Orchestra Europa was founded in 2006 by the young British conductor Scott Ellaway, now its Artistic Director, and its first public season of concerts was staged in 2008/09. Central to the organisation’s philosophy is a dedication to providing young musicians with help, support and opportunities, and a commitment to excellence at all levels.
Ellaway was inspired to establish Orchestra Europa by his experience in 2005 with the New World Symphony in Miami. Launched in 1988 by the American conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, the New World Symphony has made a substantial impact on orchestral life in the United States and aroused the interest and respect of the world’s music community.
Ellaway realised that it was neither possible or desirable to create a European copy of the New World Symphony, or to replicate the work of European organisations already providing opportunities for young instrumentalists who had completed their studies. Instead, Orchestra Europa’s Classical Futures programme is conceived for musicians still in education.
This distinctive role was defined and developed after consultation with a number of orchestras, educational institutions, training schemes, philanthropic givers and international corporations. The imperative for young European musicians is often to complete their training as soon as possible; Orchestra Europa offers outstanding students the opportunity to complement their formal education with the experience of professional-quality orchestral performances and – through acting as teachers and mentors to schoolchildren – to foster the classical musicians and audiences of the future.
In January 2008, after over a year of planning and fundraising, the orchestra’s first two concerts took place in Oxford. The Orchestra was joined by distinguished countertenor James Bowman and pianist and critic David Owen Norris and the concerts were sponsored by Barclays Bank, Ogier, Habitat and Oxfordshire Life. Orchestra Europa’s first full season was launched in November 2008 with a concert at St. David’s Hall, Cardiff, with Vasily Petrenko, Principal Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra on the podium. In February 2009, the Orchestra made its London debut at Cadogan Hall, with Artistic Director Scott Ellaway at the helm. The 2008/9 season featured a number of high-profile guests: Tchaikovsky Competition winner Ayako Uehara, soprano Lisa Milne, baritone Jonathan Lemalu, the BBC Singers, and, at festival concerts in Cheltenham and Chichester, violinist Nicola Benedetti.
In addition to developing their own performing skills through Classical Futures the players of Orchestra Europa are engaging with schoolchildren in the UK through the Europa Juniors programme. In the Summer Term 2009 Orchestra Europa and its musicians began working with the King Solomon Academy, a recently established school in a multi-cultural neighbourhood of central London. The initial focus of Orchestra Europa’s initiative was on children aged three to six, an age group often neglected by classical music outreach projects. As the initiative develops, Orchestra Europa players and education specialists will visit the school regularly to give pupils the opportunity to enjoy live music-making in the classroom, as both audience and participants. Members of the school will also have the chance to sit among the players of Orchestra Europa during rehearsals and even to perform with them. Summer 2009 saw the pilot in Cheltenham of Orchestra Europa’s Musique sans frontières programme, which takes in-school activities to the orchestra’s touring locations around the UK. The full programme was launched at the beginning of the 2009-10 season.
From its beginning in 2006, Orchestra Europa has expanded at an astonishing rate, growing from a small chamber ensemble of only 30 or so players, to a full symphony orchestra which performs with international artists in some of the continent’s greatest concert halls and festivals. An initial commitment to working with school children, has developed into a commitment to changing the way music is taught in schools. Although barely three years old, Orchestra Europa is already paving the way for classical music in the twenty-first century.
