NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS UN YOUTH PROGRAMME TO BENEFIT FROM JEUNESSES MUSICALES WORLD ORCHESTRA'S
Press Release
NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS UN YOUTH PROGRAMME TO BENEFIT FROM JEUNESSES MUSICALES WORLD ORCHESTRA'S
19990811SPECIAL PERFORMANCE AT LINCOLN CENTER
Over 100 young musicians aged 17 to 25 from 40 countries will perform at a special concert at Lincoln Center in New York on 13 August, in a joint undertaking of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra to promote the implementation of the United Nations World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond. The United Nations Youth Fund is to benefit from the concert proceeds.
Yoav Talmi, music director of the symphony orchestras of Quebec, Canada, and Cologne, Germany, will conduct the Orchestra. Alvaro de Soto, Assistant-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, will represent the United Nations Secretary-General at the opening of this special event. Leonor Calderon, Minister of Youth, Women, Children and Family of Panama, will also speak at the opening.
Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra has been uniting young musicians in the spirit of international cooperation since it was founded in 1970. Its performances have been conducted under the batons of some of the world's most renowned conductors, including Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Kurt Masur and Zubin Mehta.
The annual observance of an international youth day and a world youth orchestra to appear at special events for fund-raising and promotional purposes for the United Nations Youth Fund were recommended by the first session of the World Youth Forum of the United Nations System when it met in Vienna, Austria, in 1991. Participants at the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth (Lisbon, 8-12 August 1998) recommended that 12 August be declared international youth day. It is expected that the General Assembly will proclaim an international youth day when it convenes in New York later this year.
For further information, contact Elisabeth Ruzicka-Dempsey, Development and Human Rights Section, Department of Public Information, tel. (212) 963-1742, e-mail: ruzicka-dempsey@un.org.
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