MIAGI Youth Orchestra

Since MIAGI - Music is a Great Investment’s inception in 2001, the organisation facilitated workshops and musical ‘get togethers’ for young people across all ethnic and social boundaries. Over the first years a core of these musicians started to grow into a very capable group of young musicians and in 2007, the MIAGI Youth Orchestra was launched.

Today MIAGI Youth Orchestra is a renowned youth ensemble that has toured extensively in South Africa and abroad.

In 2009, 2012 and 2014 the orchestra performed to sold out halls at a.o. the Berliner Philharmonie, Berliner Konzerthaus, Young Euro Classic Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, the Carinthischer Sommer Festival, Royal Palace, Stockholm and The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

CONDUCTORS: Cem Mansur, Maxim Vengerov, Marino Formenti, Christian Muthspiel, Sasha Makila, Duncan Ward, Brandon Phillips and Tshepo Tsotetsi.

SOME FEEDBACK FROM THE PRESS:
- “MIAGI take Berlin by storm" - Diane de Beer, The Star.

- "These young people, in their teens and early twenties, have been a travelling sensation. They have been acclaimed by critics everywhere in language verging on the ecstatic: “A Revolution in the Concert Hall,” headline in the German newspaper Tagesspiegel after their concert in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall. “The rituals of the concert‐going public were turned on their head." “A smashing, wonderful concert. Sensational!” was the verdict after they performed at the Schleswig‐Holstein Music Festival in Hamburg." Allister Sparks, Business Day

- “Thunderous celebrations and applause for the MIAGI Youth Orchestra also after the young musicians' second performance in the sold out Forum in Ludwigsburg”, Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung

- “Sensational performance”, Die Welt

THE STRUCTURE OF THE ORCHESTRA: The young musicians come from all walks of life, from all over South Africa and accordingly represent the vast social and ethnic backgrounds within our communities. Because of the inequality between the orchestra members, and in an attempt to eliminate different classes at least within the frame of the orchestra, MIAGI decided to cover all costs for each an every one, rich or poor. Every two years, an independent auditioning panel travels the country to audition young applicants. The only criteria are for the musicians to meet the minimum requirements linked to their musical ability.

REPERTOIRE: In addition to central classical orchestral repertoire such as Dvorak’s Symphony #9, ‘From the New World’, Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique, Shostakovich’s Suite for Variety Stage Orchestra, Gershwin’s An American in Paris and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, MIAGI has every year presented lesser known South African works, as well as jazz inspired music. Examples include ‘Jazz Fantasia’ by one of South Africa’s unsung musical heroes from days gone by, Gideon Nxumalo and BigBand repertoire by a.o. Zakes Nkosi in arrangements for BigBand and symphony orchestra. MIAGI also annually commissions composers to compose intercultural works for the orchestra igniting a variety of creative spin offs and giving the orchestra its unique quality and profile.