FIVE YOUNG PRODIGIES

The World Philharmonic Orchestra is an ad-hoc arrangement comprising soloists from the leading symphony orchestras of 80 countries. During the concert on 21 June, performed in the main courtyard of Les Invalides, 10-year-old Bassem Anès Romdhani from Tunisia (violin), 12-year-old Alexia Alvarez Franco from Venezuela (viola), 11-year-old Chanasorn Chantarapaoraya from Thailand (violin), 12-year-old Gavin Fernandes from India (violin) and 11-year-old Andrei Ionita from Romania (cello) were awarded scholarships by the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation. The CIC then offered each of them a finely crafted musical instrument. The CAPA agency, which is very enthusiastic about this project, is preparing a documentary on this remarkable adventure – from the selection process to their arrival in Paris – to be broadcast by France Television. The Mezzo classical music and jazz channel will also broadcast a 26-minute portrait of each of the five children.

Latest news concerning the prize-winners:
INDIA: Gavin, the YOUNG VIOLONIS, hopes to be admitted to an English School in London for a one-year course. This School specializes in musical studies. General education classes are held in the morning and the entire afternoon is devoted to music sessions.
 
TUNISIA: Anès, the YOUNG VIOLONIST, met with resounding success in Sion in Switzerland last August where he was chosen from amongst the hundred or so children proposed for this study course. He was one of only eight people selected.
The President of Tunisia personally presented him with a PC equipped with a web cam, as a gift for his participation in a special day devoted to music in Tunis during August 2006. 
Anès won the first prize in the Vatelot/REMPAL Competition in Paris with a note of 19.5/20 in february 2007. He will be back  in Paris on  the 1st of July  for a concert of the prize-winners with Andrei Ionita, the Rumanian cellist.
 
THAILAND: Dong, the YOUNG VIOLINIST, has completed three study sessions with a Russian teacher since he received his scholarship. The teacher was present in Paris last June, at Les Invalides.
 
ROMANIA: Andrei, the YOUNG CELLIST, was invited by the Lagardère Foundation on 27 November 2006 to perform at the light music and sports awards ceremony at the Petit Palais in Paris. He won the first prize in the REMPAL Competition on 21 January 2007 in Paris, and  appeared on the Mezzo music channel the same day. On February 8, he appears on TVR CULTURAL (the national culture TV channel in Romania), in a reportage about himself and his musical activities.
On the 15th of February , he played in a concert which will take place at the SUTU PALACE in Bucharest, in the memory of Iosif Sava, a great romanian music critic.
One week later,  he played during a Festival of Preclassic Music,  and on the 25th of February ,he participated to a selection in order to perform live at the radio.

VENEZUELA: Alexia, the YOUNG VIOLIST, who participated in a training session in Germany in July 2006, was singled out from the young musicians present for a special honour: her professor asked her to join an advanced one-year study course in Germany for the 2007/08 academic year. She is currently learning German to prepare for the course. Thanks to her remarkable talent, she will be offered free private lessons.
In August 2006, she took part in a study course in Greece, with equal success.


Link to the website of the World Philharmonic Orchestra:
www.world-orchestral.com