With its three ensembles for teenagers and young adults, the German Music Council makes a significant contribution to promoting the finest young musicians in Germany.

Founded in 1969, the Bundesjugendorchester(German Youth Orchestra), with around 100 young musicians, is Germany's youngest top orchestra. Every year, three work phases and tours with about 30 concerts take the orchestra through Germany and around the world. Sir Simon Rattle is the orchestra's Honorary Conductor.

The Bundesjazzorchester(German Jazz Orchestra) is the official youth jazz orchestra of the Federal Republic of Germany. “BuJazzO", as it is affectionately known, was founded in 1988 by Peter Herbolzheimer and is currently under the artistic direction of Niels Klein and Ansgar Striepens. As with the Bundesjugendorchester, the top-level promotion of young German jazz musicians takes place in three annual work phases and during national and international concert tours.

The German Music Council founded its third ensemble, the Bundesjugendchor(German Youth Choir), in 2020. This choir supports around 50 young singers aged 18 to 26 on their way into the professional choral music scene. Prof. Anne Kohler was appointed as the first Artistic Director.
 

Despite the high level of education in Germany, it is often not easy for young talented musicians to start a career. They often lack self-marketing skills, sufficient stage experience, or simply contacts in the professional scene. On the other hand, organizers are always on the lookout for outstanding young musicians. With four very different projects, the German Music Council accompanies and supports young, highly talented musicians on their way to a professional musical life and builds bridges between musicians, organizers, and the public.

The German Music Competition’s concert promotion program offers chamber music concerts throughout Germany featuring competition prizewinners and scholarship holders. The approximately 250 members of the organizers' association regularly and gladly take advantage of the opportunity to present these highly talented young musicians to their audiences.

The Conducting Forum is the German Music Council's nationwide support program for top young conductors. It promotes young talent in the fields of orchestral and choral conducting and enables the young generation of conductors to engage artistically with nationally and internationally renowned conducting personalities.

The activities of the German Music Council’s Podium Gegenwart are as diverse as the facets of con-temporary music in Germany. The focus is on the Edition Zeitgenössische Musik CD series, the international exchange between young performers in the European Workshop for Contemporary Music, and the promotion of young ensembles and soloists on their way to professional life through the InSzene program.

PopCamp is a high-level support program for newcomer artists. Every year, five artist projects are accepted into the program and receive one year of intensive coaching with top-class instructors from the music world.