One of the brightest youth orchestras in Europe, led by Estonian conductor Kristiina Poska, will present a program at the Klaipėda festival where the subtlety of the French orchestral tradition meets monumental symphonic classics – featuring Richard Strauss’s symphonic poem “Also sprach Zarathustra,” Maurice Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloé” Suite No. 2, and the legendary “Boléro.”
Youth changes the orchestra’s sound
Charlotte Ginot-Slacik, general and artistic director of the French National Youth Symphony Orchestra, emphasizes that the orchestra’s first concert in Lithuania is a special experience for the musicians: “For us, it is both an honor and a kind of challenge. France, like many other countries, has its own unique orchestral music tradition, so the opportunity to present it to a new audience is very meaningful. Many of our musicians are visiting Lithuania for the first time, so this meeting brings special joy. Even more importantly, we aim to open new musical horizons for listeners and introduce them to our yet undiscovered repertoire. I always tell young musicians: play as if you are a person who has just opened the doors of a concert hall for the first time in their life. Play so that they want to come back – sincerely and joyfully.”
According to Charlotte Ginot-Slacik, participating in this orchestra is more than a professional experience for young performers. “The most important thing I hope for is openness to others. This is an extremely important value. Every year, many orchestra musicians leave France for the first time in their lives. Tours become a significant experience for them – they have to find a connection with an audience speaking another language and living in a different culture, adapt to different concert halls and their acoustics, and at the same time be ambassadors of the new generation of French orchestral music. All this is an inseparable part of our journeys.”
Speaking about what distinguishes the French Youth Orchestra (Orchestre Français des Jeunes) from other ensembles, its general and artistic director Charlotte Ginot-Slacik emphasizes that the orchestra’s greatest strength is youth. “Our orchestra is made up of young people aged 16–24. This is an age when talent and possibilities seem limitless. They do not always fully realize how complex the pieces in their repertoire are, but they overcome all challenges by working together. Youth is an opportunity to look differently at established traditions and reinterpret works that form the foundation of the orchestral music repertoire. And most importantly – youth is joy. We constantly talk about it in the orchestra: playing together at such a high level, experiencing the adventure of orchestra life – this is a joy that our audiences also feel at our concerts,” says Charlotte Ginot-Slacik.
An evening of joy and energy for the audience
According to the orchestra’s general and artistic director, this year’s concert program choice was driven by the desire to give young musicians the opportunity to get to know the French orchestral music tradition and for the audience to hear its brightest masterpieces.
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“Every year, together with conductor Kristiina Poska, we include an important French repertoire piece in the program so that young musicians can grasp its characteristic sound – the transparency of texture, the distinctive role of woodwinds, and the extraordinary subtlety of the music. This year, preparing for exceptional tours, we decided to choose works that have become true classics and can captivate the widest audience. Therefore, the program will feature Maurice Ravel’s ‘Boléro’ and the ballet ‘Daphnis et Chloé’ suite with the impressive ‘Sunrise’ episode.
The choice of Richard Strauss’s ‘Also sprach Zarathustra’ was driven by conductor Kristiina Poska’s desire to tackle large-scale symphonic works with young performers. This piece presents very different challenges – it requires exceptional mastery from every orchestra musician and a unified, rich orchestral sound. Moreover, it provides an opportunity for a larger brass section to perform on stage. The new generation of French horn players is exceptionally strong, so selecting only six performers each year is challenging. This year, with a larger ensemble planned for the Strauss piece, the orchestra includes as many as eight horn players,” Charlotte Ginot-Slacik proudly says.
When asked what impression she would like to leave with the Klaipėda festival audience after the French Youth Orchestra’s first concert in Lithuania, the director answers without hesitation: “Joy. I would like people to leave the concert with the thought: ‘This evening gave me an incredible amount of energy.’ In my opinion, a youth orchestra is the most beautiful promise for the future. In recent years, we all especially need to believe in the future. Therefore, most of all, I would like the audience to take away a simple but important feeling – we are happy to be together.”
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