Side by Side

From January 7–February 6, 2026, Side by Side will accept applications for their international music camp in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Side by Side is now accepting applications for their international music camp in Gothenburg, Sweden through January 28.

Every year, a joyous gathering of over 2,000 children and hundreds of teachers and chaperones transforms the sunny city of Gothenburg in mid-June into a grand musical jubilee: it’s the Gothenburg Symphony’s youth orchestra festival, Side by Side.

National and international youth orchestra and choir festivals instill a collaborative mindset in their participants and provide all attendees with powerful, lasting memories. But they are time-consuming to organize, requiring logistical know-how and well-considered, family-flexible safeguarding policies for the children and young people. It’s not only tiring; it’s expensive. And program leaders know firsthand that students progress with or without these national or international festivals. So why bother? What do they offer to young people that their own programs can’t provide?

My answer, in a word: perspective.

“As the world falls apart, these children unite it through music.” These are the opening remarks from El Sistema maestro Gustavo Dudamel in Side by Side’s new documentary, celebrating over ten years of collective music-making.

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

After two years of digital alternatives, Side by Side 2022 returned to Gothenburg, Sweden over a few sunny days in June.

Back in June, El Sistema Sweden and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra were forced to adapt their annual Side by Side music camp to COVID times, transitioning an event that usually hosts over 2,500 young musicians into an entirely virtual experience. Having long desired a digital platform to complement the in-person camp, they hit the ground running. The result? Side by Side Digital, a virtual music camp that hosted 700 participants from 30-plus countries. Their performance of The Lion King’s “Circle of Life,” put together by Christer Hedberg from &friends, combines self-filmed clips with camp recordings from the Concert Hall. In the words of ES Sweden, “‘Circle of Life’ represents for us in a very brilliant way the basic idea behind Side by Side—that music can unite us beyond all boundaries.”