In the mid-1980s, a group of people, lovers of classical music and convinced Europeans, conceived a plan to build bridges between East and West. The idea was to invite musicians from both sides of the Iron Curtain to meet in Luxembourg, to merge their sounds and ideas, and ultimately to share their passion for music on stage.

Former Luxembourg Prime Minister and Minister of Culture, Pierre Werner, a pianist and music-lover, supported the idea, as did Prime Minister Jacques Santer, who also joined the project team. The first step was to develop the concept and find the necessary sponsoring in the private sector; then approach musicians from eastern and western European orchestras who might be interested, and find a conductor. The inaugural concert of the newly created orchestra took place in Luxembourg on 22 September 1989, six weeks before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The dream thus became reality and with the geopolitical dynamics of Europe in the 1990s, the orchestra gradually became a permanent and valued actor in the cultural scene of Luxembourg and the Greater Region It retained the founders’ DNA and built on the motivation of the musicians, the support of the sponsors, audiences’ enthusiasm and the quality of the international guest soloists.

With the various enlargements of the European Union since 1995, the reservoir of musicians for the Solistes Européens, Luxembourg to draw upon grew larger, extending to the new Member States. In May 2004, to mark the landmark enlargement of the European Union to the East, the orchestra had the great privilege of performing in the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, showing the international community that music can always be relied upon to bring people and nations together and to cement friendships.

The SEL is a not-for-profit organization, officially recognized since 2005 as an association in the public interest. The orchestra enjoys the financial support of the Luxembourg Ministries of Culture and Education, and the City of Luxembourg. The orchestra is under the Patronage of Her Royal Highness the Grand-Duchess of Luxembourg.

“If it were to do again, I would start with culture”. Jean Monnet may not actually have spoken these words, yet they express a profound truth about the identity of Europe. The European institutions provide the framework within which the founding fathers’ ideals of peace and solidarity between nations, our shared identity as European citizens, can flourish. Culture and the Arts are vital elements of that identity – and of the Arts, music is surely the most inclusive, transcending barriers of language and nationality. The Solistes Européens, Luxembourg is an orchestra born of the desire to bring Europeans together, through music; and we see ourselves as an important actor in the ongoing European story.