The project should answer the following basic questions: What are the benefits of international co-operation in youth orchestras? Why should an orchestra be founded across national borders at all? To what extent do directors, teachers and pupils benefit from this? What is actually necessary for an international project to work well? And what can we learn from it? What processes take place within an international youth orchestra? Are there differences between the nations, including between the genders? These questions were always at the forefront during the preparation, rehearsal phases and concerts of the newly founded ‘Youth Orchestra Alpe Adria’.
In recent years, the Johann Joseph Fux Conservatory has established itself as an institution that organises major orchestral projects and as a centre for international endeavours within the Styrian music school landscape. This has given rise to the idea of expanding orchestral activities to include international collaborations on the one hand and, on the other, to draw important insights from these projects, which can then be made available to other music schools and conservatories as a guide and motivation. International co-operation should not simply be started ‘blindly’, but should be very targeted. It was therefore very important to find out the ‘dos’ and ‘don'ts’ in this area. These serve the further ‘orchestral endeavours’ of the conservatory and the Styrian music schools, but also the partner institutions in the Alpe-Adria region and beyond. The main beneficiaries will be music school directors, teachers, but also pupils and parents.