Below a copy of the e-mail Òscar sent Mr Tibor Navracsics, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport. Please give EUYO your support as well by signing the petition, sharing in social media, writing, etc. [Details below] Those whose English is nor proficient and those who are short of time, feel free to copy parts or all of this text if you agree.

Dear Mr. Navracsics,

I protest in the strongest possible terms against the closure of the European Union Youth Orchestra.

We live in a time of crisis when the mistakes of the 1930s are coming back to haunt us, projecting dark shadows on the future of the whole continent, and very worryingly so: economic inequality and discredit of the political class, leading to a return of nationalisms, populisms, extremism, xenophobia and racism.

This sad state of affairs is being fueled and used by those who seek to undermine and divide the Union by putting their own gain and economic profit before anything else, be it the welfare of their fellow citizens, or the future of the Union itself.

The European project has taken almost a century to build. It took decades after the millions of deaths in WWII for nation states to grudgingly share sovereignty, let go of nationalism and self-interest and slowly foster a mind-set in the hearts of fellow Europeans of shared identity, of friendship and understanding beyond the differences, of dialogue, trust, peace and shared potential.

The decision to put an end to the European Union Youth Orchestra is a stab to the heart the Union itself. Nothing short of an act of high treason to those values the Union was meant to foster, defend and export. It is a short-sighted, short-term based decision which contributes to undermine and erode the European ideal even further at a time when those values need defending most.

When in 1989 the Berlin wall came down, I was a boy of 12. Of all the reporting and euphoria of the moment, I remember most the televised concert which Leonard Bernstein conducted near the Brandenburg Gate with Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony. The moment when Schiller’s words ‘Seid umschlungen, Millionen!’ where sung a torrent of warm emotion invaded me: after centuries of division, strife and bloodshed we, Europeans, had made it!

I am convinced that that moment alone, by touching the hearts of millions as it touched mine, did more for the brotherhood of Europe than all politicians’ speeches and press conferences.

We can only move forwards positively and avoid further damage to the European ideal if we have a Union we can believe in, with shared values of which we are, as European citizens, proud. And with politicians who are willing to sacrifice their own electoral advancement in order to defend those values.

Please, do what you were appointed to do. Give our young an enlightened education, give us the culture we share as Europeans. Do not put an end to something that represents so vividly ideals that are bigger than all of us.

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Oscar Colomina i Bosch, PhD (RAM), MMus BMusHons (GSMD), BMus (Valencia)
·Professor of Orchestration, Royal Academy of Music (London)
·Conductor/General Music Dept, The Yehudi Menuhin School (UK)

Or, you can write to the European Union to express your support for the EUYO.