Pianos and Strings Beyond Borders

About the Performance

As part of Uppsala School of Music’s EU-funded exchange project Pianos and Strings Beyond Borders and the School of Music’s 70th anniversary, a concert with piano and string students from Uppsala and Berlin is presented.

This is a further development of Uppsala Kulturskola’s collaboration with Leo Kestenberg Musikschule, Germany. The aim is to create a forum where young people can discuss the conditions and limitations of their music making, but also broader issues, such as cultural and existential topics. We want to give young people the tools for this, but we also want to allow them to create their own tools to be able to implement this project on their own terms. The following points shaped the objectives of this project:

– Musical and artistic development.
– Social and cultural exchange.
– Building lifelong learning.

Main activities of the project

The project will start with digital meetings and an ongoing digital exchange between the young people, before the physical meetings. Two week-long, physical meetings will take place in 2026; one in the spring at Uppsala Kulturskola and the other in the fall at Leo Kestenberg Musikschule. The exchange will include workshops, individual lessons, group lessons and concerts with all young people. Music making will be balanced with social and cultural activities.

Participants: Twenty-four young piano and string players aged 13 to 20 and eight teachers.

Teachers Svetlana Opman, Per Olsson, Angus Keay, Maria Haasnoot, Dr. Jairo Geronymo, Cordula Heiland, Rafael Guevara Urbina and Stefanie Bialasiewicz are behind the project.

The project is an exchange program funded by Erasmus+ (the EU’s education, youth and sport program).

The concert is presented by Uppsala kulturskola with support from Musikens Hus Vänner

Read more about the project on the Uppsala Cultural School website

Read more about the School of Culture’s anniversary year