NEWS | EFNYO General Assembly & Annual Conference takes place in Athens, June 2022, after a two-year break
EFNYO's General Assembly & Annual Conference took place in Athens/Greece between June 9th and June 12th, 2022. EFNYO’s delegates were kindly hosted by our Greek partner, the Greek Youth Symphony Orchestra. The meetings were held in the Library of the Megaron – Athens Concert Hall, which has recently become the residence of GYSO.
The Conference discussions highlighted the importance of in-person meetings after a longer pause due to the pandemic. EFNYO’s members were all facing similar difficulties, which were retrospectively explained during the talks. The value of the exchange based exclusively on Zoom-meetings during this hard period came once more to the fore. We addressed problems with music education in different European countries. We also exchanged some important ideas about employability of young musicians and the need to diversify their skills in order to pursue a successful career as a musician. In further meetings during the conference, we were pleased to welcome esteemed guest speakers, Mrs Eva Lianou, the general manager of John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, and Mr. Janis Vakarelis, the artistic director of Megaron.
Furthermore, not only has EFNYO accepted GYSO as a full national member, Dionysis Grammenos, GYSO’s artistic director, was elected to the EFNYO board. Through GYSO’s very active and professional involvement in the programme MusXchange in the past 4 years of their associated membership, as well as through progress made as a pre-professional youth orchestra, GYSO has proven that it has all it takes to become a full member.
In addition to that, Živa Ploj Peršuh (Slovenian National Youth Orchestra) and Alexandra Zaitseva (Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine) presented their new youth orchestra initiatives and explained they were keen on joining the EFNYO network. They shared some inspiring and moving stories with us, including their most important projects and activities. The General Assembly decided to welcome them as full national members of EFNYO, as of year 2022.
Another round table was dedicated to upcoming projects and the adaptation of the MusX work programme for 2023, and was illustrated by presentations, talks and videos.
The General Assembly & Annual Conference was crowned with the open-air visit to the Opera at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, within the Athens-Epidaurus Festival.
