RAC exchange students - helping to bring the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq to Germany!

Most of the exchange students at RheinAhrCampus participate in the “English Program”, which is offered by the International and Languages Department. Most of these courses are held in English and relate to improving intercultural competence and working in international teams.

One of the classes, which has been mentioned on the blog before “International Business Simulations”, is designed to get students out of their comfort zones by simulating a real life company and working on projects that are close to, or are, real world.

This semester in International Business Simulations the course is helping out with a real world project; helping to bring the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq to Germany later this year for the famous Beethovenfest in Bonn. The class has a real life client, Paul MacAlindin, who is a well-known conductor and conducts the Orchestra from Iraq.

In the project, the class has been aiming to create “buzz” online about the project and the orchestra itself. Different teams within the class have been working on such projects like:
+ creating buzz on the International/English NYOI Facebook account;
+ creating buzz on the German NYOI Facebook account;
+ driving more traffic to the official NYOI Youtube channel and emphasizing the most prominent videos
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li5MsPiNC3I
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS5rA7FZNrg
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNq36mDrZ2k
+ creating flyers/brochures; and
+ even suggesting content for the official NYOI website

Through the course, not only have students learnt how to work efficiently and what works and what doesn’t in real-life business, they have learnt and gotten involved with a project that sells peace, and really pulls the heart-strings.

Even the way the orchestra started is quite an emotional story. In 2008, a young pianist Zuhal Sultan from Iraq appealed to the British public in able to win support for a unique idea: the foundation of a national youth orchestra in Iraq. She gained a large response from the British press and won the support of the Scottish conductor Paul MacAlindin, Raw TV in London and the British Council. Together they started work from scratch - they found instrumental music coaches, the first summer workshop was advertised, auditions were held through YouTube and further financial support acquired.

They have certainly come a long way since 2008, and later this year in October the NYOI will play at the famous Beethovenfest in Bonn. This is a huge achievement for the orchestra, and a well-earned performance. Anyone who is lucky enough to be able to attend the performance will be lucky enough to hear the raw emotions played through the pieces of music.