A “musical fireball”

So writes Joshua Kosman in the San Francisco Chronicle, reviewing a recent performance by the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. Led by the electric 26-year-old conductor (and charismatic face of the state-sponsored music education system that has reached upwards of 250,000 children) Gustavo Dudamel, the Youth Orchestra of Venezuela has taken American concert halls in LA, San Francisco, and Boston by storm during a tour that concludes this weekend at Carnegie Hall.

This youth orchestra is a big deal. Part of what makes it a big deal is that we have evidence now in front of us that attests to the power of music and music education to provoke social change on a massive scale. Due to the thirty plus years of advocacy and negotiation by founder Dr. José Antonio Abreu, Venezuela has developed a comprehensive music education system (known as El Sistema) that puts musical instruments into the hands of children in every province (246 centers known as nucleos), creating opportunity and access for all. Talent affords greater opportunities later on, but is not a prerequisite. Especially notable is the fact that El Sistema is funded, not through the culture budget as one might imagine, but through the budget for social services.

This carefully cultivated belief in music as a vehicle that provides transformative experiences and opportunities for (largely) poor and at-risk Venezuelan youth is what has allowed the $29 million El Sistema to thrive through seven regimes, most recently that of President Hugo Chavez. Music is no frivolous after-school activity, and there is clearly a widespread popular base of support for music education that is significant enough to be matched by the top-down support from Venezuela’s elite.

And how might we go about creating something as extraordinarily successful and far-reaching as El Sistema here in the United States? This was the topic of much optimistic and passionate discussion at New England Conservatory’s symposium last Wednesday. Among representatives from the American Symphony Orchestra League, the LA Philharmonic, and Harvard University, CMW founder/director Sebastian Ruth sat on the eight-member panel that was charged with distilling and exploring the core issues involved in the potential replication of El Sistema.

What influence will Venezuela’s story have on American music education over the coming decades? It certainly seems like Community MusicWorks with its social justice themes may have a part to play. Stay tuned!

Please visit the links below to learn more about Gustavo Dudamel, the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, and the symposium at New England Conservatory.

-NY Times Magazine feature about Gustavo Dudamel and El Sistema.

-San Francisco Chronicle review ("Dudamel and his orchestra
unleashed an extraordinary musical fireball, which they then shaped
into the form of music by Shostakovich, Bernstein and more.")

-Boston Globe article by Jeremy Eichler reviewing the Symphony Hall concert.

-LA Times concert review by Mark Swed. ("If this incredible orchestra hits San Francisco, Boston and New York
with the same revelatory effect as at the first Disney concert, our
country, with its poor music education, may never — should never — be
the same.")

-Follow-up article in the LA Times by Mark Swed. ("The town is abuzz. Politicians are talking about music education — for real.")

-The symposium presented by the Music in Education program at New England Conservatory.

–Music and Social Justice, an essay by Sebastian published on Jonathan Biss’ blog.

All aboard the musical fireball!

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff