In the final part of our conversation with Paul James we speak about the future. Just a few years back, it seemed EUBO had reached its end, yet thanks to the ICONS Foundation the initiative was relaunched. We asked Paul about his aspirations and wishes for EUBO’s future.

Mr Paul James, at a certain point, Brexit happened, and then Covid happened, and EUBO came to a standstill. Last year it started again thanks to the intervention of the ICONS Foundation. What was your reaction when Mario Martinoli contacted you and offered to revive the orchestra?

Well, surprise, although the timing was particularly bad: about two weeks before he called me, Emma Wilkinson, the orchestra manager, who is also my partner now, and I had decided that EUBO was definitely finished after Brexit and after Covid and everything, and we decided to throw away all the files. We threw away so many things. We deleted all the files, all our contacts, everything. And then Mario calls and says, “I want to start EUBO again. Can you send me all the files?” But of course, I was delighted and I was really happy to try and help in any way I could. Both Emma and I felt that our work had in a way been done and that it needed a fresh start, apart from the fact that we couldn’t do it anyway because we’re both British citizens and we’re no longer eligible for any kind of funding from the European Union. So, it was great that Mario and ICONS stepped up to the mark. I wish them every success and will continue to support them in any way I can.

So how do you feel about the relaunch of EUBO? How do you think it has gone so far?

I am hearing good things and I’m definitely getting very good vibes from ICONS as they continue to develop it as part of their training orchestra program. I am also very pleased that they are submitting a new type of application to the European Commission. This is something that I have been fighting for basically all my life, to try to get the European Commission to have a programme that allows you to have an orchestra that is made up of individuals from all different countries and that they are not partners. Every single application process we’ve had in the past has always had to have equal partners in each country or almost all or many of the countries. And of course that would not work as an orchestra. These are individuals, not companies. And so this new commission programme, I think, has EUBO’s name on it.

Artistically and musically, do you have any dreams in your drawer for upcoming EUBO programmes? Is there anything you might have left unfinished that you would like to see realised?

Actually, I almost did one of them. I had always wanted to do a full Rameau opera, with dancers and everything, because one of the composers I really didn’t know when I started the orchestra was Jean-Philippe Rameau. Over the years I came to absolutely love his music, so we would do suites by Rameau, but I really wanted to do a full opera like Dardanus or Les Indes Galantes or something like that. The closest we came to that was actually in Italy, but it was with a very reduced force and just a couple of dancers, so a full opera is still on the table.

And the other thing that I have always regretted that we never got to do was the Bach Christmas Oratorio, which I really wanted to do on all the right days and in all the right places that Bach would have done it. So that’s at the top of my drawer.

What are your hopes for the future of EUBO and its community of alumni and staff?

First of all, I hope that the family atmosphere is maintained. The most important thing for us was to make sure that the orchestra felt like a very close-knit unit when they were on tour. And indeed, the number of EUBO babies and EUBO marriages is incredible.

That sense of togetherness, I think, has had a positive effect on their professional lives as well: certainly in terms of networking around the world, you can be sure that if somebody calls somebody and says, “Hi, I was in EUBO,” it immediately puts them on a higher level than if they just said, “I went to, the University of Freiburg and studied music”.

That’s a wrap. Thank you Paul for your vision and all of your hard work!
Interested in reading our previous conversations with Paul James? Follow the below links to read the articles.

A conversation with Paul James about the early days of EUBO

A conversation with Paul James about key moments in EUBO's history