YES - YOUNG EUROPE SINGS
MODULES
MODULE 1
SLOVENJ GRADEC (SLOVENIA)
August 21st - 27th, 2023
A week at the city of birth of Hugo Wolf
The first module of the "YES! Young Europe Sings" Lied Academy took place between the 21 and 27 August 2023 in the hometown of Hugo Wolf, Slovenj Gradec, in Slovenia. The masterclasses and group-sessions were held in the Music School of the city (Glasbena sola Slovenj Gradec) and the birth house of Hugo Wolf.
Tutors and Topics
The 18 young participants from France, Slovenia and Germany were able to get personal lessons in song interpretation with teachers such as Nejc Lavrenčič, Mojca Vedernjak, Juliette de Massy, while in groups they were able to work on topics of "Management" and "Canvas" (Maja Drobne and Sonja Čandek). The director of the Hugo Wolf Foundation led the musicians at the Hugo Wolf Museum and the former president of the Foundation Marko Košan guided the young musicians in the beautiful city with a long history. The focus of the module will be on Songs of Hugo Wolf, Franz Schubert and female composers,
Public events
The module has begun with a recital Extasy of Madness by the lecturers Juliette de Massy and Nejc Lavrenčič. Final concert of participants will be on 26th August in the Hugo-Wolf House.
MODULE 2
GÖRLITZ (GERMANY)
January 11th - 17th, 2024
Culture of Rememberence and
German Romantics
Görlitz is the easternmost city in Germany and is divided by the river Neisse and connected by the Europa Bridge with the Polish city of Zgorzelec. This exceptional feature makes it a symbol of European understanding and the processing and overcoming of war trauma between neighbouring countries. At the same time, Saxony is an important cultural landscape for music and literature, especially the Romantic period.
Tutors and Topics
Lectures of the 2nd YES module have concentrated on two topics - songs of Robert Schumann, born in near Zwickau in Saxony, and “verboten und verbannt / forbidden and persecuted” music with a focus on 20th century, composers who mostly spent their life and worked in exile and many of whom were unfortunately murdered in concentration camps.
Lessons in art song literature were given by the pianist Doriana Tchakarova and the baritone Prof. Thilo Dahlmann, pianist, Nejc Lavrenčič, Eleni Ioannidou and Juliette de Massy.
Public events
Final concert of YES participants took place on 16th January at Miejski Dom Kultury w Zgorzelcu. The tutors Thilo Dahlmann and Doriana Tchakarova gave a Liederabend with Franz Schubert´s "Winterreise" on day Saturday, January 13th in Johannes-Wüsten-Saal (Barockhaus) in Görlitz. Both concert begin at 18 o'clock.
MODULE 3
POITIERS (FRANCE)
August 27th - September 2nd, 2024
The third and final module of YES place in Poitiers, a small, dynamic provincial city located in Nouvelle Aquitaine, with a large university and therefore a great vitality and historically remarkable for its place in the Middle Ages as a capital with a magnificent city center, remarkable Romanesque churches and the palace of the Dukes of Aquitaine.
Tutors and topics
Juliette de Massy, Emmanuel Olivier, Eleni Ioannidou and Nejc Lavrenčič worked with duos on French repertoire and also on giving the final touch to the songs that will be performed at the final individual projects. Nejc Lavrenčič for the last time guided two sessions of Hidden potential of music, this time concentrating on improvisation as well as Rasa box laboratory. Nathalie Brissonnet provided a morning pilates workshop under the pine trees of Jardin des Plantes.
Public events
Juliette de Massy and Emmanuel Olivier gave a stunning song recital Poets and composers in exile with works of Eisler/Brecht, Poulenc/Apollinaire, Weill/Whitman at the Musée Sainte Croix.
One of the highlights was a concert at nursery home for elderly people Les feuillants. It seems essential to us at the present time to reach out to audiences who cannot travel to concert halls and to create connections between people. We have finished the last module with Final Concert of YES Participants at Auditorium Saint Germain - a celebration of arts and our YES project where everyone preseneted a selection of songs in French, German and Slovene language. 18 young musicinas and their mentors have formed at the end a choir and sang all together.