Credit: Max Mausen
On Friday 7 August 2026, the Orchestre National des Jeunes du Luxembourg (Luxembourg National Youth Orchestra - ONJ) announced the conclusion of its 2026 summer tour, which ended with the orchestra's first appearance at the Young Euro Classic festival in Berlin.
The final concert took place on Sunday 2 August at the Konzerthaus Berlin as part of the internationally renowned festival, where the ONJ represented Luxembourg with a programme featuring Hy-Khang Dang's If the Bell Rings, Why Should We Run?, Sergei Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with pianist Joseph Moog, as well as Igor Stravinsky's Circus Polka and The Firebird (1945 version), under the artistic and musical direction of Pit Brosius. According to the orchestra, the performance received several standing ovations from the audience.
Before concluding the tour in Berlin, the ONJ performed at the Theater Orpheus in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, on Friday 31 July as part of the Muziekzomer Gelderland festival.
The orchestra noted that the tour had opened in Luxembourg with its summer concert at the Mierscher Theater on Wednesday 29 July, following almost two weeks of artistic residency. The concert also featured the world premiere of If the Bell Rings, Why Should We Run?, a work commissioned from young Luxembourg composer Hy-Khang Dang for the tour programme.
According to the ONJ, the tour also included workshops, chamber music activities and meetings with other youth orchestras. In Luxembourg, the ONJ and the Jeugdorkest Nederland (JON) brought together around 150 young musicians for a shared encore performance at the Mierscher Theater. Further exchanges took place in Apeldoorn with members of Jong Metropole and in Berlin with musicians from Vietnam's Lách Tách Ensemble and representatives of the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO).
