De puertas afuera. La proyección internacional de la JONDE / Looking outward: The international projection of the JONDE

(Article published in RITMO magazine, January 2013)


The JONDE (Spanish National Youth Orchestra) was established in October 1983, originally under the jurisdiction of the former Directorate General of Music and Theatre of the Ministry of Culture, and legally and administratively dependent on the Spanish National Orchestra and Choir. It became independent when it was restructured as a Production Unit under the newly created National Institute for the Performing Arts and Music (INAEM) in April 1985. Through this, the Ministry of Culture took a leading role in addressing the dire state of musical education in Spain at the time, which was unable to produce enough highly qualified professionals to staff the growing number of symphony orchestras. These orchestras, during the 1980s, were striving to establish a stable musical life across the various Autonomous Communities and to give purpose to the newly built network of auditoriums that, within just a few years, drastically transformed the country’s musical landscape -all while successive Ministers of Education failed to respond adequately. Much has changed since then, and for many years now, both the number and quality of young musicians applying to join the JONDE through its annual entrance auditions have grown steadily and impressively.
If we compare the initial situation -when it was impossible to find even sixty young musicians for the JONDE's debut concert at the Teatro Real in Madrid in January 1984, and professionals had to be brought in -with the present one, in which 268 of the 945 applicants in 2011 passed the entrance exams, the improvement in music education in Spain over the past three decades becomes abundantly clear. That this is true not just domestically is further confirmed by the ongoing astonishment of international juries who come to Madrid each year to preside over the auditions for Europe's two leading youth orchestras: the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester (GMJO). From a merely symbolic Spanish representation -one or two musicians at most- in the 1990s, the number selected from Spain in recent years consistently exceeds twelve (a large percentage of whom are JONDE members), placing Spain alongside the UK and the Netherlands as one of the top three contributing countries.


Exchanges with European National Youth Orchestras

Since its foundation in 1993, the JONDE has been a full member of the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras (EFNYO), which includes 33 national, international, and associated youth orchestras. The Federation meets twice a year to discuss and assess shared challenges, and to exchange information and experiences regarding festivals, repertoire, conductors, soloists, etc. Most notably, since three years ago, EFNYO has benefited from financial support through a European Union program called MusXchange, which covers the costs associated with the exchange of young musicians between member orchestras.
Thanks to this program, exchange activities between European national youth orchestras -previously dependent on often limited individual budgets- have become sustainable since 2010. The results speak for themselves: in 2010, 17 JONDE musicians participated; in 2011, the number rose to 35; and in 2012, there were 22. The following orchestras have hosted JONDE musicians through the MusXchange program:

- National Jeugd Orkest (NJO) of the Netherlands (1 musician in 2010, 7 in 2011, and 1 in 2012);
- Orchestre Français des Jeunes (OFJ) of France (4 in 2010, 2 in 2011, and 2 in 2012);
- Wiener Jeunesse Orchester (WJO) of Austria (4 in 2010, 5 in 2011, and 8 in 2012);
- National Youth Orchestra of Scotland (NYOS), UK (6 in 2010 and 6 in 2011);
- Sinfonia Iuventus Warsaw of Poland (5 in 2011);
- Dutch Orchestra and Ensemble Academy of NJO, Netherlands (7 in 2011);
- Cyprus Youth Symphony Orchestra (CYSO), Cyprus (1 in 2011);
- Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra (SIBA), Finland (4 in 2012);
- Norwegian National Youth Orchestra, Norway (2 in 2012); and
- Orchestra Giovanile Italiana (OGI), Italy (3 in 2012).


Exchanges with Latin America

Having established a solid presence in Europe, with Spanish musicians now regularly participating in the continent's leading youth orchestras, JONDE has in recent years turned a significant part of its international focus toward Latin America. This naturally involves greater logistical and financial challenges due to distance. Although there had been earlier efforts, this new international engagement was recently catalyzed by two major events: first, the "Youth Orchestras and Social Work" conference held in A Coruña in December 2007, organized by the Paideia Foundation and the Spanish Association of Youth Orchestras (AEJO), of which JONDE is a founding member and has held the presidency since AEJO's creation in 2004. The event focused on the Venezuelan National System of Youth and Children's Orchestras and featured its founder, Maestro José Antonio Abreu. The second major development was the launch in 2008 of the Iberorquestas Juveniles Program, under the Ibero-American General Secretariat. This initiative was formally inaugurated with the creation of the first Ibero-American Youth Orchestra, composed of 41 musicians from JONDE, 45 from the Venezuelan System, and 40 from the remaining Ibero-American countries. This orchestra made its debut in Estoril in December 2009 during the XIX Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel.
As a result of this strategic international orientation, over the past five years 81 JONDE musicians have participated in projects in Venezuela, Mexico, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Colombia. Many of these projects focus on educational activities, opening up a professional field that, unfortunately, is currently not available in Spain or much of Europe.

Madrid, December 2012