The Bernstein Experience

Classical music, indigenous South African sounds and jazz are a powerful combination found in MIAGI, the fantastic youth orchestra from South Africa. The sheer joy the young artists display as they make music is contagious: They are convinced that music is the key to making societies better and fostering understanding across borders. Behind MIAGI Youth Orchestra there is the organisation MIAGI – Music is A Great Investment, which was founded by singer Robert Brooks and pianist Ingrid Hedlund in 2001. Ever since, MIAGI has given children and adolescents from all social strata and ethnic backgrounds access to music and musical education. Apart from running a music school in Soweto, MIAGI brings up-and-coming young artists together with established artists such as the MIAGI patrons Maxim Vengerov, Sergei Nakariakov or Duncan Ward. Duncan Ward was the first conductor admitted to the Karajan academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra; after conducting concerts of the Bayerische Rundfunkorchester and the Orchestre de Paris, he recently saw his début at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.