European Federation of National Youth Orchestras

[ MusXchange 2009-2011 | 2012-2014 ]

EFNYO mobility of pre-professional musicians programme "MusXchange":

The programme was developed in 2009 by the EFNYO as a network of 25 pre-professional youth orchestras covering 22 countries in the EU. One of its major objectives is the organisation of joint projects which take the cultural diversity of Europe as their starting point and involve networking between all EFNYO members and related partner institutions in the sectors of music education and music profession throughout Europe.

MusXchange aims at reducing a deficit in the training of young musicians resulting from a lack of support to short-term mobility programmes in professional orchestra and ensemble training. The project is based on 15 years of experience of EFNYO members involved in musicians' exchanges with partner orchestras throughout Europe. Recognising the special characteristics of education and performance in music, MusXchange offers efficient methods of enhancing short-term mobility of young musicians to support their career paths on the European labour market. The experiences of participating in orchestra/ ensemble projects of durations between 10 days to 6 weeks, widely contribute to their competitiveness, diversification of social, language and intercultural skills, and perfomance practices as professional musicians.

The programme MusXchange 2009-2011 was supported as a pilot project under a special budget line provided by the EU Parliament called "Support to transnational mobility programmes in the field of culture".

Following MusXchange 2009-2011, the EFNYO has successfully applied for a second cycle of the MusXchange programme 2012-2014. The new programme will see exchange projects for another 130 young musicians between 8 co-organisers and 4 associated partners from among EFNYO membership, and is supported by the EU budget line Cooperation projects.

MusXchange 2009-2011: Description and final reports

1. Implementation of the exchange projects:

The programme covered 118 individual short-term training projects for young musicians sent and hosted within the EFNYO network over a period of 24 months between December 2009 and November 2011. The training projects were coordinated and administered by the EFNYO secretariat (Vienna, Austria), and implemented with the participation of six co-organisers:
Joven Orquesta Nacional de Espana
Orchestre Francais des Jeunes
Orchestra Giovanile Italiana
Wiener Jeunesse Orchester
National Youth Orchestras of Scotland
Sinfonia Iuventus Warsaw
At the same time, MusXchange seeks to involve all national EFNYO member orchestras and further professional training institutions such as music universities/conservatoires and music centres, especially in EU-countries where national youth orchestras do not (yet) exist.

2. Methodology and evaluation:

As a pilot project, MusXchange employs innovative methodology and extensive evaluation methods including questionnaires to musicians, reports from orchestra managers, case studies on selected students' career paths, and formal documentation for the orchestras and the musicians (e.g. the issuing of certificates by adjusting the concept of the "mobility pass" to the music sector).

3. Sustainability and collaboration with the professional sector and the EU Commission:

As MusXchange focuses on the sustained improvement of qualifications of future professional musicians, it is essential to make these achievements visible to the professional sector. EFNYO therefore intends to particularly strengthen links to European professional orchestras' networks, orchestras' associations, promoters and festivals. The results of the two-year programme are supposed to render valuable recommendations to the EU Commission with respect to the benefits of short-term mobility projects to the entire sectors of music training and music profession in the EU.