The International Festival of European Youth Orchestras was created to allow young musicians from Europe and beyond the opportunity to participate in an intense and quality Italian musical experience. The Festival is held each July and culminates in a total of 50-75 concerts given by 15-20 orchestras distributed throughout the beautiful region of Tuscan. The Festival aims to represent as many different cultures and nationalities as possible and encourages applications from all international youth and student symphony orchestras.

The Festival is open to all international youth chamber and symphony orchestras, who are free to choose their own programs ranging from baroque to contemporary music. Eligibility for the Festival is assigned according to concert programme and musical level, but high standard youth groups are generally able to participate.

During the Festival each orchestra performs three or four concerts. The first of these is held in our main festival venue in Florence - the beautiful Loggia dei Lanzi in the magnificent Piazza Della Signoria (Florence main square, just 100 metres from the Ponte Vecchio), the Church of S. Stefan and the others in some of the most beautiful venues in towns such as: Lucca, Arezzo, Siena, Viareggio, Montecatini Terme, San Gimignano, Venezia, Pisa, Padova, Montepulciano, Modena, Perugia, Cortona, Spoleto, etc.

Eligibility for participation depends on musical level and programme, which must be approved by the artistic board.

Florence Youth Festival is responsible for the full set-up of each venue including staging where necessary, lights, chairs, assistance and extensive promotion. Orchestras must provide their own music stands.

Accommodation

The Festival takes care of all hotel bookings for participating orchestras. We have a vast of range of possible hotels and other types of accommodation in all areas of Italy, varying from 1* and 4* hotels with swimming pools, youth hostels, university campuses, countryside villas and monasteries or convents etc.

For those playing in Florence and Tuscany we have very convenient arrangements with several hotels based in Montecatini Terme - a beautiful and charming spa town with a Medieval centre just 30 minutes drive from Florence. All the hotels we use are centrally situated and have been personally inspected and carefully selected by a member of our staff. Adults are accommodated in twin or single rooms while youth party members will usually be allocated three- or four- bedded rooms. There is also the possibility to rehearse at your hotel.  

Orchestras are usually accommodated on a half-board basis, thereby having breakfast and one main meal a day (usually lunch) at the hotel and one left to their own arrangements, or indeed organised by us on request for example near the venues on evenings of concerts.

On request alternative accommodation may be selected according to your tour budget and provisional reservations made on your behalf.

Promotion

Great attention is paid to the promotion of each concert, working closely with the local tourist boards and advertising in 'What's On' guides and events listings produced by local tourist offices.

We produce posters and flyers that are widely distributed on the days leading up to each concert, hold bi-annual press conferencesand submit press reviews and adverts in the arts and culture section of local and national newspapers, radios and TV. Our promotional material is of a high standard which helps us to secure better publicity and hence maximum audiences for each concert.

For us it is most important that each orchestra plays to large, appreciative audiences during their tours. The timing and location of concerts are carefully planned to maximise audience potential. We guarantee that we will do our utmost to maximise your audience potential and we typically have very good responses from the audience!

Extras

The following services are not normally included in quotations but can be organised as an extra upon request:

- instrument rental

- instrument transport

For those who wish to extend their stay in Tuscany or any other area of Italy / France, we can fully tailor pre- or post-festival tours according to your needs. Please send us details on preferred length of stay, destination(s), number of concerts required, travel arrangements and dates and we will be happy to prepare an extended quote and itinerary.

FOG together with ASF Ltd also organises the Provencal Festival of Youth Orchestras, Provence & Cote d'Azur (France) and offer wonderful concert opportunities in Catalonia (Spain), Riga (Latvia), Croatia and UK. Tours can be held in July and August and include concerts in churches, town squares and local festivals as well as smaller coastal towns and villages. Please visit www.accademiasanfelice.co.uk or contact info@accademiasanfelice.com for further details on all of these activities.