Brazil Chosen as Orchestra Campus Partner Country

Deutsche Welle has chosen together with Beethovenfest Bonn the Sinfónica Heliópolis from São Paulo to perform at this year's Beethovenfest as part of the Orchestra Campus project. The orchestra, consisting of 80 young musicians, was founded by Silvio Baccarelli in 1996. It was named after the Heliópolis district, which with 130,000 people is the largest favela in São Paulo and one of the most populous in South America.

As part of the Orchestra Campus, Germany’s international broadcaster has commissioned the Brazilian composer André Mehmari to create a piece of music specifically for the Beethovenfest. He has named his piece "Cidade do Sol" (City of the Sun) in reference to the name of the orchestra from Heliópolis. The piece will be premiered on October 4 in Bonn and will be performed by the Sinfónica Heliópolis.

In cooperation with Deutsche Welle, the Beethovenfest has also planned a return visit to São Paulo in the spring of 2011. The Sinfónica Heliópolis will use the opportunity to present the results of its workshop in Germany with the help of the Mozarteum Brasiliero, a music foundation that promotes concerts series throughout Brazil – including in São Paulo.

As media partner, Deutsche Welle is bringing the Beethovenfest exklusively to audiences around the world: via DW-RADIO in 30 languages, DW-TV in English, German and Spanish – and online at www.dw-world.de/beethoven.

Since last fall, Beethoven fans from around the globe have listened to Deutsche Welle’s podcasts and audio content from the 2009 Beethovenfest more than 500,000 times.

Deutsche Welle also offers live recordings from concerts that took place from 2001 to 2009. Among others, users can download the Beethoven cycle from the German Chamber Philharmonic Bremen and its star conductor Paavo Järvi, as well as the Orchestre National de France with Kurt Masur. The archive also features the Beaux Arts Trio, the pianist Elena Bashkirova, the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn and the pianist Paul Lewis, as well as youth orchestras from Russia, Egypt, South Africa, China, Georgia, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam. The young musicians were part of the Orchestra Campus from Deutsche Welle and the Beethovenfest. The orchestras play symphonies from Beethoven as well as period pieces from young composers who are commissioned by Deutsche Welle.

Deutsche Welle has already begun to report on the upcoming festival and starting in April the broadcaster will promote the Beethovenfest worldwide – including television spots on DW-TV. In total, Deutsche Welle will produce more than 5,000 minutes of programming with reports from the Beethovenfest. In addition to the audio content, DW-WORLD.DE will also have features and articles about the festival.