Ms. Renate Böck, EFNYO president

General Manager of the Wiener Jeunesse Orchester (WJO)     

Renate studied international business and languages (English, French, Italian) at the Vienna University of Economics and Business graduating with MBA and PhD degrees. She worked as a university assistant and lecturer at the Department of Business English until 1991. She received musical education in piano and singing, and has been a member of the Concentus Vocalis for over 25 years including concert tours throughout Europe, and recordings for radio, TV, and CD.

Since 1989, she has served as general manager of Wiener Jeunesse Orchester (WJO), the national youth symphony orchestra under the patronage of Jeunesses Musicales of Austria. In 1994 she became a co-founder of the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras (EFNYO) aiming at the collaboration of the leading pre-professional youth orchestras in Europe. As an EFNYO board member and later on vice-president, she participated in the European Forum for Music Education and Training (EFMET) in cooperation with the European Music Council (EMC).

Following her appointment as EFNYO president in 2005, she devised the pilot project "MusXchange" for the transnational training and mobility of pre-professional musicians. The project which is now in its fourth cycle, receives co-funding from the European Commission and involves partnerships with EFNYO orchestras, professional orchestras and festivals in Europe and beyond. Between 2012-14, she served as an external expert in the Working Group “Life-Long Learning: Educating for Entrepreneurship” within the POLIFONIA Project of the European Association of Conservatoires (AEC). She has been a member of the board of the Austrian Music Council (Österreichischer Musikrat) since 2008. She is co-founder and co-chair of the "Platform|Youth Orchestras|Austria" which was established in 2016. In recent years, she has broadened WJO's profile to offer further training for aspiring music professionals with regard to stage presence, career planning, entrepreneurship, musicians' health, chamber music, improvisation, engaging with audiences, and outreach skills as part of the new format "WJO Academy".

Renate has engaged in research and publications focusing on youth orchestras, the advancement of young musicians and women in music, among others for the Austrian Music Journal and the International Arts Manager Magazine. She was a member of the editorial team for the handbook “women/music_austria”, published in German/English by the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, Vienna (2009).

Mr. Dionysis Grammenos, EFNYO board member

Director of the Greek Youth Symohony Orchestra (GYSO) 

The young Greek conductor Dionysis Grammenos made his debut at the age of twenty-one with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. He is the founder & artistic director of the Greek Youth Symphony Orchestra (GYSO). Under his leadership the GYSO became member of the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras and has been invited to perform for the opening concert of the Young Euro Classic festival. Since 2020, the GYSO is Orchestra in Residence at Megaron – the Athens Concert Hall.

Recent highlights include his appearance at the Konzerthaus Berlin with Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony, his debut with the Cameristi della Scala & soloist Khatia Buniatishvili, as well as with the Athens State Orchestra for a concert dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the Greek Revolution. Dionysis Grammenos has worked with Orchestras such as the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, together with Johannes Debus on productions of “Eugene Onegin” and “The Abduction from the Seraglio”, Lucerne Festival Strings, Chamber Orchestra of Belgium, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Hofer Symphoniker, Malta Philharmonic, Odessa Philharmonic, Thailand Philharmonic, Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra of Scotland among others.

Initially trained as a clarinetist at the University of Music “Franz Liszt” in Weimar, Grammenos won in 2008 the Grand Prix d’Eurovision from the European Broadcasting Union and the title of “European Young Musician of the Year”. In 2013/14 he was selected for the ECHO Rising Stars program, which took him to some of Europe’s most prestigious venues,  including Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Barbican London, Cite de la Musique and Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Vienna Konzerthaus and the Philharmonie Berlin.

Dionysis Grammenos has been honoured with the Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts and the Gold Medal of the City of Athens. He was selected for the European Young Leaders 2018 programme, under the patronage of Jean-Claude Juncker, which aims to promote a European identity by engaging the most promising talents in initiatives that will shape Europe’s future.

Mr. Saulo Muñiz, EFNYO board member

Artistic Coordinator of the Joven Orquesta Nacional de España (JONDE)

Saulo Muñiz has a Spanish and German cultural background, having lived in both countries and gained a thorough understanding of both cultures.

He studied music and violin in private schools with private teachers. He obtained degrees in sociology, social psychology, documentation and cultural management from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Saulo has also worked as a German-Spanish translator and interpreter, in design, at music publishing houses, for cultural associations, in radio stations, at scientific documentation centers, and in social research.

For the last twenty years, he has worked as an artistic coordinator at the National Youth Orchestra of Spain (JONDE), coordinating the employment of and communication with artistic personnel, the handling of international relations, PR, the orchestra’s publications, databases and new technologies.

Saulo Muniz has served as treasurer of the EFNYO board since March 2006.

Ms. Hollie Grey, EFNYO board member

European Project Manager of the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana (OGI)

Hollie received her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Music with highest honors from the University of Southern Mississippi. She has won prizes in various international voice competitions, including Second Prize in the T.I.M. - International Tournament of Music - of Rome.

She was awarded a prestigious Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Fellowship to conduct post-graduate research and continue her study of opera in Italy. During this period of time, she earned a specialization Diploma in vocal music (opera and da camera) from the G. Frescobaldi Musical Institute of Perugia as well as a Diploma in Italian-English translation from Perugia’s University for Foreigners.

As a recitalist and on the opera stage, Hollie has sung principal roles in operas of Bizet, Verdi, Rossini, Puccini, Mozart, Bernstein and many more in more than 50 cities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

In 2009 Hollie began a collaboration with the esteemed Scuola di Musica di Fiesole (Italy) where she works on European Projects and Productions, including European Project Management for the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana in collaboration with the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras.

Hollie is co-translator of the book Toscana: Una scena incantata by musicologist Cesare Orselli (publisher Giunti Editore), and was guest speaker at the 31^st International Congress of Musicology at the Medici Villa of Artimino.

Hollie has served as secretary of the EFNYO board since 2013.

Mr. Marin Cazacu, EFNYO board member

 Founder and Manager of the Orchestra Română de Tineret (ORT)

Marin studied cello at the Ciprian Porumbescu State Conservatory and was a laureate at international competitions held in Geneva, Markneukirchen, Leipzig and Bologna.

Since 1983, he has been a soloist in the George Enescu Philharmonic and has performed under the batons of several outstanding conductors in Romania, all over Europe, in Asia and the two Americas. He has also performed as a member of various chamber music ensembles in the company of prestigious artists, and his name is seen quite often in the ads of important festivals in Europe and Asia.

Since 1992, he has also worked as a professor at the Bucharest National University of Music. In 1998, he founded the Cellissimo Quartet and Violoncellissimo Ensemble. He has been invited to lead master classes in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Norway, Belgium, Moldova, China, and Austria.

In 1999, Marin set up the International Festival Enescu and the Music of the World, held every summer in Sinaia on the eve of the great musician’s birthday (August 19, 1881). For the organisation of this festival and the foundation of the first national youth orchestra in Romania, the Orchestra Română de Tineret under the baton of Cristian Mandeal, he was given the Project of the Year Award by VIP and Actualitatea Muzicalămagazines in 2008.

In 2004, Marin was honored with the Meritul Cultural (Cultural Merit) Order and Chevalier degree, and was awarded the title of Doctor of Music in 2006. In 2014, he was appointed manager of the Centrul National de Artă Tinerimea Română (Romanian National Youth Art Centre).

Marin has served on the EFNYO board since 2013.

Mr. Ewout van Dingstee, EFNYO board member

 Executive and Artistic Director of the National Youth Orchestras of the Netherlands (NJON)

Ewout van Dingstee studied cello at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe (Germany). Already at a young age he was a dedicated chamber music and orchestra musician. While still studying he was invited regularly as a substitute cellist in many Dutch professional orchestras and shortly after his graduation he won the audition for a permanent position as cellist in the Orkest van het Oosten/Netherlands Symphony Orchestra. Together with his two sisters, both violinists, he founded the successful Van Dingstee Quartet which toured Europe and the United States during over 30 tours.

After having played in professional orchestras for over 15 years he was appointed artistic manager of the Orkest van het Oosten/Netherlands Symphony Orchestra in 2008. While continuing playing as a chamber musician he thus became responsible for the orchestra’s complete artistic management, special projects and educational department. 

In 2013 he was appointed artistic manager of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, where he worked with great conductors such as Valery Gergiev and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Having had the opportunity of learning the profession of orchestral musician as a former member of the National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands (NJO) himself, Ewout returned to the organisation as artistic leader in 2015. Since February 2018 he is appointed both executive and artistic director of the National Youth Orchestra and its own 17 day summer festival, the NJO Muziekzomer. He is also responsible for the merge of the NJO with its “younger sister orchestra”, the Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands for young musical talents aged between 14 and 19 years, into one organisation. Since February 2019 the organisation is serving as a national institute for talent development in orchestra and ensemble playing under the name “National Youth Orchestras of the Netherlands”.

Ewout joined the EFNYO board in 2018.

Ms. Carol Main, EFNYO board member

Founding Director of Live Music Now Scotland and Live Music Now International Development

Carol Main was born and brought up in Fife, Scotland and went on to study Music and English at Edinburgh University and vocal studies at the RSAMD, now RCS. 

She is Founding Director of Live Music Now Scotland and Live Music Now International Development, as well as recently being appointed to lead the new LMN International Co-operation Group across Europe and beyond. She has overseen the growth of the organisation from modest beginnings to a thriving mainstay of Scotland’s music sector, providing professional development for musicians of all genres while widening access to live music through 650 performances and workshops each year.

She was Founding Director of the National Association of Youth Orchestras, and established its Festival of British Youth Orchestras in Edinburgh and Glasgow between 1979 and 2003. She co-founded the European Association of Youth Orchestras and was a founding member of the European Union Cultural Forum. She served on numerous committees of the Scottish Arts Council, and as a Peer Reviewer and funding assessor for Creative Scotland.

In November 2017, Carol completed a six-year term as a Board Director of ABO, with special responsibility for youth ensembles. She is on the Board of Governors of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Chair of The Night With… and Vice-Chair of the Traditional Music Forum. She is a past Chair of Enterprise Music Scotland, Hebrides Ensemble and Vice-Chair of Voluntary Arts Scotland, and was on the first Advisory Council of the Creative Industries Federation. She served almost 20 years as a Board Director of Edinburgh Festival Fringe and was awarded a Herald Archangel at the 2002 Edinburgh Festival. She was appointed MBE for services to music in 2015.

As a freelance journalist, Carol is classical music editor of The List and music reviewer for the Scotsman. She sings with Edinburgh University Renaissance Singers and the Choir of St John’s in Edinburgh.

Ms. Tihana Dovhanj, EFNYO project manager and secretary

Tihana was born and raised in Croatia, where she finished her degree in Piano Studies. During her studies she moved to Vienna, in order to participate in the Erasmus+ Programme. Parallel to her career as a pianist, she started gathering experience in the field of cultural management at renowned institutions such as Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Grafenegg Festival, Mozarthaus Vienna and Grafenegg Academy. She continues to deepen her knowledge by enrolling for a postgraduate MAS Programme in Cultural Management at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, which she will complete by March 2022.

In October 2021 Tihana was appointed project manager and secretary to the EFNYO.

Languages: Croatian, German, English.