12th edition – year 2024

In 2024, the International Lutosławski Youth Orchestra met between August 18 and 24. A record number of 252 young musicians from 30 countries on 4 continents took part in the auditions. From among them, the tutors selected the ILYO 2024 lineup: 73 musicians from 13 countries on 4 continents. The tutors were: Maciej Strzelecki (violin – Dresdner Philharmonie), Artur Rozmysłowicz (viola – NFM Wrocław Philharmonic), Alexander Kovalev (cello – Staatskapelle Berlin), Maria Krykov (double bass – Konzerthausorchester Berlin), Filippo Del Noce (woodwinds – Szczecin Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra), Mateusz Feliński (brass instruments – NFM Wrocław Philharmonic), Tom Greenleaves (percussion – Gewandhausorchester Leipzig).

Przemysław Neumann debuted as ILYO conductor, and the violinist – Monika Sawczuk – long ago a member of ILYO herself, this time played as soloist with us. We worked and performed toghether the following pieces: Leonard Bernstein – Overture to Candide, Witold Lutosławski – Partita, Krzysztof Penderecki – Serenade for strings and Antonín Dvořák – Symphony nr 9 From The New World.

At the Szczecin Philharmonic, which has been the home of ILYO since the very beginning of the project, young musicians took part in over 10 hours of sectionals with experienced orchestra musicians from the best Polish and foreign ensembles. Then, as an orchestra, they worked for a total of 24 hours with maestro Przemysław Neumann during tutti rehearsals.

The first concert, on August 22, 2024, the International Lutosławski Youth Orchestra played in the golden hall of the Szczecin Philharmonic. Then they traveled 733 km from Szczecin to Lusławice to play, on August 24, 2024 at the Krzysztof Penderecki European Center for Music for the first time in the orchestra's history. Both concerts ended with standing ovations.

As after each edition of ILYO, a short video documentary was created summarizing our unique orchestra workshops.

More details about the 12th edition of ILYO in 2024 can be found on the website ilyo2024.filharmonia.szczecin.pl

11th edition – year 2023

In 2023, the International Lutosławski Youth Orchestra met between August 20 and 25 at the Szczecin Philharmonic, which has been ILYO's home from the very beginning of the project. 220 young musicians from 21 countries, not only European ones, took part in online auditions. Musicians from Singapore, Venezuela, the United States, Canada and China also sent their applications. The line-up of the orchestra was selected by the tutors of the individual instrumental sections: Ralph van Daal (woodwind instruments – Maastricht Conservatory), Lech Antonio Uszyński (violas – Royal Conservatoire The Hague) , Adrian Varela (violin – Philharmonia Orchestra), Maciej Młodawski (cello – NFM Wrocław Philharmonic), Bartek Miler (drums – Academy of Music in Poznań ), Tomasz Hajda (brass instruments – Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice) and Marek Romanowski (double bass – Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice).

The young musicians met for the first time on August 20 during sectionals, and the first tutti rehearsal began the next day. The conductor during the 11th edition of the ILYO orchestral workshops was Rune Bergmann, artistic director and chief conductor of the Szczecin Philharmonic Orchestra. Mateusz Żurawski – an excellent oboist and two-time participant of the ILYO project, this time played with our orchestra as a soloist. Mateusz Żurawski is an extremely active musician, developing both as a chamber musician (LutosAir Quintet, Reebeat Reed Quintet), a soloist (numerous performances with many orchestras in Poland) and an orchestral musician (he is an oboist soloist of the Szczecin Philharmonic Orchestra).

The young musicians worked on four extremely ambitious pieces that made up the program of the two final symphonic concerts crowning our orchestral workshops: Fanfare by Krzysztof Penderecki (piece for brass instruments only) , La Valse by Maurice Ravel, Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra in D Major by Richard Strauss and the extremely demanding Concerto for orchestra by Witold Lutosławski.

On August 24 the musicians of the International Lutosławski Youth Orchestra played them for the first time in the main hall of the National Forum of Music in Wrocław. It was ILYO's debut on this prestigious stage. The concert was another great success for the orchestra. The Wrocław audience rewarded our musicians with a long standing ovation, and the post-concert reviews were excellent. The orchestra sounded decisive and confident. One could say that it was "youth" only in name – because it equaled the level of some professional orchestras – wrote Joanna Kołodziejska in Ruch Muzyczny – the oldest and most renowned Polish magazine devoted to classical music.

On August 25, as every year, the closing concert of the ILYO orchestral workshops took place in the golden hall of the Szczecin Philharmonic. Tickets had been sold out for a long time, so the standing ovation and enthusiastic reception by the audience made a huge impression on the musicians, the walls were literally shaking. The concert was broadcast live on the official YouTube channel of the Szczecin Philharmonic attracting a record breaking number of nearly 3,000 viewers.

As after each edition of ILYO, a short video documentary was created summarizing our unique orchestra workshops.

More details about the 11th edition of ILYO in 2023 can be found on the website ilyo2023.filharmonia.szczecin.pl

10th edition – year 2022

Could we dream of a more beautiful anniversary gift than the debut of the International Lutosławski Youth Orchestra in the famous hall of the Berlin Konzerthaus, which was also broadcast on German radio?

In 2022, ILYO met between August 10 to 19. 228 musicians from 17 countries applied for online auditions. The tutors were Brandon Ridenour (brass instruments – Canadian Brass), Martina Forni (viola – Concertgebouw Amsterdam), Piotr Zimnik (double bass – Berliner Philharmoniker), Arkadiusz Adamski (woodwind instruments – National Polish Radio Orchestra in Katowice), Maciej Strzelecki (violin – Konzerthausorchester Berlin), Tomasz Szczęsny (cello – Szczecin Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra) and Piotr Kostrzewa (drums – Sinfonia Varsovia).

The conductor of the ILYO 2022 orchestra was Ayyub Guliyev, member of the jury of the 11th Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors, chief conductor and artistic director of the National Theater and Ballet in Azerbaijan. It was under his baton that young musicians participating in the ILYO 2022 orchestral workshop were preparing for the first-ever ILYOs concert at the Berlin Konzerthaus. We also invited a unique soloist to participate in the 10th edition of International Lutosławski Youth Orchestra – an outstanding Polish cellist Marcin Zdunik.
What was in our program? Three extraordinary pieces: Mieczysław Karłowicz – Bianca da Molena op. 6 Symphonic prologue to the drama ''White Dove'' by J. Nowiński, Witold Lutosławski – Concerto for cello and orchestra and Béla Bartók – Concerto for orchestra.

August 17 The International Lutosławski Youth Orchestra performed in the main hall of the Kozerthaus in Berlin as part of the largest and most prestigious festival of youth orchestras in the world – Young Euro Classic. It was a great evening in our history. The audience rewarded our young musicians with a stormy ovation, demanding an encore. The post-concert reviews were equally enthusiastic. The orchestra played with great commitment and was rewarded with appropriately warm applause (...) all instrument groups demonstrated musicality and skill – wrote Bernd Feuchtner (KlassikInfo.de). In turn, Killian Scholla (Tagesspiegel) said with delight: it's amazing that a youth orchestra can sound so good.
The concert of the International Lutosławski Youth Orchestra in Berlin was also broadcast by the all-German radio Deutschlandfunk Kultur.

August 19 traditionally, the final concert of ILYO took place in the golden hall of the Szczecin Philharmonic. The audience jumped from their seats, rewarding our musicians with a standing ovation.

As after each edition of ILYO, a short video documentary was created summarizing our unique orchestral workshop.

More details about the 10th edition of ILYO in 2022 can be found on the project website ilyo2022.filharmonia.szczecin.pl