Delphine Schiltz 6:14 a.m., January 22, 2023
This Sunday marks the 60th anniversary of the Élysée Treaty which sealed the friendship between France and Germany.
On this occasion, the Franco-German Office for Youth (OFAJ) approached the Philharmonie de Paris to create an orchestra made up of young musicians from France and Germany.
Europe 1 was able to attend the rehearsals.
If this concert can take on political aspects, these young musicians will play without consideration of borders this Sunday at the Panthéon in Paris.
70 artists (35 French and 35 German), aged 10 to 17, will perform in a few hours on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Élysée Treaty which seals Franco-German friendship.
The performance will take place in front of several ministers and personalities from both countries.
Throughout the week, Europe 1 followed the rehearsals which began on Tuesday at the Philharmonie de Paris.
The musicians are two per desk according to their level, and exchange pencils to annotate their scores.
If Niamey, a 12-year-old cellist, has been making music since the age of 6, Franco-German friendship remains a rather vague concept in his mind.
"It speaks to me, but I have no concrete idea to explain that," he describes.
Conversely, the young musician has less difficulty expressing his pleasure in playing Brahms, Beethoven and Offenbach.
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He partly discovered the German repertoire throughout this project.
"It changes a little bit from what you can play at the conservatory, it's something more fulfilling. It makes you want to continue playing because it's more melodic, it gets along well"!
Young people from all over France and around the world
Originally, Niamey played in a Demos orchestra, initiated in 2010 by the Cité de la Musique and coordinated today by the Philharmonie de Paris.
The project is aimed at children aged 7 to 12 living in neighborhoods covered by urban policy (QPV) or in rural revitalization zones (ZRR) far from places of musical practice.
For the concert on January 22, the Philharmonie wanted to bring together young people from the various Demos orchestras in the region: Hauts-de-France, Grand-Est, Auvergne-Rhône Alpes and Île-de-France.
"A real novelty", explains Anabela Antunes, production and international projects manager at the Philharmonie de Paris.
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On the German side, the young people were recruited through two Berlin partners, HANGARMUSIK and Al-Fârâbî Musikakademie, on the basis of musical and social criteria similar to those of the Demos system.
The German projects have in common to bring together young refugees and young Berliners through music.
“We want to show how hard we have worked”
A diversity of languages and cultures that is not an obstacle for Gardinia, 15, cellist from Berlin, originally from Syria: "We understand each other, it's music, we don't need to talk to each other" , she summarizes with confidence.
This Sunday, she will play "with joy" for Franco-German friendship, but for her too, the challenge of the concert is elsewhere: "We can't wait to show how much we have worked and rehearsed, that we don't isn't just kids on their cell phones," she laughs.
"We can do something serious."
“Our young people look to the future without necessarily having all these historical or political questions in mind,” explains coordinator Anabela Antunes.
"We did not explain to them in detail the Franco-German friendship, the peace treaty...", continues Andreas Knapp, general manager and co-founder of HANGARMUSIK.
“We didn't want to burden the music with these concepts, but with this orchestra they somehow embody this reality.
And at the Pantheon, maybe they will live it even more“.
On stage, the young people will be accompanied by 10 professional musicians and led by conductor Anna-Sophie Brüning.
35 minutes of concert to give substance to the word "together".