The aim of the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra as a project is to approach music as the ideal vehicle for connecting with the here and now, to promote the great symphonic repertoire, and to educate the future musicians who will nourish the orchestras of the country.

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This purpose goes far beyond being faithful to what the composer created; it seeks to transcend the barriers of time and space between performer, composer, and listener.

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At first glance, this may seem like an obvious and self-evident goal, but it is not. The crucial point is that nowadays excessive importance is often given to what we call personal interpretation, where the most important thing, as is commonly said, is what the performer does with the work, and the more personal and original, the better. However, while acknowledging the undeniable uniqueness of every individual, we focus on what unites us through music, not on what separates us.

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This may sound appealing and interesting, but behind it lies a path as demanding as it is fascinating: have we truly come to know the work in all its essential dimensions? Or at least in as many as possible? We refer to the many structures that coexist within a musical work, such as rhythmic, melodic, harmonic, and metric structures. Furthermore, becoming aware at every moment of proper intonation and balance — that is, the hierarchy and relationship between the different voices — ultimately leads us to what is perhaps the greatest, most subtle, and most essential aspect to discover in every musical work: phrasing, understood as the relationship of tension and release that emerges when consciousness connects sounds with one another.

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To go as far as possible on this path, we rely on listening and on the structuring of the emotional world through sound. The methodological tool we use to achieve this is known as phenomenology applied to music.

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Phenomenology applied to music was primarily developed and studied by Sergiu Celibidache, the Romanian conductor and pedagogue of the second half of the twentieth century, with whom our conductor, Jordi Mora, studied for many years.

This approach leads us to ask essential questions about music and about the path toward reaching it in a profound and coherent way, avoiding all theoretical speculation and placing practice — real musical realization — at the center, with listening as the guiding principle. As we understand it, this is the path to opening the doors of classical music wide to the public: the direct experience of it, without embellishment or the need for artificial effects.

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This is the working philosophy that the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra strives to follow in every rehearsal and every concert.

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Experience shows that the more consciousness focuses on discovering the fascinating cosmos contained within every musical work, the less time remains for speculation through so-called “personal” creations. Instead, placing ourselves at the service of honest listening — where we gradually find one another as an orchestral group through this shared attitude — is what ultimately gives true meaning to individuality in all its greatness.

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Welcome!