“We have chosen a symphony contrary to beginners: Mahler’s Ninth is a testament, it speaks of the end of life, it is a long goodbye. And it is curious to work on this spiritual part with the Jove Orquestra Nacional de Catalunya, because technically it is very difficult, but It also asks that you have experienced nostalgia and other things in life.
Who speaks is Josep Pons. The current musical director of the Liceu is the one who founded the JONC 30 years ago, and was the first artistic director. And precisely to celebrate these three decades of history, today and on Tuesday he leads this hundred young people, with Mahler’s latest symphony: first at L’Atlàntida in Vic and on the 11th at the Palau de la Música. The 98 musicians from all over Catalonia who are between 18 and 25 years old have gathered in Vic to prepare the concert. This is the first of a series of actions with which they will celebrate the anniversary throughout 2023 and 2024. In fact, the group was born in September 1993 as the Young Symphony Orchestra of Catalonia (JOSC) and changed its name in 1999.
“The first JONC was a revolution. The new page in the history of music in Spain is written through the creation of young orchestras, rather than the construction of auditoriums. In those days our musicians all had to go abroad to study and the JONC was a shock. Now it is those from other countries who come to study at our high schools”.
The spectacular change in the level of young musicians in Catalonia can be seen when comparing the ages with which they auditioned for the JONC then and the ages now. “There is no color: the turning point then was at 23 or 24 years old. Now they are young people of 17 and 18, and the quality is ten times better. We have very young people who are the best in the state. And if we look at the Liceu, before the turning point was at 30 and now it is at 23 or similar, the same as in the great international orchestras. And the normal thing is that there is equality and that the people here take the squares ”, says Pons. “And that is the merit of the young, national and supranational orchestras. Like the Young Mahler, or the European Youth…”.
Pons directed the project until 2001, the year in which Manel Valdivieso took over. The objectives have been from the beginning to provide a comprehensive orchestral training to the country’s young musicians, completing the task of the conservatories and favoring labor insertion. The JONC Foundation includes the JONC Alevines, up to 19 years old: 66 musicians who have also met in Vic with Valdivieso to prepare a demanding repertoire and present it.
