Atlanta Festival Academy: North Fulton-Based Music Camp Goes to France!

North Fulton-Based Music Camp Goes to France!

In July 2024, the Atlanta Festival Academy embarked on its first-ever overseas trip to host the 2024 European Orchestra Camp in Selles-sur-Cher, France. This camp abroad, held in celebration of AFA’s Fifth Anniversary, took place in France’s enchantingly beautiful and historically significant Loire Valley. While there the twenty-four student participants had the pleasure of rehearsing just yards away from the magnificent Château Selles-sur-Cher. They prepared three performances in just five days, highlighted by a Bastille Day concert performed in front hundreds of townspeople who lined the roads, historic bridge, and riverside park.

The camp comprised quite the international mix, with participants coming from Iceland, China, and the United States, and faculty from Taiwan, China, Iceland, France, and the US. The concert featured German violinist Simon Zhu, winner of the 2023 Paganini Competition, performing the virtuosic, tango inspired Four Seasons of Buenos Aires by Astor Piazzolla. The orchestra was led by maestro Henry Cheng, a graduate of Walton High School now based out of South Korea who enjoys a worldwide career. (Maestro Cheng will soon return to Atlanta to lead the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra in a K-Pop inspired concert in October 2024!)

As an organization, Atlanta Festival Academy has committed itself to building a global landmark for youth music training and international cultural exchange in Atlanta. With that mission well underway locally, its founders determined that an excursion to Europe would promote increased recognition of AFA’s commitment to musical excellence and international harmony.

Also, such a trip would deepen its students’ understanding of and approach to the music they perform so frequently. By seeing the landscapes, hearing the languages, and even tasting the foods that composers experienced daily, young musicians gain a whole new approach to the music they learn and perform.

When they weren’t rehearsing and performing, the students marveled at a variety of castles and other nearby attractions. Highlights included Château de Chambord, a massive 16th century spectacle that dominates its forest surroundings; Château de Chenanceau, a petite, fairytale-like castle that straddles the Cher River; and Château Clos de Lucé, home to Leonardo da Vinci for the final three years of his life. Rather unexpectedly, the camp was also located just kilometers away from the largest zoo in Europe, and so the students and faculty concluded their venture abroad by enjoying the sights and sounds of a truly international community!

Closer to home, Atlanta Festival Academy operates three youth orchestras that are open to young musicians of nearly all levels. Enrollment is ongoing, and readers can watch the orchestras perform in Johns Creek every November and April – just search for Atlanta Festival Youth Orchestras! Readers can also find out more about AFA at www.AtlantaFestivalAcademy.org and by following AFA on Instagram and Facebook.

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