Bremens ungdomssymfoniker under ledning av Martin Lentz

Lina Donderer, violin
Tobias Schrader, trumpet
Martin Lentz, dirigent

About the Orchestra

The Youth Symphony Orchestra Bremen was founded at the Music School Bremen in 1980 and is, to this day, the only fully maned Youth Orchestra in Bremen. Currently, about 80 young musicians between the ages 13 and 23 take part in the weekly rehearsals. The yearly repertoire consists of a symphony, an overture (or a comparable piece) and a solo concerto played by a member of the orchestra. The weekly rehearsals go beyond just making music as a place for building friendships outside of school and working together as an ensemble.

The high amount of effort put into these projects yield multiple yearly concert highlights: a concert in Bremens iconic concert hall „Die Glocke“, an open-air concert „Musik und Licht am Hollersee“ consistently attracting around 20.000 visitors and our IYSO (International Youth Symphony Orchestra Bremen) concert. The latter a project consisting of  120 musicians from 15 different countries, meeting for a dense period of back to back rehearsals and a final concert. 
Joint projects with Theater Bremen, the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, and other institutions are a regular part of our artistic work.

An additional highlight is our yearly concert tour, with previous trips to France, Italy, Spain, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Hungary, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegowina. 

Our interest in and the gratification of doing music together, as well as personal encounters, makes the YSO a very valuable experience for its members. Members regularly use their time in the orchestra as preparation for future studies and former members can be found playing in professional orchestras today. 

Martin Lentz

Born in Hamburg and taught to play the cello and double bass, Martin Lentz grew up participating in many youth orchestras, later studying at the „Hochschule für Musik, ‚Franz Liszt‘“ in Weimar. He went on to conduct the „Jugendkammerorchesters der Musik- und Kunstschule Jena“ starting while he was in college.

With the production of „Glaszeiten“ at the Jena Theater in 1997, Martin Lentz conducted his operatic debut. From 2002 until his departure from Jena, he stood in close collaboration with the Jenaer Philharmonie. Some examples include: „Mio mein Mio“ by finnisch composer T. Hietala, a Portrait concert Arvo Pärt and a concert evening for Bigband and symphony orchestra ”intention please!”.
In December 2004, he was appointed by Daniel Barenboim to help coordinate the musical education program in Israeli-occupied Ramallah. He took on this task in the name of the Barenboim-Said-Foundation from 2005 until 2009.

He is also a proponent of modern classical music, having premiered a wide variety of pieces, among them: Siegfried Müller, Thilo Jaques, Matti Murto, Einojuhanni Rautavaara, Mehran Naderi, Konstanzia Gourzi and also some ”cross over projects” like Manfred Hummel „Funkphonie“ for BigBand and orchestra, Clemens Rynkowski „UFOs First“ for theremin and orchestra, as well as compositions of his own.

Martin Lentz is currently active at the Music School Bremen, directing the ”YSO Bremen”, the ”Junge Kammerorchester Bremen“, as well as the International Youth Symphony Orchestra Bremen (IYSO). He also served as music director of the STÜBA Philharmonic for many years and was the founding conductor of the Syrian Expad Orchestra. Together with German pop star “Clueso,” he produced an album that earned a “gold record” for selling over 100,000 copies. Martin Lentz also serves as a lecturer at various institutions. 
Last but not least he is a bass player in the Salonorchester Weimar and also member of the federal committee Jeunesses Musicales Deutschland, the Youth Orchestra  Association.

Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) 
Divertimento i C-dur, Hob.IV:1

Ethel Smyth 
- The Wreckers - Ouverture

Henriette Bosmans 
- Concerto for Violin & Orchestra

Alexander Arutunjan 
- Trumpet Concerto

Ture Rangström 
- Sinfonie No. 2 d-minor