210 Young Musicians from 22 Countries at Brdo pri Kranju
The Summer Orchestral Camp (POK), organised annually by the Slovenian Youth Orchestra, was this year for the first time held as part of the international initiative SIT DOWN. In August, the state estate Brdo pri Kranju, with its extensive park and excellent infrastructure, hosted 210 young musicians from 22 different nationalities.
Participants aged between 12 and 22, all enrolled in music education, came together with the shared wish to gain orchestral experience, to make music and to live as a community. The camp is designed as a 10-day residency, where the orchestra not only rehearses and performs, but also lives and learns together.
The camp followed a clear structure: in the first days, mornings were devoted to sectional rehearsals with mentors, while afternoons were dedicated to workshops on the role of the United Nations, active citizenship and visions for the future. In the second half of the camp, tutti rehearsals with conductor Živa Ploj Peršuh took place both mornings and afternoons, bringing the orchestra together as one. One full day was dedicated to the SIT DOWN Panel and the visit of high-ranking diplomatic and political representatives, giving young people a direct opportunity to engage in dialogue with decision-makers.
This year, the young musicians, together with their mentors, prepared the musical Peace Child, combining orchestral music, choir and narration. The camp at Brdo was thus the starting point of the broader SIT DOWN initiative – where the story of the musical and the messages of youth began to take shape, to be performed in September at the Ljubljana Festival’s Križanke and in October on the international stage of the Vienna Konzerthaus.
