Who we are

A Philharmonic Youth Orchestra

Open to young musicians being in their academic education and aged between 18 and 27 years old our orchestra qualifies as a “Philharmonic Orchestra” with a repertoire of classic music of the outgoing 19th and beginning of the 20th century performing major symphonic works for large orchestras.

An international orchestra a European focus

Our orchestra members are showing a large diversity of nationalities and are originating from all continets. Their common denominator is the fact that they are studying at a music university or academy to their majority in “greater Europe” including Russia. A special focus is given to orchestra members coming from Central and Eastern Europe.

A project Orchestra

Every second year our orchestra reinvents itself by bringing between 80 to 90 young musicians to an Orchestra Academy to rehearse the concert program with renowned conductors and supported by coaches from well-known professional orchestras. The following Animato Concert Tour brings our orchestra to some of the most prestigious concert halls in leading European music centers where the concert program is given with a numerous public present.

Our Vision

The power of Music

We believe in the bridging and uniting power of music which can overcome and let forget separation, conflict and isolation.

The united Europe

We further believe in a united Europe and the future of its wealth of classical music to be passed on to future generations.

Our vision is therefore to contribute to the further culture unification of Europe and to create a spirit of true understanding and cooperation among a young elite coming from the European countries historically divided by centuries of armed struggle and cold wars. We put this vision into reality by forming the Animato Foundation Orchestra and bringing together young musicians from Europe and abroad.

Our Ambition

Despite our limited financial means and the restrictive range of action we aim to offer to all our members of the orchestra:

Unique Educational Experience

As a complement to their university music education Animato Academy and Concert Tour should support Orchestra members to bridge the gap between their academic world and the one of their future professional life as a player in a professional orchestra. In addition having played so far usually in a university-orchestra Animato`s European wide concert tour with all its attraction of playing in famous concert halls, visiting and sightseeing  new European cities but also with the hardships of time constrained, potentially stress and travel challenges should provide participating young musicians with a new insight of a facet of their future career as Orchestra player.

Unique environmental and “European” experience

In bringing our young orchestra members to leading European music centers and let them play – usually for the first time – in some of the most prestigious and historical music halls of the whole continent the particular spirit of the European classical music tradition should be provided to them.

Unique social experience

Our orchestra members will not only have to play in a ad-hoc orchestra whose member are not known to them before and but will be obliged to live, travel and share their leisure time with its peers overcoming many linguistic hurdles. In learning to adapt his/her own behavior to this special community the social experience may well be instrumental to form international oriented networks and sometimes lifetime friendships among young musicians from very different culture backgrounds.

Background and passed performance

History of the Orchestra

Founded in 2005 by Animato Foundation, Switzerland, our orchestra shares the objectives of other international youth orchestras to bring together the best young musicians from different nationalities and to form a project orchestra being trained by outstanding conductors and coaches and to be able to give public concerts on a semiprofessional level.

Through its promoter – the Animato Foundation as a charitable institution– the Animato Orchestra is not depending on professional or financial support and therefore not exposed to involvement neither artistically not administratively from any public institution or private / commercial enterprise. This is distinguishing this youth orchestra from many others with similar objectives and programs.

Since 2006 the Animato Foundation has so far realized and successfully completed until 2018 seven Animato Academies & Concert Tours and more than 600 participating music students have become members of the Animato Foundation Orchestra. The cities visited included Bratislava, Berlin, Bern, Budapest, Graz, Istanbul, Karlsruhe, Ljubljana, Munich, Prague, Salzburg, Vienna, Zurich and others.

Past Music Performance

Major classical works performed by the Animato Foundation Orchestra at the public concerts included:

  • Dvorak Symphony No. 8 (2006)
  • Mahler, Symphony No. 1 (2008)
  • Prokofjev, Romeo and Juliet (2010)
  • Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5 (2012)
  • Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique, op. 14 (2014)
  • J. Tschaikovski, Symphonie Nr. 4 (2016)
  • N. Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade, op.35 (2018)

Impressive Concert Halls

Among the most impressive concert halls where Animato Orchestra members usually played for the first time were

  • Mozarteum, Salzburg
  • Konzerthaus, Berlin
  • Konzerthaus, Wien
  • Stefaniensaal, Graz
  • Church Aya Irene, Istanbul
  • Rudolphinum / Smetana Hall, Prague
  • Liszt Academy, Budapest
  • Tonhalle Zürich

Conductors & Soloists

Our Conductors 2006 - 2020

  • Ralf Weikert, 2006
  • Howard Grifftihs, 2008 – 2010 – 2012
  • Thierry Fischer, 2014
  • Pierre Bleuse, 2016
  • Kevin Griffiths, 2018 – 2020

Our Soloists 2006 - 2020

  • Daniel Ottensamer, Clarinet; Philipp Grondziel, Clarinet; Andreas Janke, Violin, 2006
  • Regina Chernychko, Piano; Benedict Klöckner, Violoncello, 2008
  • Claire Huangci, 2010
  • Fanny Clamagirand, 2014
  • Alexandra Soumm, 2016
  • Claire Huangci, 2018
  • Claire Huangci, 2020

Animato Team

Peter Spinnler
Peter SpinnlerManaging Director
Managing director of Animato Foundation has set up Animato Foundation in 2005 and is chairing it since then. Has a lawyer’s education and maintains several mandates as independent director of financial companies. Loves the Swiss mountains and classical music.
Bojana Obradovic
Bojana ObradovicOffice Manager
Office Manager at the Animato Foundation since 2011; Bojana graduated in Applied Linguistics in Zurich with German, Serbian and Italian as main languages.
She works also as German and Italian teacher at various private schools in Zurich and is leading her own translations agency for these languages.
Bojana is since January 2016 also Sara’s mom and works part-time. Her hobbies are tennis, reading and “wellnessing” as well as having long walks with her daughter and husband.
Romana Kaiser
Romana KaiserArtistic Advisor
Artistic Advisor & Tour Guidance during the Animato Concert Tours; Romana enjoys a varied career as a musician, pedagogue and arts administrator. She studied cello in Zürich and London. As an Animato Alumnae (principal cellist in 2010) she got to know the Animato community from the inside at a young age. Since 2017 she joined the Animato Foundation team to work for the organisation, the orchestra build up and the tour management.
Lea Jörg
Lea JörgExecutive Assistant
Executive Assistant during the preparation period of Animato Academy & Concert Tour 2018; Mrs. Lea Joerg is a travel expert with large experience in the field of international event organization and extended stays overseas with many years of working experience in tourism. She loves to juggle with all kind of administrative topics to create an unforgettable experience. As a freelancer, she is helping Animato Foundation to keep deadlines on track and the communication channel to the orchestra members open and instant. Next to the passion for her work, she loves her dog Mauzy, which is always at her side. Her hobbies are sports, reading and being creative to find a sustainable way of life.
Chris Müller
Chris MüllerStage Manager
A freelancer with great experience and skills as a Stage Manager. He has been with the Animato Concert Tour since 2010 and will be again part of the Animato Team in 2020. As a talented hobby-photographer he has contributed to this homepage with many of his excellent photo-shootings. His duty is to ensure that everything is ready on stage for our concerts.

Partner

European Music Universities

The key task to contact and fin music students qualified to become an Animato Orchestra member is supported by a number of leading European Music Academies and -universities by making their participation timewise possible. Some of these music academies and – universities are involved in the selection process by applying an internal auditios which is replacing the otherwise mandatory Animato Virtual Audition. Animato Foundation maintains such cooperation links with a number of Music Academies and Universities already for several years.

Concert Sponsors

The particular challenge of “filling” of the usually big concert halls for the concert performances of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Animato is greatly helped by local and regional sponsors. The low degree of brand awareness of the Animato Orchestra would otherwise request a high, costly and time-consuming marketing campaign to place a sufficient number of concert tickets within the local public.

As main sponsor Erste Private Bank has  supported the philanthropic activity of the Animato Foundation for many years to help young musicians in Europe gaining practical experience in the professional music world.
Erste Private Banking is the private bank inside Erste Group and as such it offers its clients the security of a strong universal bank combined with the full breadth of wealth management services by focusing on understanding clients’ needs and service excellence. Erste Private Banking operates in 6 countries in Central and Eastern Europe: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. Erste Group was founded 1819 as the first Austrian savings bank. Today it is one of the largest financial services providers in the Eastern part of EU in terms of clients and total assets. Its core activities, besides the traditional strength in serving private individuals, include advisory services and support for corporate clients in financing, investment and access to international capital markets, public sector funding and interbank market operations.

The descrition of our cooperation with the „Rotary Club Niederösterreich“ will follow soon.

Further Partners and Memberships

Cooperation Partners

Animato Foundation is entering from time to time in music cooperation projects within the objective to support young musicians together with the respective cooperating partners.

An actual example of such a cooperation and membership has been DAVOS FESTIVAL – young artists in concert.

At the initiative of Reto Bieri, the formerArtistic Director of DAVOS FESTIVAL young artists in concert (and Coach at various Animato Academies; see under Music Professionals) Animato Foundation has signed in 2014a cooperation agreement with DAVOS FESTIVAL young artists in concert in respect to the newly created “DAVOS FESTIVAL Camerata”. The prime objective of this joint venture is to provide to the best orchestra playersfrom the string sectionof Animato FoundationOrchestra an opportunity to come to Davos and form the core of the “DAVOS FESTIVAL Camerata”. Animato Foundation has welcomed this first cooperation allowing to offer past orchestra members a further opportunity to perfect their playing skills and to interact with pears, festival guests and music professionals present in Davos at the “DAVOS FESTIVAL young artists in concert”situated in the inspiring Swiss Alpine environment. (see further information on www.davosfestival.ch)

In 2018 the “Davos Festival Camerata” composed apart from the lead instrument players by Ex-Animato Orchestra members only has been terminated in favor of a “Davos Festival Academy” open to any young musician meeting the qualification requirements. The respected exclusive cooperation has therefore been terminated under the new directorship of the Davos Festival.

Memberships

Memberships in relevant orchestra associations allow Animato Foundation to maintain and expend a professional network and know-how with other national and international youth orchestras.

Since 1994 the finest national youth orchestras of Europe have been working closely together and have formed an association of 14 pre-professional orchestras known as the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras (EFNYO). Since then the association has expanded to include to date 17 national, 8 international, and 7 cooperating members.
EFNYO’s major objectives as an advocacy network are to establish a platform of communication on ensemble and orchestra training and a framework for cooperation projects among its members and further network partners.
Animato Foundation is representing the “Philharmonic Orchestra of Animato Foundation” in the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras as an associated member since 2010.
www.efnyo.org