Gather Together

Major news for the North American field: a new national gathering for both students and teachers will launch this summer, welcoming over 100 young musicians from El Sistema-inspired programs across the continent.

It’s not too late to apply for this year’s Side by Side camp in Sweden (June 17–21, 2023).

Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony “Titan” is a famously formidable work. This four-movement composition by one of Austria’s greatest composers lasts almost an hour, requiring performers to have endurance as well as musical skill. Performances of Mahler 1 are generally done by professional and university-level musicians—until now. In June 2025, the musicians of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra (NBYO), the youth orchestra of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, will embark on a summer-long tour of Canada during which they will perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 1.

The scholarly association SIMM (Social Impact of Music Making), an international research initiative headquartered in Brussels, is hosting its 7th annual “SIMM-posium” in London on December 12–14, 2022. P

If you’ve been an Ensemble reader for some time, you know about Sphinx. The long-running social justice organization is dedicated to advancing Black and Latinx representation in classical music—and they’ve just opened registration portals for two unique opportunities.

As the year winds down, summer festival opportunities are already knocking on our students’ doors—including the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s YOLA National Festival.

Are you a music educator interested in learning more about technology in the classroom? How about diversity and equity in band programming? These subjects and more will be covered in the Longy School of Music’s Free Virtual Weeknight Workshops series.

Many artists and teaching artists devote their educational development to artistic study, eschewing (or at least minimizing) the operational learning our field demands. But the ones “brave” enough to transition into administrative positions tend to deliver outstanding results. The reason for this, in my opinion, lies in the arts themselves. The vast set of soft skills developed through artistic instruction, performance, and teaching gives teaching artists strong differentiators in their managerial abilities. It’s just that many don’t yet know it.

Everyone benefits from an international exchange of perspectives and expertise. The Nordic Culture Fund has embraced this sentiment in its new grant program, Globus, which invites artists and cultural actors from Nordic countries and abroad to come together through collaborative projects that address global issues.

On October 10–11, the University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine is hosting the “Creating Healthy Communities 2022 Convening,” welcoming students, professionals, and organizations who are engaged in the arts, public health, and community development initiatives.