Tuesday, May 05, 2009

El Sistema

It's been a while since I've posted a TED Talk on here, and the following has moved me to tears:

Gustavo Dudamel and the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra: A musical sensation from Venezuela




The Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra contains the best high school musicians from Venezuela's life-changing music program, El Sistema. Led here by Gustavo Dudamel, they play Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10, 2nd movement, and Arturo Márquez' Danzón No. 2.

Gustavo Dudamel, himself a… Full bio and more links

I hope you will explore all the links and learn everything you can about this fabulous program and its founder, Dr. Jose Abreu. Here's a quote from the El Sistema link:

33 years ago in a parking garage in Caracas, Dr. José Antonio Abreu gathered together 11 children to play music. El Sistema was born. It now teaches music to 300,000 of Venezuela’s poorest children, demonstrating the power of ensemble music to dramatically change the life trajectory of hundreds of thousands of a nation’s youth while transforming the communities around them.

Posted by at

4 comments:

  1. Darlene7:04 PM

    This has to be one of the most worthwhile projects of the century. The opportunity offered these young people will change their lives.

    It's truly remarkable how well children can play with the proper motivation and guidance.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous7:55 PM

    They have such great energy, and the music was superb.

    H

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sarah6:16 PM

    I recall reading about Gustavo's appearance at Carnegie Hall with the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra sometime in the last year. The performance was electric and reading ( or listening to radio) reviews was intense.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/12/arts/music/12concert.html?_r=1&scp=8&sq=Gustavo%20Dudamel&st=cse

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous10:10 PM

    I just watched the video and all I can say is WOW and WOW!! Dudamel's energy and joy is contagious. What a gift to the world from these kids!
    The D.N.

    ReplyDelete

XE welcomes your comments. Spam and offensive material will not be posted and will be deleted.

Thanks for your patience and cooperation.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)