The Very First Music Week: Udo's Story

Udo Stampa played trombone at the very first Anglo-German Youth Music Week in 1968. In this reflection, written in 2017, she looks back on the origins of EYMW - and the remarkable friendships it was created to build.

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Where It All Began

Udo Stampa played trombone in the very first EYMW, then known as the Anglo-German Youth Music Week (AGYMW).

In a reflection written in 2017, she looked back on her experiences at the first course and the importance of bringing together young musicians from two countries that had so recently been at war.

The very first Anglo-German Music Week took place in surroundings with truly historical implications: Trent Park.

During the Second World War it was a Prisoner of War camp for German officers, and was now being used as a meeting place for young musicians from the formerly hostile nations.

Udo still remembers the night sky appearing a carroty orange colour on account of many London street lanterns.

The First Music Week

The year was 1968, a feeling of awakening everywhere and the hair grew longer.

Under the leadership of Norman Hearn, the first music director of Cambridge College of Arts and Technology, we had premiered a large-scale work for choir and symphony orchestra. Furthermore there were lots of rehearsals: choir, orchestra and chamber music. The standard was high and the final concert lasted until half past one in the morning!

The Youngest Musician

I was 14 years old in those days, the baby of the course, and got lost right at the beginning. I had to take a taxi, but the cabby did not know where Trent Park was and brought me at first to the police, who likewise did not know anything about an Anglo German Music Festival, and then delivered me to a YMCA Hostel. But the other side had meanwhile investigated where their baby was and, as I had just fallen asleep, I was woken up by a German-speaking person who told me I was being picked up now.

A Welcome to Remember

I will never forget the reception at Trent Park.

Having had no food for more than 24 hours I got a wonderful English meal.

Meat (cooked in water), vegetables (cooked in water) and potatoes (cooked in water).

Delicious!

A revelation!

From AGYMW to EYMW

Looking back in 2017, I can see just how significant that first Anglo-German Youth Music Week was.

We were young musicians from two countries that had so recently been at war, brought together through our shared love of music.

What began in 1968 as the Anglo-German Youth Music Week has grown and evolved into the European Youth Music Week, bringing together young musicians from across Europe.

The venues, repertoire and generations have changed, but the original idea remains remarkably relevant: young people from different countries meeting, making music together and discovering how much they have in common.

Udo Stampa