Bucharest CIVIS Orchestra Academy 2026
Take the chance to perform live during the CIVIS Days 2026 in Bucharest.
← Back to courses- CIVIS focus area
- Society, culture, heritage
- Open to
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- Bachelor's
- Master's
- PhD candidates/ students
- Field of studies
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- Art, Design and Media
- Type
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- Blended Intensive Programme (BIP)
- Course dates
- 3 May - 11 June 2026
- Apply by
- 30 November 2025 Apply now
The project continues the establishment of a CIVIS orchestra in the BIP format, in order to continue the first three academies - held in Marseille (April 2022), Madrid (May 2023), and Rome (June 2025). The initiative is coordinated by Sapienza Universia di Roma and the University of Bucharest, inviting CIVIS students and teachers from all over the CIVIS community.
The main objective of this proposal is to perform a concert in Bucharest during the CIVIS days of June 2026, featuring CIVIS students from as many universities as possible, in order to show how a CIVIS community actually exists and can be made real through music, after a week of work together.
In order to do this, we aim to gather students from different orchestras, based at CIVIS universities (orchestras or music ensembles from Glasgow, Stockholm, Rome, Athens, Marseille, Tübingen and Madrid have already agreed to participate in the past) and work together during five days. After this, they will perform a concert in the Botanical Garden of Bucharest University, on June 11th 2026.
The repertoire will be decided by the conductors according to the received applications. In general, it will consist in 1 hour of music from the great symphonic repertoire (e.g., Mozart, Schubert, Bartok, etc.).
Main topics addressed
- playing music together and interact with students from other background and countries; different music will be performed with different conductors, from different universities;
- rehearsing with the whole orchestra, in order to prepare the final concert to be held on June 11th;
- the actual performance of the concert in the Botanical Garden of Bucharest university with 2 conductors: Demetrio Moricca (Sapienza Univ.) and Zoe Zeniodi (National Kapodistrian University of Athens).
Learning outcomes
- understand how to perform two important works of the symphonic repertoire;
- know how to integrate themselves in a collaborative, community based artistic project;
- develop a positive attitude towards this academic and cultural experience;
- be able to evaluate personal musical achievement;
- apply aesthetic and practical concepts in the creation and recreation of music;
- gain insight into the interrelationships among academic disciplines by studying how music reflects periods of history, music and art;
- cultivate an international mentality through the collaboration with students and academics from other countries;
- create bonds both with academics and other students, which may offer networking opportunities and further personal careers.
| Dates: 3 May - 11 June 2026 | Total workload: 85 hours |
| Format: Blended | ECTS: 3* |
| Location: Bucharest, Romania | Language: English (B1) |
| Contact: daniele.gorla@uniroma1.it |
*recognition of ECTS depends on your home university
Physical mobility
The physical mobility section of the BIP will take place between 7-11 June 2026, in Bucharest, Romania. The main aspect of this section will be the rehearsals for the concert and the final concert.
Rehearsals schedule:
- Sunday - Wednesday: between 9:00 - 13:00 and 14:00 - 18:00 (with 30 min breaks in between);
- Thursday: regular rehearsal 09:00 -13:00; dress rehearsal 15:00 - 17:00; the concert at 19:00.
Virtual part
The virtual part of the course will run between 3 - 31 May 2026. The component will consist of 4 sessions, to be developed through Google Meet, which would be easily available. This will also be a good format to introduce musical scholarship together with musical performance issues in the BIP.
In a first two sessions, the two conductors will discuss the work and the intention of the version that will be performed in Bucharest, in order to guide students and explain the decisions that will determine the actual performance of the work. In a third session, students would acquire important feedback on their performance.
An important aspect is that the work in Bucharest will not begin "ex novo", since students will already know each music conductor and the aim of each musical work before beginning the actual mobility phase, during the virtual part. The last sessions will give the background of the musical works that will be performed.
Assessment
Summative assessment will be implemented, in order to determine both musical competence and progress of students. This will be achieved through an initial evaluation of students, conducted physically at their universities. A further stage will take place during the physical mobility phase, so students may adapt their learning strategies while performing music under the direct supervision of teaching staff at the host university.
During the virtual part, different aspects of the repertoire will be explored (from the historical, artistic and social point of view) and, after each of these sessions, an MCQ will be presented to each student, in order to assess his or her knowledge, understanding or judgment on the issues included in each session.
Before allotting the intended BIP credits to each student, proof of participating in at least 80% of the virtual sessions must be registered, as well as the completion of the MCQs presented after each session.
Moreover, attendance to the physical mobility part in its entirety will also be necessary for each student.
The programme is open to Bachelor, Master and PhD students at CIVIS member universities, with excellent musical skills, orchestral playing, and fluency in English.
Music proficiency pre-requisites will certainly apply in this BIP, since the aim of the physical mobility part is to rehearse and perform important works of the symphonic European tradition. While the these works can be rated with a "medium" level of difficulty, there must be a pre-selection of participating students by the conductors of universities' orchestras or music ensembles, in order to ensure that participation in this BIP is not open to those students with limited musical proficiency.
A good understanding of English may be supposed.
NB: Visiting Students - Erasmus Funding Eligibility
To be eligible for your selected CIVIS programme, you must be a fully enrolled student at your CIVIS home university at the time you will be undertaking the programme. Applications for this course are only available for the 11 CIVIS member universities in Europe.
Partner universities:
- Aix-Marseille Université (France)
- National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece)
- Sapienza Università di Roma (Italia)
- Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
Professors
Zoe Zeniodi is currently the Artistic Director of El Sistema Greece, is the first woman conductor to ever perform with Opera Southwest and was selected by the Dallas Opera for the residency of the Institute of Women Conductors. She has conducted in venues such as the Paris Philharmonie, Teatro Colón and Carnegie Hall.
Demetrio Moricca made his debut in 2021 at the Tokyo Opera City Hall and was regularly invited to Japan for productions with internationally renowned artists. He collaborated with the Malta Philharmonic, the Pacific Philharmonia Tokyo, and the Osaka Symphony Orchestra, and assisted Nello Santi and Sesto Quatrini.
Send your application by filling in the online application form by 30 November 2025, and also including:
- CV - compulsory and must only report the musical background of the students, to assess their musical level;
- Motivation letter;
- evel of english (According to CEFR).
Students will be evaluated by their respective musical directors of their home universities and on the musical CV provided in the application. If no orchestra is present in their home universities, the students with an admissible musical CV will be directly contacted by the BIP Coordinator to provide a video of a musical performance to assess their real musical skills.
GDPR Consent
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