Michael H. Gerdts,
Botschafter der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Rom

Prof. Dr. Peter Graf Kielmansegg,
ehemaliger Präsident Akademie der Wissenschaften, Heidelberg

Contessa Caroline Emo, Fanzolo
Conte Vittor Luigi Braga Rosa e Contessa Vilma Braga Rosa

>European Youth Workshop on Venetian Musical Practice in the 17th and 18th Centuries<
Musical Director and Principal Violinist: Stefano Montanari / Lute: Ivano Zanenghi

The non-profit Association Junges Musikpodium, founded in 1999, has undertaken to revive the historic relationship which the court of Dresden entertained during the 17th and 18th centuries with the Venetian musical scene. This enterprise enables young musicians from Saxony (specifically, the most talented pupils of the Music Academy of the Land) to take part in a specialist workshop alongside their contemporaries from the Veneto, Milan and Rome, as well as from France, Lithuania and other Eastern Europe regions.

This kind of musical exchange has no parallel elsewhere in Europe. Coached by Italian musicians of international fame, the students dedicate themselves to mastering, in its birthplace, the art of interpreting Venetian music.

Thanks to the international character and educational approach of the workshop, which aims for lasting results, this youth project revives an authentic chapter of European cultural history - a factor which has led the Ministry of Cultural Affaires for the Land of Saxony to support the Junges Musikpodium initiative as a pilot project.

For some years now, two of Andrea Palladio’s architectural masterpieces have provided the setting for the workshop concerts: the splendid Villa Emo in the Province of Treviso, and the Palazzo Valmarana Braga in the centre of Vicenza. Further performances in Modena, and in 2010 for the first time at the Fenice Theatre in Venice and at the Castello di Thiene, complete the weeklong musical programme and afford the young musicians an invaluable formative experience for their future artistic career.

The resumption of these events two months later in Dresden, with a gala concert in 2011 in the rooms of the Old Masters Picture Gallery dedicated to the Venetian painters, Giorgione, Canaletto, Titian and Tintoretto, underlines the interest and cultural importance attached to this European youth project by a city as eminently musical as Dresden.

The contemporary virtuoso “rereading” of Baroque instrumental and vocal performance practices, in an Italian venue, creates an exhilarating experience for the young musicians, and represents an important stage in their artistic development, a privilege which the Junges Musikpodium can provide, thanks to the valuable contribution from sponsors. The project is in fact supported by important offical institutions, by well-known firms, and by private citizens in Germany and Italy. A special mention must go to the Free State of Saxony, the Fondazione Villa Emo, the Fondazione Giovanni Braga in Vicenza, the Goethe Institute, the Italian Embassy in Berlin, the Province of Vicenza and the cities of Dresden, Vicenza and the Cité de la Musique et de la Danse in Strasbourg.

Artistic Concept and General Manager: Ulli Gondolatsch
European Youth Workshop Dresden-Venice
Junges Musikpodium e.V.
Further information: www.junges-musikpodium.de

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