The rich blend of strings, wind instruments and percussion reverberated through Pick-Staiger Concert Hall Tuesday night as members of the European Union Youth Orchestra displayed their talents to the packed auditorium.
“They play like a professional orchestra,” said EUYO Music Director Vladimir Ashkenazy. “The level is so high, you just can’t believe it.”
The EUYO consists of 116 musicians from all 27 European Union nations, and its NU performance marked the last stop on its spring tour, “Europe’s Rising Stars in Concert with America.” The orchestra has not had a U.S. tour since 1988, said Alix de Mauny, the orchestra’s development and marketing manager.
The EUYO accepts auditions from musicians aged 14 to 24, and the average age of the current group is 21 years, de Mauny said. The orchestra normally takes a spring and summer tour every year. Most members are music students, and these tours correspond with their school breaks, she said.
EUYO violinist Maria Podhajska studies at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. She said the age of EUYO’s members benefits the orchestra.
“We are at the beginning of our careers,” she said. “We are still very fresh and full of ideas.”
Joining the EUYO is a competitive process, Podhajska said, and every year, current orchestra members must re-audition to stay in the group. About 3,000 musicians try out every year, de Mauny said.
“Everybody’s there because they want to be there,” Podhajska said. “You can really feel the passion.”
The evening at Pick-Staiger also featured the NU Symphonic Choir and several NU faculty member musicians, who performed with the EUYO during the first piece .
Russian native Ashkenazy conducted the orchestra. A distinguished conductor and musician, he has been the EUYO’s music director since 2000. Pianist Yefim Bronfman, who was awarded NU’s Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance for 2010, joined the orchestra during the second piece. The performance received a standing ovation.
“We’re joining forces with a wonderful group of musicians and a world-renowned conductor, so all that’s very exciting,” said Alan Chow, associate professor of piano in the Bienen School of Music, who participated in the event.
Podhajksa hails from Gdansk, Poland, and joined the EUYO in 2010. This tour marks her first visit to the United States. She said she has enjoyed the liveliness of American audiences.
“As young performers, it’s nice to get very enthusiastic, strong applause,” Podhajska said.
The EUYO’s spring tour took the musicians to famous venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., but it also visited the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Indiana University.
“It’s sort of our duty to give young people as much music as possible,” Ashkenazy said.
Bienen sophomore Seth Kelley, who attended the concert, praised the EUYO’s performance.
“To have them specifically here at Northwestern is an awesome opportunity for the music students to hear a group of young musicians from another country that represent awesome musicianship,” he said.
