The German Association of Amateur Orchestras (Bundesverband Deutscher Liebhaberorchester e.V. / BDLO) takes the occasion of the Beethoven jubilee to bring together international representatives of amateur music and professional and amateur musicians.

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This is the first time the multi-layered facets of and possibilities for interaction and interdependence of two very differently positioned and motivated columns of our musical life become visible in an international project.

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The aim of the project BTHVN 2021 – Passion meets Profession is to focus on the opportunities and challenges of music making in amateur and professional orchestras in Germany and on an international level. These topics will be approached in a discursive way and in a practical experience, which means to discuss it in an international conference and to experience it playing in the international amateur orchestra.

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In Germany, “Non Professional Instrumental Music Making” was declared a UNESCO “Intangible Cultural Heritage” in 2016. With this international project, the BDLO would like to fulfil its special international responsibility to maintain this important and internationally highly valued cultural heritage. Primary partners of the project are thus the World Federation of Amateur Orchestras (WFAO) and the European Orchestra Federation (EOFED), with whom the BDLO, as a founding member, has been in close connection at the international level for many years.