songs with music by Gustav Mahler, set either for voice and piano, or for voice and orchestra, based on texts of German folk poems chosen from a collection of the same name assembled by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano and published by them, in heavily redacted form, between 1805 and 1808.
Dame Gwyneth Jones is a Welsh dramatic soprano, widely regarded as one of the greatest Wagnerian sopranos in the second half of the 20th century.
Christian Thielemann is a German conductor. He is currently chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden, and the designated Generalmusikdirektor of the Berlin State Opera.
The Bamberg Symphony is a renowned German orchestra top-class orchestra that has been residing in Bamberg since its foundation in 1946 and travels the world as a touring orchestra.
René Pape is a German operatic bass. Pape has received two Grammys, was named "Vocalist of the Year" by Musical America in 2002, "Artist of the Year" by the German opera critics in 2006, and won an ECHO award in 2009.
This is the discography of Simon Rattle and other produced works by the English conductor.
Walter Hilgers is a German tuba player and conductor. He performs worldwide as orchestral musician, soloist, academic music teacher, arranger and conductor.
Bernd Aldenhoff was a German Heldentenor.
The Bayreuther Osterfestival is an Easter Festival held at Bayreuth in Germany. It has the three aims of raising money for cancer charities, providing experience and opportunities for young musicians, and the promotion of international understanding. It is connected with the work of the International Youth Orchestra Academy, and was founded in 1994.
Christian Gerhaher is a German baritone and bass singer in opera and concert, particularly known as a Lieder singer.
Lyndon Jeffrey Frank Watts is an Australian bassoonist. He is principal bassoonist of the Münchner Philharmoniker and an academic teacher.
Maria Friderike Radner was a German contralto who performed internationally in opera and in concerts. She studied at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf. She was described as an "extremely talented interpreter of Wagner's music" by Stern magazine and Abendzeitung. Possessing the "rare pitch of a true alto", she frequently appeared as Erda in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Leipzig Opera, Schwertleite in Die Walküre at the Teatro Comunale di Firenze with Zubin Mehta, and in Mahler's Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection) conducted by Antonio Pappano in Rome and Milan. Her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 2012 in Götterdämmerung was part of that company's documentary Wagner's Dream.
Petra Lang is a German opera singer. Beginning as a mezzo-soprano, from 2012 a soprano, she is known for her interpretation of music by Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler. She made an international career in both opera and concert. She has performed at the Bayreuth Festival from 2005, singing the title role of Isolde in 2016.
Johannes Martin Kränzle is a German baritone in opera and concert who has made an international career. For years a member of the Oper Frankfurt, he was chosen as Singer of the Year in 2011 after creating the leading role in Wolfgang Rihm's Dionysos at the Salzburg Festival. He made his debut at the Royal Opera House as Don Alfonso in Mozart's Così fan tutte, and at the Bayreuth Festival as Beckmesser in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in 2017.
Patrick Lange is a German conductor.
Mihoko Fujimura is a Japanese operatic mezzo-soprano who made an international career based in Europe. She was recognized internationally after her 2002 debut at the Bayreuth Festival as Fricka in Wagner's Ring cycle. In concert, she performed in Verdi's Requiem and Mahler's Resurrection Symphony. In 2020, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera.
