Orchestrades Universelles - A unique Music Festival

Mr J-M BONNET,
Inspector with the French Ministry for youth, sports and leisure commented :
"This is truly an adventure which is being proposed to these 700 young people,
a human and original adventure which transcends all that they may be offered
ordinarily and which they will not come out of unscathed, as they will have opened
their eyes to other musical practices and, in short, to the world."

The Orchestrades Universelles are a musical meeting of youth orchestras from France and abroad. In August of each year, about 700 musicians (aged between 10 and 25) from all over the world meet in Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze, France) ! For several years now, individual musicians, i.e. young musicians who do not come as part of an orchestra, have also been welcomed to take part in this fantastic cultural and musical experience.

Free concerts are given each day by the musicians in important historic places and in the streets of Brive, and two orchestras give a joint performance in the evening. All these concerts are free of charge: the audience (including keen concert-goers as well as simple bystanders) grows and returns year after year.

However, during these 10 days, the musicians also rehearse and prepare for the final concert.

In fact, the 700 musicians merge into a huge orchestra at the end of the festival! The concert, which is recorded and filmed, is performed on a thousand-square-meter stage in the George Brassens hall in Brive, specially converted for this exceptional event. 5,000 people attend the concert each year. On this unique occasion, a state-commissioned contemporary work is performed for the first time by the orchestra. Marcel LANDOWSKI, Alain LOUVIER, Jacques PETIT, Claude-Henry JOUBERT, Jacques CHARPENTIER, Gérard CALVI, Michel COLOMBIER, Jean François ZYGEL, Serge FOLIE, Yoshihisa TAIRA, Denis BADAULT, Henry FOURES, Piotr MOSS, Bruno REGNIER have thus composed works specifically for full orchestras within the framework of the Orchestrades.

By encouraging contemporary composition through commissioning, the Orchestrades arouse during this fleeting meeting a feeling of shared emotion, a true complicity between both the public and the composers.

For the young musicians, these 10 days are unique: the workshops, the rehearsals, the outdoor activities, the daily concerts enable them to enrich their musical culture and to improve their instrumental practice. It is often a new and challenging experience to work on a contemporary piece with the composer present -and sometimes conducting-; it is an unforgettable and enlightening experience.

The Orchestrades welcome all kinds of music : classical, contemporary, traditional, sacred, rock, ethnic, jazz, electronic etc.

The mixing of musical genres and cultures, moments that are novel
and unforgettable, such are the elements that define the Orchestrades !

Briefly : THE SUPERVISION OF THE YOUNG MUSICIANS

The Orchestrades Universelles were created in 1984 and are organised by SOJE (Symphonie des Orchestres de Jeunes d'Europe: a symphony of European youth orchestras).

The young musicians are of course strictly supervised during their stay in Brive: this is ensured both by the organisation's standards and requirements and by French law! The supervisory staff, the holders of the BAFA or the BAFD (French certificates for activity leaders in and managers of holiday camps, respectively), the persons responsible for the lodgings, the nurse, the cooks, the instrument makers, the cleaning staff, the bus drivers etc. all work together to make this event successful.
French law is in fact very strict as regards the organisation of and the living conditions for a grouping of young people. The following quote is a short excerpt from the report which Mr J-M BONNET, Inspector with the French Ministry for youth, sports and leisure wrote in August 1995 after inspecting the Orchestrades :

"Of course, the final concert alone is a moving moment which might lead one astray. However, behind it, the organisation is remarkably rigorous, the team, which shares 12 years of experience in this common adventure, consistent, close-knit and efficient, the quality and security standards high; above all, through music, there is a project for the child and the youth, a project whereby these children and young people are respected and offered a chance of being actors in the world of tomorrow."

Briefly : THE ORCHESTRADES… FOR GROUPS

Each orchestra is welcomed as soon as it arrives in Brive-la-Gaillarde (by bus, car, train etc.) and settles in its assigned lodgings, usually a boarding school.

The musicians are soon handed all of the sheet music for the final concert: that's when they discover which music pieces they will be performing 10 days thence ! These are works for full orchestras, classical works, film scores etc., but also a contemporary work composed specially for that year's Orchestrades. The musicians do not know the programme beforehand : they must all work on it during the following days by way of rehearsals per section and tutti rehearsals. At the end of the festival, the 700 young musicians attending the Orchestrades merge into a huge, multicultural orchestra to present the progress made during sight-reading sessions, rehearsals etc. to an audience of several thousand people.
The rehearsals are conducted by professional musicians (assuming the role of heads of section) who help and teach the young musicians during the whole of the festival. The different works which are performed at the final concert are conducted by professional conductors. The whole event is organised and monitored by a musical director.

In addition to this work, each group performs its own programme during the Orchestrades in various places in Brive, either during the day -in historic places or within the framework of planned activities- or in the evening (see "Daily life"). The organisers have of course allowed time for leisure (swimming pool, museums etc.).

The stay is also punctuated by various events : the Orchestrades are officially opened by the release of the balloons, the serenade to the mayor (a short concert) is the Orchestrades' way of thanking the mayor and the inhabitants of Brive for their welcome, picnics are organised before evening and open-air concerts.
On the Sunday, concerts are performed outside Brive : each group is to give a concert in one or several villages near Brive (see "Places"). These concerts offer both the audience and the young musicians a chance to share novel and rare moments…

Please note that breakfast is taken every morning within the lodgings. At lunchtime and in the evening, meals are taken collectively - 800 people including the supervisors ! - in a huge hall. Lunch and dinner are taken care of by the town's catering services. Special meals can be provided on presentation of a medical certificate. Upon arrival in Brive, each person is handed a booklet containing a ticket for each meal that will be taken during the stay.

Furthermore, free transportation is organised by the Orchestrades during the festival to take the persons concerned to places inside Brive (from the lodgings to the places where the rehearsals or the concerts take place or where meals are taken etc.) or to concert places outside Brive.

The town of Brive puts a room with access to the Internet at the disposal of the persons taking part in the Orchestrades, free of charge. However, said room is intended solely to allow access to the daily-updated Orchestrades Web site and to enable people to write messages within the chat room.

Groups are supposed to leave Brive on the day following the final concert.

If you wish to know more about Brive, go to "Places", to the Brive-la-Gaillarde Web site, or to the Web site of the Tourist Bureau of Brive la Gaillarde.

If you are an orchestra and you wish to take part in this exceptional event
ask for a set of registration forms !

(You will be sent a practical guide to your stay in Brive as soon as you have confirmed that you will be taking part in this year's Orchestrades)

Briefly : THE ORCHESTRADES… FOR INDIVIDUAL MUSICIANS

Over the years, more and more young musicians who were not part of an orchestra expressed the wish to take part in the Orchestrades. It was the wish of Mrs Simone du Breuil, the president of the Orchestrades, that these musicians be able to share this exceptional event: individual musicians are now welcome to the Orchestrades !

Obviously, individual musicians cannot, contrary to orchestras attending the Orchestrades, present a programme which they would have prepared during the months prior to the Orchestrades. The individual musicians therefore face an additional challenge: they are grouped within a separate orchestra which will publicly perform a programme which they will have had only a few days to prepare. The musicians who make up this ephemeral group must consequently rehearse for this additional concert as well as for the final concert.

There are three separate orchestras made up of individual musicians this year : a wind band, Eole, a string orchestra, Pizzicatti, and a symphony orchestra, Sinfonia. These orchestras are conducted by professional conductors who will prepare the individual musicians for this additional concert during the Orchestrades.

Apart from this specificity, the everyday life of the individual musicians is similar to that of the musicians who come as part of an orchestra : all young musicians are part of the big Orchestrades family !

If you are a young musician and you wish to take part in the Orchestrades,
ask for a set of registration forms !

(You will be sent a practical guide to your stay in Brive as soon as you have confirmed that you will be taking part in this year's Orchestrades)

Briefly : THE ORCHESTRADES… FOR THE AUDIENCE

The king at the Orchestrades is the audience, whether from the Corrèze or visiting ! In fact, the audience can listen to free concerts in Brive during the day (in the streets of Brive, in the music school's auditorium, at the Saint-Martin abbey church, at the Saint-Sernin church, at the Saint-Libéral chapel) and in the evening (at the ice rink or at the Georges Brassens hall). You can thus choose to discover new styles of music or to listen to your preferred type of music.

Do not hesitate to take part in the powerful or recreational moments of the Orchestrades : picnics, release of the balloons, serenade to the mayor etc.
Do not forget either the concerts given on the Sunday in the neighbouring villages outside Brive, where the setting and the mood are quite different !

The final concert is the only concert which is not free of charge. Tickets are on sale at the reception desk for the Orchestrades (in the Brive town hall). Please note that you will not be informed of the programme performed at the final concert before the first day of the Orchestrades (not even on the Internet): it is not disclosed before then! The young musicians taking part in the Orchestrades must not know the programme before they arrive in Brive: they must not have a chance to work on it beforehand, the challenge being for them to prepare a superb final concert for you in only 10 days !
Nonetheless, rest assured that you will be sharing an exceptional and highly emotional musical experience.

The detailed (and up-to-date!) programme of the festival is available under "Orchestrades 2007".

Mr J-M BONNET, Inspector with the French Ministry for youth, sports and leisure commented : "This is truly an adventure which is being proposed to these 700 young people, a human and original adventure which transcends all that they may be offered ordinarily and which they will not come out of unscathed, as they will have opened their eyes to other musical practices and, in short, to the world." The Orchestrades Universelles are a musical meeting of youth orchestras from France and abroad. In August of each year, about 700 musicians (aged between 10 and 25) from all over the world meet in Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze, France) ! For several years now, individual musicians, i.e. young musicians who do not come as part of an orchestra, have also been welcomed to take part in this fantastic cultural and musical experience. Free concerts are given each day by the musicians in important historic places and in the streets of Brive, and two orchestras give a joint performance in the evening. All these concerts are free of charge: the audience (including keen concert-goers as well as simple bystanders) grows and returns year after year. However, during these 10 days, the musicians also rehearse and prepare for the final concert. In fact, the 700 musicians merge into a huge orchestra at the end of the festival! The concert, which is recorded and filmed, is performed on a thousand-square-meter stage in the George Brassens hall in Brive, specially converted for this exceptional event. 5,000 people attend the concert each year. On this unique occasion, a state-commissioned contemporary work is performed for the first time by the orchestra. Marcel LANDOWSKI, Alain LOUVIER, Jacques PETIT, Claude-Henry JOUBERT, Jacques CHARPENTIER, Gérard CALVI, Michel COLOMBIER, Jean François ZYGEL, Serge FOLIE, Yoshihisa TAIRA, Denis BADAULT, Henry FOURES, Piotr MOSS, Bruno REGNIER have thus composed works specifically for full orchestras within the framework of the Orchestrades. By encouraging contemporary composition through commissioning, the Orchestrades arouse during this fleeting meeting a feeling of shared emotion, a true complicity between both the public and the composers. For the young musicians, these 10 days are unique: the workshops, the rehearsals, the outdoor activities, the daily concerts enable them to enrich their musical culture and to improve their instrumental practice. It is often a new and challenging experience to work on a contemporary piece with the composer present -and sometimes conducting-; it is an unforgettable and enlightening experience. The Orchestrades welcome all kinds of music : classical, contemporary, traditional, sacred, rock, ethnic, jazz, electronic etc. The mixing of musical genres and cultures, moments that are novel and unforgettable, such are the elements that define the Orchestrades ! Briefly : THE SUPERVISION OF THE YOUNG MUSICIANS The Orchestrades Universelles were created in 1984 and are organised by SOJE (Symphonie des Orchestres de Jeunes d'Europe: a symphony of European youth orchestras). The young musicians are of course strictly supervised during their stay in Brive: this is ensured both by the organisation's standards and requirements and by French law! The supervisory staff, the holders of the BAFA or the BAFD (French certificates for activity leaders in and managers of holiday camps, respectively), the persons responsible for the lodgings, the nurse, the cooks, the instrument makers, the cleaning staff, the bus drivers etc. all work together to make this event successful. French law is in fact very strict as regards the organisation of and the living conditions for a grouping of young people. The following quote is a short excerpt from the report which Mr J-M BONNET, Inspector with the French Ministry for youth, sports and leisure wrote in August 1995 after inspecting the Orchestrades : "Of course, the final concert alone is a moving moment which might lead one astray. However, behind it, the organisation is remarkably rigorous, the team, which shares 12 years of experience in this common adventure, consistent, close-knit and efficient, the quality and security standards high; above all, through music, there is a project for the child and the youth, a project whereby these children and young people are respected and offered a chance of being actors in the world of tomorrow." Briefly : THE ORCHESTRADES… FOR GROUPS Each orchestra is welcomed as soon as it arrives in Brive-la-Gaillarde (by bus, car, train etc.) and settles in its assigned lodgings, usually a boarding school. The musicians are soon handed all of the sheet music for the final concert: that's when they discover which music pieces they will be performing 10 days thence ! These are works for full orchestras, classical works, film scores etc., but also a contemporary work composed specially for that year's Orchestrades. The musicians do not know the programme beforehand : they must all work on it during the following days by way of rehearsals per section and tutti rehearsals. At the end of the festival, the 700 young musicians attending the Orchestrades merge into a huge, multicultural orchestra to present the progress made during sight-reading sessions, rehearsals etc. to an audience of several thousand people. The rehearsals are conducted by professional musicians (assuming the role of heads of section) who help and teach the young musicians during the whole of the festival. The different works which are performed at the final concert are conducted by professional conductors. The whole event is organised and monitored by a musical director. In addition to this work, each group performs its own programme during the Orchestrades in various places in Brive, either during the day -in historic places or within the framework of planned activities- or in the evening (see "Daily life"). The organisers have of course allowed time for leisure (swimming pool, museums etc.). The stay is also punctuated by various events : the Orchestrades are officially opened by the release of the balloons, the serenade to the mayor (a short concert) is the Orchestrades' way of thanking the mayor and the inhabitants of Brive for their welcome, picnics are organised before evening and open-air concerts. On the Sunday, concerts are performed outside Brive : each group is to give a concert in one or several villages near Brive (see "Places"). These concerts offer both the audience and the young musicians a chance to share novel and rare moments… Please note that breakfast is taken every morning within the lodgings. At lunchtime and in the evening, meals are taken collectively - 800 people including the supervisors ! - in a huge hall. Lunch and dinner are taken care of by the town's catering services. Special meals can be provided on presentation of a medical certificate. Upon arrival in Brive, each person is handed a booklet containing a ticket for each meal that will be taken during the stay. Furthermore, free transportation is organised by the Orchestrades during the festival to take the persons concerned to places inside Brive (from the lodgings to the places where the rehearsals or the concerts take place or where meals are taken etc.) or to concert places outside Brive. The town of Brive puts a room with access to the Internet at the disposal of the persons taking part in the Orchestrades, free of charge. However, said room is intended solely to allow access to the daily-updated Orchestrades Web site and to enable people to write messages within the chat room. Groups are supposed to leave Brive on the day following the final concert. If you wish to know more about Brive, go to "Places", to the Brive-la-Gaillarde Web site, or to the Web site of the Tourist Bureau of Brive la Gaillarde. If you are an orchestra and you wish to take part in this exceptional event ask for a set of registration forms ! (You will be sent a practical guide to your stay in Brive as soon as you have confirmed that you will be taking part in this year's Orchestrades) Briefly : THE ORCHESTRADES… FOR INDIVIDUAL MUSICIANS Over the years, more and more young musicians who were not part of an orchestra expressed the wish to take part in the Orchestrades. It was the wish of Mrs Simone du Breuil, the president of the Orchestrades, that these musicians be able to share this exceptional event: individual musicians are now welcome to the Orchestrades ! Obviously, individual musicians cannot, contrary to orchestras attending the Orchestrades, present a programme which they would have prepared during the months prior to the Orchestrades. The individual musicians therefore face an additional challenge: they are grouped within a separate orchestra which will publicly perform a programme which they will have had only a few days to prepare. The musicians who make up this ephemeral group must consequently rehearse for this additional concert as well as for the final concert. There are three separate orchestras made up of individual musicians this year : a wind band, Eole, a string orchestra, Pizzicatti, and a symphony orchestra, Sinfonia. These orchestras are conducted by professional conductors who will prepare the individual musicians for this additional concert during the Orchestrades. Apart from this specificity, the everyday life of the individual musicians is similar to that of the musicians who come as part of an orchestra : all young musicians are part of the big Orchestrades family ! If you are a young musician and you wish to take part in the Orchestrades, ask for a set of registration forms ! (You will be sent a practical guide to your stay in Brive as soon as you have confirmed that you will be taking part in this year's Orchestrades) Briefly : THE ORCHESTRADES… FOR THE AUDIENCE The king at the Orchestrades is the audience, whether from the Corrèze or visiting ! In fact, the audience can listen to free concerts in Brive during the day (in the streets of Brive, in the music school's auditorium, at the Saint-Martin abbey church, at the Saint-Sernin church, at the Saint-Libéral chapel) and in the evening (at the ice rink or at the Georges Brassens hall). You can thus choose to discover new styles of music or to listen to your preferred type of music. Do not hesitate to take part in the powerful or recreational moments of the Orchestrades : picnics, release of the balloons, serenade to the mayor etc. Do not forget either the concerts given on the Sunday in the neighbouring villages outside Brive, where the setting and the mood are quite different ! The final concert is the only concert which is not free of charge. Tickets are on sale at the reception desk for the Orchestrades (in the Brive town hall). Please note that you will not be informed of the programme performed at the final concert before the first day of the Orchestrades (not even on the Internet): it is not disclosed before then! The young musicians taking part in the Orchestrades must not know the programme before they arrive in Brive: they must not have a chance to work on it beforehand, the challenge being for them to prepare a superb final concert for you in only 10 days ! Nonetheless, rest assured that you will be sharing an exceptional and highly emotional musical experience. The detailed (and up-to-date!) programme of the festival is available under "Orchestrades 2007".
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