The Brave Eight

There are many international organizations with a focus on young people. Without a doubt, the youth of today will be shaping the world of tomorrow. One such organization is Jeunesses Musicales Internationales (JMI) [International Musical Youth]. As described by UNESCO, JMI is the world’s largest organization focusing on young musical talents.

JMI was established in 1945 under the aegis of UNESCO. It has since added 41 national divisions (a country may be represented in JMI by a musical organization: a foundation, competition, or festival). Every year JMI holds over 30,000 musical events in 3,000 locations worldwide, such as concerts, training camps, seminars, festivals, competitions, etc.

JMI projects, like the World Youth Symphony Orchestra and the World Youth Choir, have earned this organization the UNESCO Artist for Peace Award.

This past June, JMI Secretary General Dag Franz О n suggested that the International Charitable Foundation of the Vladimir Horowitz Competition represent Ukraine in this prestigious organization. Foundation President Yury Zilberman visited the JMI Annual General Assembly and Congress in Croatia’s Grojznan in August 2004 to better familiarize himself with JMI activities.

Grojznan was an apt choice as a venue for the assembly. Not only is it a small picturesque town high up in the mountains, but also a genuine artistic center. Croatia’s Ministry of Culture and Arts handpicked it to serve as an exclusive venue for exhibitions, concerts, meetings, and conferences for the arts community. There are 31 art galleries in this town of only eighty permanent residents. The venue of the assembly was best suited to the creative and informal atmosphere of the General Assembly that drew representatives from two dozen countries.

This year’s assembly addressed the question of recruiting new performers for the World Youth Symphony Orchestra. The idea to create this orchestra originated in the late 1940s. Between 1949 and 1969 it performed at every annual JMI assembly. In 1970 the Canadian Gilles Lefebvre proposed turning this “conference orchestra” into a professional touring orchestra composed of the best musicians from JMI member countries, who would perform under the direction of highly-skilled conductors.

Thousands of musicians aged 18 to 27 from 45 countries have performed with the orchestra in many countries worldwide. It quickly earned a reputation for being a highly-professional orchestra and came to symbolize international understanding and cooperation. In 1996 the orchestra was honored with the title of UNESCO Artist for Peace.

Over the years the JMI World Orchestra has enlisted many prominent conductors, such as Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur, and Yakov Kreizberg, who have helped the young musicians learn from top professionals.

The orchestra has performed in the world’s major concert halls (including a decade of winter concerts at the Berlin Philharmonic). The new JMI orchestra will be based in Valencia (Spain). Its first tour has been slated for the summer of 2005, with performances in Valencia, Castello, Altea, Barcelona, Ronda, Vienna, Hong Kong, and Beijing.

The Horowitz Foundation has been invited to take part in the JMI project to select musicians for the World Youth Symphony Orchestra. The foundation launched an extensive information campaign and received 35 applications from violinists, cellists, double bassists, and flutists from Donetsk, Odesa, Simferopol, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Bila Tserkva. Famous Ukrainian conductors were on the jury.

The auditioning was held on December 12 at Kyiv’s Gliere State College of Music. The jury selected eight young musicians who will continue to compete for spots in the JMI orchestra in Spain:

Violin — Dzhamilia Shaikhatarova (Sevastopol) and Khrystyna Krekhovetska (Kyiv);

Viola — Valentyna Hnida (Kyiv) and Polina Kruglova (Kyiv);

Violoncello — Mykhailo Babych (Kyiv) and Stepan Makiyenko (Odesa);

Double bass — Ivan Zavhorodniy (Odesa);

Flute-Anton Kushnir (Kyiv).

We offer our congratulations to the winners and hope that the worthiest of them will be selected to represent Ukraine in the JMI World Youth Orchestra. The results will not be known until February.

Next in line is another JMI project, the International Youth Wind Orchestra. Auditions for the new orchestra will begin in 2006.