What happens when the kids come out to play? If you are at Konzerthaus Berlin this August, the answer is cross-border creativity and a whole lot of fresh musical talent. Yes, it’s the return of Young Euro Classic (31.07–16.08.2026), a festival where the world’s youth orchestras – which have long been training grounds for up-and-coming talent – descend on the Mitte concert venue for seventeen days of music. The program spans symphonies and solos and will see performances of works both within and far outside the western classical canon. This year the piano takes center stage, not least at the crowd-pleasing opening performance of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 played by 25-year-old Georgian pianist Giorgi Gigashvili and conducted by Aurel Dawidiuk, also only 25 (if you managed to get tickets for this: well done!). Meanwhile, the European Union Youth Orchestra will be celebrating its 50th anniversary with more lush Rachmaninov in the form of Symphony No. 2, alongside Brahms’ Violin Concerto played by Spanish violin star-to-be María Dueñas (03.08.).
As in previous years, the Future Now strand of cross-cultural concerts invites artists from all over the world to collaborate, play together and improvise. Highlights include Lách Tách (02.08.), which pairs Vietnamese composer Lương Huệ Trinh’s electroacoustic soundscapes with Vũ Thị Thùy Linh’s traditional Ả Đào vocals for a musical meditation on time and memory. The Boys’ Choir of the Estonian National Opera also returns to its roots, with a whole evening dedicated to the country’s long choral tradition. And that’s not to mention the numerous national and international orchestras in attendance: the Orchestra of the Americas, performing together with Poland’s Penderecki Youth Orchestra, the Slovenian Youth Orchestra and of course the welcome return of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. You can catch all these ensembles bringing their virtuosic sounds to the Konzerthaus over the next few weeks – see the full program here.
Text: Benji Haughton / Photos: Tom Schweers, Kai Bienert
Konzerthaus Berlin, Gendarmenmarkt 2, 10117 Berlin–Mitte; map
Young Euro Classic 31.07–16.08.2026. Tickets for the festival are available here.
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