Pieces of Beethoven, Mozart, or Bach will form part of the sonorous band that will accompany the preparations for World Youth Day. WYD has signed a contract with the Excellence Foundation, which will organize four concerts in the coming months to make World Youth Day known to society at large.

This is one of the many cultural initiatives that will unfold over the next year to promote WYD. Part of the proceeds of these concerts is destined for the Solidarity Fund, established so that young people from less fortunate countries who want to come to WYD might fulfill their wish.

The four concerts will take place in the National Auditorium in Madrid, between October 2010 and June 2011. Tickets are being sold beginning this month of July. The orchestras which will perform the various works are the Orquesta Clásica Santa Cecilia, the European Royal Ensemble, and the Orquesta Filarmónica Excelentia.

This cycle will begin on October 6, 2010 and will offer great works of the classical repertoire such as Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, the Piano Concerto No. 21 of Mozart, the Piano Concerto No. 2 of Rachmaninov, and the Symphony No. 9 of Beethoven. At the last concert, which will be presented on June 23, 2011, other choral pieces such as the chorales of Handel’s Messiah will be heard.

The conducting of the different concerts will be under the leadership of conductors invited from around the world, such as Janos Kovacs, Stephen Layton, Darrell Ang and the Spaniard Cristóbal Soler. There will be works of a large scope, from repertoire known by the public at large, which will make WYD known by means of the beauty of music.

A few days before the performance of the first concert there will be a meeting to announce the program.

Cycle of Excelentia-World Youth Day

1.-Concert 1
October 6, 2010, 7:30 PM
ORQUESTA CLÁSICA SANTA CECILIA
Conductor: Cristóbal Soler
Eleuterio Domínguez, piano

L. von Beethoven, Egmont, Overture
W. A. Mozart, Concerto for Piano No. 21
L. von Beethoven, Symphony No. 5

2.-CONCERT 2
February 9, 2011, 7:30 PM
ORQUESTA FILARMÓNICA EXCELENTIA
Conductor, Darrell Ang
Domenico Codispoti, piano

Beethoven, Leonor III, Overture
Rachmaninov, Concerto No. 2 for piano and orchestra
A.Dvorak, Symphony No. 9, “New World”

3.-CONCERT 3
April 29, 2011, 7:30 PM
ORQUESTA CLÁSICA SANTA CECILIA
Conductor: Janos Kovacs

L. von Beethoven, Symphony No. 9, “Choral”

4.-CONCERT 4
June 23, 2011, 7:30 PM
EUROPEAN ROYAL ENSEMBLE
Conductor, Stephen Layton

J. S. Bach, “Jesus bleibet meine Freude”, Cantata BWV 147
J.S. Bach, “Jesus meine Freude”, Motet BWV 227
J.S. Bach, Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden
G.F. Handel, Choruses from Messiah
W.A. Mozart, Coronation Mass