Baltic Young Musicians in an International Context

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The BYMIC project is an initiative between the Municipality of Katrineholm and the Emils Darzins Music School. Our common interest is to nurture the young and talented musicians of today – the future caretakers of our musical heritage. We each bring different ingredients to the BYMIC project from our particular backgrounds; The EDMS with its long tradition of excellent schooling, and the MOK with its extensive experience running international competitions and music festivals, such as the Swedish International Duo Competition. We have noticed how difficult it is for musicians from our region to become successful in a wider international setting, particularly compared to musicians that have studied in Central European schools. We have identified important elements to improve the training of our young musicians. More performance and competition experience is needed from a young age, training specific to stage preparation, mentorship from musicians already successful in the international field and winners of major competitions, and exposure to agents and managers. Our main target group is 8-18 year old musicians from the whole of Latvia and the regions of Sweden that the Central Baltic Programme covers. Our other target group is the teachers and music institutions where these young musicians learn their craft. We aim to complement the existing education with a sharing of knowledge from which all parties can benefit. Our goal is that there will be significantly greater knowledge among students and teachers in our region of how to be part of the international classical music industry. There will be a notable increase in concert activities for young musicians. Greater performance opportunities will lead to more confident musicians, better prepared and more willing to apply for competitions. Having been mentored by the international experts already successful in the field, in addition to the important information from agents, managers etc. on how to find work, our young musicians will be less daunted and more positive about their prospects. Our project has 5 work packages: Administration, Communication, Seminars, Concerts/Masterclasses and Competition/Course. Communication is a separate work package as it is essential in making the project known to our main target group. The work packages have been divided this way to attack the issues from different angles. The Seminars draw up the blueprint for the training, the Masterclasses give the didactic dimension, the individual training. They also show the level being aspired to. The Concerts give the possibility to showcase skills and engage in a musical dialogue with the public. The Course prepares musicians for competition, in a nurturing and supportive environment. Finally, the Competition compares one’s progress with others, testing acquired skills. Broken down this way the work packages show the incremental progress of the participants as they go through the activities in the project.

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