EMCY Conference and GA, B.R.A.N.D. New projects finalisation

The European Union of Music Competitions for Youth (EMCY) Conference and General Assembly took place in Vilnius, in 20-22 September bringing together around 30 representatives of national and international competitions from Lithuania, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Ukraine, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, North Macedonia and Denmark.

As a network in Europe, since has been founded in 1970 in Brussels, now EMCY unites more than 50 national and international competitions from thirty European Countries and thousands of young musicians taking part in EMCY member competitions every year. By applying rigorous quality standards, the organization ensures the integrity of the competitions and aims to help new competitions to develop and grow, to increase their ambition and competitiveness. EMCY emphasizes transparency and fairness in national and international music competitions, and shares the basic human and democracy, cultural diversity and tolerance worldwide. In 2022, during the General Assembly in Bonn, members have adopted the statement The Union of European Youth Music Competitions supports Ukraine. In 2024 it was also reported that all the competitions previously organised in Russia were removed from the membership list as they were not in line with the EMCY Statutes.

During the General Assembly 2024 the highlight discussions were:

• Financial report 2022-2024 and the future budget / activity plan 2024-2026;

• Vote for the amendments to the Statutes which expanded the geographical scope of potential members and partners, and empowered members to designate and name official representatives within the organisation;

Activity report, among ongoing projects are:

• Musical Storytelling: Cultural Fusion 2022 / Musical Storytelling: Let’s Play Together 2022, Young Hearts for Music Tour 2023, Discover Music Tour 2023/2024, “Kharkiv Meets Zurich” International V. Krainev Competition for Young Pianists 2024, Alink-Argerich Foundation Conference in Cleveland 2024, B.R.A.N.D. NEW projects 2020-2024;
• presentation of the project named B.R.A.N.D. NEW: Business, Relations, Audience, Narration, Digital for the NEW Music World, its activities, workshops, masterclasses, concerts and other events implemented during the process, all of which are aimed at young musicians, co-founded by Creative Europe. This project includes EMCY Goes Detect Classic Festival – Germany 2021, Young Digital Classic – Austria 2021/2022, Musical Train – Lithuania & Luxembourg 2022, EMCY Conference and General Assembly in Bonn 2022, Artistic Fusion “Drumming in the Living Room” – Luxembourg 2023, Neuwied 2024: Workshops and Digital Concert, MOON ‘Museum Occasional Open Night’ – Lithuania 2024, Glowing Harp Fest: ‘Synthesis of Arts 2023, Croatia / ‘Playing with the tape’ 2024, Ukraine, EMCY Conference and General Assembly in Vilnius 2024, “Peace – Music – Freedom. International Masterclasses, Workshops and Concerts” in Palanga 2024, “K-Wiki” and “brandnewproject.eu” digital platforms – Germany & Lithuania 2024, The Kloster Schöntal Goes Digital (the Competition App) 2024 – Germany 2024.
• More about the B.R.A.N.D. New projects: https://emcy.org/projects/brandnew/

New EMCY Board has been formed: the representatives of the member competitions, some of whom were also given a proxy and a vote by the organisers of other competitions, unable to attend the Assembly themselves (32 votes in total at this Assembly, not including the additional votes of the Board members), approved the previously interim EMCY.

President Mr. Justas Dvarionas (Lithuania), as well as the Vice-President for National Competitions Mr. Boris Svetiev (North Macedonia), and the Vice-President for International Competitions Ms. Veronika Lemishenko (Ukraine). Delegates also elected 2 new Board members as the executives with expertise in the area of national and international competitions: Siv Kristin Klippen (Norway) and Patrick Ehrismann (Switzerland).

Mr. Paul Scholer (Luxembourg), who had previously held this position, for his hard work over the years and congratulated him on becoming an Honorary Member of the EMCY Board, a decision that was unanimously approved by the attendees.

Attorney Justas Vilys presented on copyright issues related to the distribution of sheet music and performance rights in music competitions during the conference.

EMCY family currently has 15 National member competitions 28 International member competitions. Two more competitions are on-the-road and have already started the process of joining the EMCY family. These are the International Klaipėda David Geringas Violoncello Competition (Lithuania) and the National PanCyprian Avantgard Competition for Young Pianists (Cyprus).