El Sistema
Encyclopedia
El Sistema is a publicly financed voluntary sector
music education
program in Venezuela
, originally called Social Action for Music. Its official name is Fundación del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de las Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela, (Fesnojiv), and sometimes translated to English as "National Network of Youth and Children's Orchestras of Venezuela"). El Sistema is a state foundation which watches over Venezuela's 125 youth orchestras and the instrumental training programmes which make them possible.
El Sistema has 31 symphony orchestras. But its greatest achievement are the 250,000 children who attend its music schools around the country, 90 percent of them from poor socio-economic backgrounds.
n economist and musician José Antonio Abreu
founded Social Action for Music and became its director. Abreu has navigated the program for the past 35 years through ten different administrations, flourishing under both the presidents of the 1980s and the leftist administration of Hugo Chávez
. Combining political shrewdness with religious devotion, Abreu has dedicated himself to a utopian dream in which an orchestra represents the ideal society, and the sooner a child is nurtured in that environment, the better for all.
The Venezuelan government began fully financing Abreu's orchestra after it succeeded brilliantly at an international competition in 1977 in Aberdeen
, Scotland. From the beginning, El Sistema fell under the dominion of social-services ministries, not the ministry of culture, which has strategically helped it to survive. The current Chavez administration has been the most generous patron of El Sistema so far, footing almost its entire annual operating budget as well as additional capital projects.
Abreu received the National Music Prize for his work in 1979. Abreu was appointed as Special Ambassador for the development of a Global Network of Youth and Children orchestras and choirs by UNESCO
in 1995, also as special representative for the development of network of orchestras within the framework of UNESCO's "World Movement of Youth and Children Orchestras and Choirs".http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=9812&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.htmlhttp://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:Wa7hQkhe1p0J:unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001446/144698E.pdf+Abreu+Special+Ambassador+for+the+development+of+a+Global+Network+of+Youth+and+Children+orchestras&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us
Its network of 102 youth and 55 children's orchestras (numbering approximately 100,000 youngsters) later came under the supervision of the Ministry of Family, Health and Sports. As El Sistema, its goal is to use music for the protection of childhood through training, rehabilitation and prevention of criminal behaviour.
The program is known for rescuing young people in extremely impoverished circumstances from the environment of drug abuse and crime into which they would likely otherwise be drawn. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20070817/ai_n19471195 Participants of the program who have begun international careers include Gustavo Dudamel
, Edicson Ruiz
http://elsistemanyc.net/2007/11/27/edicson-ruiz-bassist-youngest-to-join-the-berlin-philharmonic-gives-master-class/, Joen Vazquez, Pedro Eustache
, L. Miguel Rojas, Edward Pulgar
, Natalia Luis-Bassa
, Frank Di Polo among others.
In September 2007, President Hugo Chávez
announced on television a new government program, Misión Música, designed to provide tuition and music instruments to Venezuelan children, with Abreu present on the TV program.
A documentary film has been produced on the subject of El Sistema, entitled Tocar y Luchar ("Play and Fight", 2004).http://www.tocaryluchar.com/en/index.html The film has won several awards, including "best documentary" at the Cine Las Americas International Film Festival
and also the Albuquerque Latino Film Festival. In 2008 another documentary made by Paul Smaczny and Maria Stodtmeier about the system will appear. http://www.el-sistema-film.com/ El Sistema has also been featured on news programs such as 60 Minutes
.http://mieatnec.org/venezuelasymposium/2007/10/27/spread-the-word/
An important product of El Sistema is the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra (Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar
). In 2007 the orchestra made its debut at Carnegie Hall
and at the BBC Proms début under the baton of Dudamel, receiving enthusiastic reviews.http://nymag.com/arts/classicaldance/classical/reviews/40965/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/22/arts/music/22educ.html?ref=arts With top qualified musicians El Sistema has recently created a new Youth Orchestra named after Teresa Carreño that will start International touring this fall.
On 6 June 2007, the Inter-American Development Bank
announced the granting of a US$150 million loan for the construction of seven regional centers of El Sistema throughout Venezuela. Many bankers within the IDB originally objected to the loan on the grounds that classical music is for the elite. In fact, the bank has conducted studies on the more than two million young people who have been educated in El Sistema which link participation in the program to improvements in school attendance and declines in juvenile delinquency. Weighing such benefits as a falloff in school drop-out rates and a decline in crime, the bank calculated that every dollar invested in El Sistema was reaping about $1.68 in social dividends. Supported by the government, El Sistema has started to introduce its music program into the public-school curriculum, aiming to be in every school and to support 500,000 children by 2015.http://www.iadb.org/news/articledetail.cfm?language=en&parid=2&arttype=pr&artid=3889
The project has been extended to the penal system. On 25 May 2008, Leidys Asuaje wrote for Venezuelan daily El Nacional
: "The plan to humanize jails through music began eleven months ago under the tutelage of the Ministry of the Interior and Justice and FESNOJIV...."http://tipom.wordpress.com/
John Williams
was quoted in the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional
on 5 November 2007: "This is something unique that has to be seen by the whole world.... [and] which we urgently need here [in the USA]."http://elsistemanyc.net/who-we-are/
A public symposium on El Sistema took place on 7 November 2007 in Boston, Massachusetts, and is available as a webcast. WGBH Forum Network
The panel of speakers included:
On 22 November 2007, Julian Lloyd Webber
said this about the UK government's announcement of an infusion of £332 million just for music-education:
"We also have an impoverished South American nation to thank. Last August, in the midst of school holidays, when an uncomfortable number of British children seemed even more disaffected than usual, the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra arrived from Venezuela to deliver performances at the Edinburgh Festival
and the London Proms that were, quite simply, miraculous" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/11/22/bmjulian122.xml. Lloyd Webber was appointed chairman of the steering group of In Harmony
, a British government-led music education and community development project which is based on by El Sistema http://www.inharmonyengland.com/.
Sistema Scotland was established in Scotland with a grant from the Scottish Arts Council
, as a result of an initiative by its chairman Richard Holloway
, for the purpose of breaking the cycle of poverty in the economically depressed area of Raploch
, in Stirling
, where male life expectancy is less than 63 years.
In England "the Department for Education
has put aside £2m to a three-year scheme [called In Harmony (music)] which will focus on three impoverished areas...”http://www.theherald.co.uk/misc/print.php?artid=2057469
According to Peter Stevenson of Sistema Scotland, the £2m mentioned here is part of the £332 million that the Glennie-Galway-Lloyd Webber-Kamen music education consortium helped generate.
Tavis Smiley aired a series on music education in the United States, called "Dudamel: Conducting a Life." http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/reports/s1e4/ The report includes a spotlight on Conservatory Lab Charter School http://www.conservatorylab.org, the first El Sistema-infused charter school in Massachusetts. Conservatory Lab elementary school students receive free orchestral instruction for three hours each day, integrated into their academic program.
Alexander Bernstein said: “This is something we need in the United States.” Source, El Universal
, Caracas, Venezuela, 12 January 2008.
This is from the WorldTeach website:
The director of the Damascus Opera 2011 production of Oliver!
cited El Sistema as the inspiration for casting 25 actual orphans in the Syrian version of the musical.
. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2008/02/14/abreu-gould-prize.html?ref=rss. Brian Levine, Managing Director, Glenn Gould Foundation, wrote an account of his recent (2008) visit to Caracas; in part he wrote: "El Sistema has demonstrated conclusively that music education is the gateway to lifelong learning and a better future."http://www.glenngould.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=372&Itemid=1
On 21 May 2008, El Sistema was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts.http://fundacionprincipedeasturias.org/en/awards/2008/sistema-nacional-de-orquestas-juveniles-e-infantiles-de-venezuela-1/
On 13 June 2008, El Sistema founder Maestro Abreu was a guest speaker at the National Performing Arts Convention-2008 in Denver, Colorado. http://www.performingartsconvention.org/generalsessions.cfm#radicalideas
On 5 February 2009, José Antonio Abreu won the TED prize for his work on El Sistema, and was granted a TED wish. http://www.ted.com
Voluntary sector
The voluntary sector or community sector is the sphere of social activity undertaken by organizations that are for non-profit and non-governmental. This sector is also called the third sector, in reference to the public sector and the private sector...
music education
Music education
Music education is a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music. It touches on all domains of learning, including the psychomotor domain , the cognitive domain , and, in particular and significant ways,the affective domain, including music appreciation and sensitivity...
program in Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, originally called Social Action for Music. Its official name is Fundación del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de las Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela, (Fesnojiv), and sometimes translated to English as "National Network of Youth and Children's Orchestras of Venezuela"). El Sistema is a state foundation which watches over Venezuela's 125 youth orchestras and the instrumental training programmes which make them possible.
El Sistema has 31 symphony orchestras. But its greatest achievement are the 250,000 children who attend its music schools around the country, 90 percent of them from poor socio-economic backgrounds.
History
In 1975, VenezuelaVenezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n economist and musician José Antonio Abreu
José Antonio Abreu
José Antonio Abreu is a Venezuelan pianist, economist, educator, activist, and politician.-Politics and academics:...
founded Social Action for Music and became its director. Abreu has navigated the program for the past 35 years through ten different administrations, flourishing under both the presidents of the 1980s and the leftist administration of Hugo Chávez
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
. Combining political shrewdness with religious devotion, Abreu has dedicated himself to a utopian dream in which an orchestra represents the ideal society, and the sooner a child is nurtured in that environment, the better for all.
The Venezuelan government began fully financing Abreu's orchestra after it succeeded brilliantly at an international competition in 1977 in Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, Scotland. From the beginning, El Sistema fell under the dominion of social-services ministries, not the ministry of culture, which has strategically helped it to survive. The current Chavez administration has been the most generous patron of El Sistema so far, footing almost its entire annual operating budget as well as additional capital projects.
Abreu received the National Music Prize for his work in 1979. Abreu was appointed as Special Ambassador for the development of a Global Network of Youth and Children orchestras and choirs by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
in 1995, also as special representative for the development of network of orchestras within the framework of UNESCO's "World Movement of Youth and Children Orchestras and Choirs".http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=9812&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.htmlhttp://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:Wa7hQkhe1p0J:unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001446/144698E.pdf+Abreu+Special+Ambassador+for+the+development+of+a+Global+Network+of+Youth+and+Children+orchestras&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us
Its network of 102 youth and 55 children's orchestras (numbering approximately 100,000 youngsters) later came under the supervision of the Ministry of Family, Health and Sports. As El Sistema, its goal is to use music for the protection of childhood through training, rehabilitation and prevention of criminal behaviour.
The program is known for rescuing young people in extremely impoverished circumstances from the environment of drug abuse and crime into which they would likely otherwise be drawn. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20070817/ai_n19471195 Participants of the program who have begun international careers include Gustavo Dudamel
Gustavo Dudamel
Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist. He is currently the principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony in Gothenburg, Sweden, and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles, California...
, Edicson Ruiz
Edicson Ruiz
Edicson Ruiz is a Venezuelan double-bass player. At age 17, Ruiz became the youngest member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the second in the Philharmonic history after a harp player in the 19th century; he is also the first Hispanic-American musician who joins the Berlin Philharmonic...
http://elsistemanyc.net/2007/11/27/edicson-ruiz-bassist-youngest-to-join-the-berlin-philharmonic-gives-master-class/, Joen Vazquez, Pedro Eustache
Pedro Eustache
Pedro Eustache , is a creative solo flautist - "World Music" woodwinds-reeds-wind synthesizers and composer with extensive academic studies and more than 35 years of professional experience...
, L. Miguel Rojas, Edward Pulgar
Edward Pulgar
-Early life and education:Born in Caracas, Pulgar was trained through the National Youth Orchestra System in Venezuela . He began musical studies at age eight in solfege, percussion and violin; his teachers included Giuseppe Maiolino, Miroslaw Kulikowsky, and Józef Szatanek...
, Natalia Luis-Bassa
Natalia Luis-Bassa
Natalia Luis-Bassa is a conductor who currently lives and works in England where she is Musical Director of the Haffner Orchestra in Lancaster and the Hallam Sinfonia in Sheffield.-Background:...
, Frank Di Polo among others.
In September 2007, President Hugo Chávez
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
announced on television a new government program, Misión Música, designed to provide tuition and music instruments to Venezuelan children, with Abreu present on the TV program.
A documentary film has been produced on the subject of El Sistema, entitled Tocar y Luchar ("Play and Fight", 2004).http://www.tocaryluchar.com/en/index.html The film has won several awards, including "best documentary" at the Cine Las Americas International Film Festival
Cine Las Americas International Film Festival
The Cine Las Americas International Film Festival is an annual film festival based in Austin, Texas featuring Latin American and indigenous films from the Americas. In its 14th year in 2011, the Festival has grown into a city-wide event, with over 100 screenings in a nine-day span...
and also the Albuquerque Latino Film Festival. In 2008 another documentary made by Paul Smaczny and Maria Stodtmeier about the system will appear. http://www.el-sistema-film.com/ El Sistema has also been featured on news programs such as 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
.http://mieatnec.org/venezuelasymposium/2007/10/27/spread-the-word/
An important product of El Sistema is the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra (Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar
Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar
The Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar is a Venezuelan orchestra. It is the apex of the nation's system of youth orchestras under the auspices of Fundacion del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de las Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela, known colloquially as El Sistema...
). In 2007 the orchestra made its debut at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
and at the BBC Proms début under the baton of Dudamel, receiving enthusiastic reviews.http://nymag.com/arts/classicaldance/classical/reviews/40965/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/22/arts/music/22educ.html?ref=arts With top qualified musicians El Sistema has recently created a new Youth Orchestra named after Teresa Carreño that will start International touring this fall.
On 6 June 2007, the Inter-American Development Bank
Inter-American Development Bank
The Inter-American Development Bank is the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean...
announced the granting of a US$150 million loan for the construction of seven regional centers of El Sistema throughout Venezuela. Many bankers within the IDB originally objected to the loan on the grounds that classical music is for the elite. In fact, the bank has conducted studies on the more than two million young people who have been educated in El Sistema which link participation in the program to improvements in school attendance and declines in juvenile delinquency. Weighing such benefits as a falloff in school drop-out rates and a decline in crime, the bank calculated that every dollar invested in El Sistema was reaping about $1.68 in social dividends. Supported by the government, El Sistema has started to introduce its music program into the public-school curriculum, aiming to be in every school and to support 500,000 children by 2015.http://www.iadb.org/news/articledetail.cfm?language=en&parid=2&arttype=pr&artid=3889
The project has been extended to the penal system. On 25 May 2008, Leidys Asuaje wrote for Venezuelan daily El Nacional
El Nacional
El Nacional is a Venezuelan publishing company under the name C.A. Editorial El Nacional, most widely known for its El Nacional newspaper. It, along with Últimas Noticias and El Universal, are the most widely read and circulated daily national newspapers in the country, and it has an average of...
: "The plan to humanize jails through music began eleven months ago under the tutelage of the Ministry of the Interior and Justice and FESNOJIV...."http://tipom.wordpress.com/
Recognition
Drew McManus wrote a four-part series about El Sistema: The Future of Classical Music is in Venezuela.http://www.partialobserver.com/article.cfm?id=1546http://www.partialobserver.com/article.cfm?id=1555http://www.partialobserver.com/article.cfm?id=1569http://www.partialobserver.com/article.cfm?id=1580John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
was quoted in the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional
El Nacional
El Nacional is a Venezuelan publishing company under the name C.A. Editorial El Nacional, most widely known for its El Nacional newspaper. It, along with Últimas Noticias and El Universal, are the most widely read and circulated daily national newspapers in the country, and it has an average of...
on 5 November 2007: "This is something unique that has to be seen by the whole world.... [and] which we urgently need here [in the USA]."http://elsistemanyc.net/who-we-are/
A public symposium on El Sistema took place on 7 November 2007 in Boston, Massachusetts, and is available as a webcast. WGBH Forum Network
The panel of speakers included:
- Jose Antonio Abreu, Founder, El Sistema (not included in the webcast.)
- Mark Slavkin, V.P., Education, LA Music Center
- Leni Boorstin, Director, Community Affairs, LA Philharmonic
- Sebastian Ruth, Founder, Director, Community MusicWorks
- Steve Seidel, Director, Project Zero
- George Simpson, Director, Roland Hayes School of Music
- John Tobin, Chair, Arts Committee, Boston City Council
- Polly Kahn, V.P., League of American Orchestras
- Mark Churchill, Dean, Preparatory & Continuing Ed., NEC
On 22 November 2007, Julian Lloyd Webber
Julian Lloyd Webber
Julian Lloyd Webber is a British solo cellist who has been described as the "doyen of British cellists".-Early life:Julian Lloyd Webber is the second son of the composer William Lloyd Webber and his wife Jean Johnstone . He is the younger brother of the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber...
said this about the UK government's announcement of an infusion of £332 million just for music-education:
"We also have an impoverished South American nation to thank. Last August, in the midst of school holidays, when an uncomfortable number of British children seemed even more disaffected than usual, the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra arrived from Venezuela to deliver performances at the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
and the London Proms that were, quite simply, miraculous" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/11/22/bmjulian122.xml. Lloyd Webber was appointed chairman of the steering group of In Harmony
In Harmony (music)
In Harmony is a community development project aimed at using music to bring positive change to the lives of very young children in the most deprived areas of England, delivering benefits across the wider community...
, a British government-led music education and community development project which is based on by El Sistema http://www.inharmonyengland.com/.
Sistema Scotland was established in Scotland with a grant from the Scottish Arts Council
Scottish Arts Council
The Scottish Arts Council is a Scottish public body that distributes funding from the Scottish Government, and is the leading national organisation for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland...
, as a result of an initiative by its chairman Richard Holloway
Richard Holloway
Richard F. Holloway is a Scottish writer and broadcaster and was formerly Bishop of Edinburgh in the Scottish Episcopal Church....
, for the purpose of breaking the cycle of poverty in the economically depressed area of Raploch
Raploch
The Raploch is a district of the city of Stirling, which lies to the south of the River Forth in central Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to by people from outside the area as "Raploch"....
, in Stirling
Stirling
Stirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...
, where male life expectancy is less than 63 years.
In England "the Department for Education
Department for Education
The Department for Education is a department of the UK government responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including child protection and education....
has put aside £2m to a three-year scheme [called In Harmony (music)] which will focus on three impoverished areas...”http://www.theherald.co.uk/misc/print.php?artid=2057469
According to Peter Stevenson of Sistema Scotland, the £2m mentioned here is part of the £332 million that the Glennie-Galway-Lloyd Webber-Kamen music education consortium helped generate.
Tavis Smiley aired a series on music education in the United States, called "Dudamel: Conducting a Life." http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/reports/s1e4/ The report includes a spotlight on Conservatory Lab Charter School http://www.conservatorylab.org, the first El Sistema-infused charter school in Massachusetts. Conservatory Lab elementary school students receive free orchestral instruction for three hours each day, integrated into their academic program.
Alexander Bernstein said: “This is something we need in the United States.” Source, El Universal
El Universal (Caracas)
El Universal is a major Venezuelan newspaper, headquartered in Caracas with an average daily circulation of about 150,000. The online version carries news, politics, sports, economy and more....
, Caracas, Venezuela, 12 January 2008.
This is from the WorldTeach website:
- "El Sistema has invited WorldTeach to help identify and support outstanding chamber musicians who are interested in teaching and coaching for the academic year.
- "The first groups will depart in late August 2008 and teach through mid July 2009. El Sistema is seeking musicians who will, after joining the WorldTeach Venezuela program, form the following ensembles:
- 2 string quartets, 1 brass quintet, 1 woodwind quintet, 2 percussionists" http://worldteach.org/programs/venezuela_year/index.html
The director of the Damascus Opera 2011 production of Oliver!
Oliver!
Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
cited El Sistema as the inspiration for casting 25 actual orphans in the Syrian version of the musical.
Accolades
On 14 February 2008, El Sistema founder José Antonio Abreu was awarded the Glenn Gould PrizeGlenn Gould Prize
The Glenn Gould Prize is an international award bestowed by the Glenn Gould Foundation in memory of noted Canadian pianist Glenn Gould. It is awarded every third year to a living individual in recognition of his/her contributions to music and communication....
. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2008/02/14/abreu-gould-prize.html?ref=rss. Brian Levine, Managing Director, Glenn Gould Foundation, wrote an account of his recent (2008) visit to Caracas; in part he wrote: "El Sistema has demonstrated conclusively that music education is the gateway to lifelong learning and a better future."http://www.glenngould.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=372&Itemid=1
On 21 May 2008, El Sistema was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts.http://fundacionprincipedeasturias.org/en/awards/2008/sistema-nacional-de-orquestas-juveniles-e-infantiles-de-venezuela-1/
On 13 June 2008, El Sistema founder Maestro Abreu was a guest speaker at the National Performing Arts Convention-2008 in Denver, Colorado. http://www.performingartsconvention.org/generalsessions.cfm#radicalideas
On 5 February 2009, José Antonio Abreu won the TED prize for his work on El Sistema, and was granted a TED wish. http://www.ted.com
External links
- Official site
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3563931/How-I-was-inspired-by-the-children-of-Venezuela.html
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/tomserviceblog/2009/sep/30/in-harmony-project
- National System of Children and Youth Orchestras of Venezuela -- PRI's The World
- The Street Children Saved by Music, London Independent
- EL SISTEMA The Movie (2009)
- Video on WGBH Forum Network Video of public symposium on "El Sistema from 7 November 2007 in Boston, Massachusetts, on WGBH Forum Network
- Video of José Antonio Abreu regarding the TED prize for El Sistema.
- December 2009 Telegraph article
- In Harmony Sistema England