El Sistema-New York City

On June 7th 2008, ES-NYC founding member Ms. Olivia Koppell presented  to Maestro José Antonio Abreu a Proclamation from the New York City Council honoring his innovative music-education program El Sistema.

Details to follow.

To view a photo of the event, please CLICK HERE.

ES-NYC member Jacqui Danilow made possible a master class by Edicson Ruiz, bassist, who at 17 years old became the youngest member of the Berlin Philharmonic. He is a graduate of EL SISTEMA.

NEW!!! CLICK HERE TO LISTEN AND WATCH EDICSON PLAY THE KOUSSEVITZKY & VANHAL CONCERTI.

The master class was held at the Manhattan School of Music from 4:00-6:00pm on Wednesday, 14 November 2007.

Among attendees were John Beal, Principal Bassist of the American Symphony Orchestra;
Lew Paer, Principal Bassist of the New York City Opera Orchestra; bassist Orin O’Brien, first female member of the New York Philharmonic; Tim Cobb, Principal Bassist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Gregg August, member, Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra.

There were about 16 others, mostly students at Manhattan School of Music.

Edicson Ruiz was so impressive not only as a performer but also as a teacher––a grand example of the effectiveness and success of EL SISTEMA.

Due to renovations at El Museo del Barrio here in NYC, the previously announced Edicson Ruiz performance with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas has been postponed.

Petition by mostly NYC Opera Orchestra musicians resulted in the addition of a free concert in Manhattan by a brass ensemble of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela [VENEZUELAN BRASS ENSEMBLE].It took place at El Museo del Barrio on 10 November 2007.  [Please click on "Comment" to read one attendee's review.]

Carnegie Hall’s Free Neighborhood Concert schedule adjustment

The VENEZUELAN BRASS ENSEMBLE has a DVD available; please click HERE.

[30April2008-ja]
I just watched the VENEZUELAN BRASS ENSEMBLE’s Gran Fanfaria DVD–so wonderful!

Here’s liner notes written by Maria Stodtmeier who generously gave us permission to post. – Euroarts Music International, www.el-sistema-film.com.

The Venezuelan Brass Ensemble
GRAN FANFARE

Art was originally made by a minority for a minority. It then became the art of a minority for
the majority, and now we are at the dawn of a new era when art is conceived by a majority
for the majority.–Jose Antonio Abreu

Venezuela has been impressively successful in taking classical music from the ivory tower of high culture and introducing it to the world of social reality. And this has been achieved by an altogether incredible project that now encompasses the whole of Venezuelan society. A quarter of a million children and adolescents now play a musical instrument in the country’s orchestral system, a sistema that covers the whole country and consists of hundreds of children’s and young people’s orchestras and choirs. It is an astonishing development, and it is due to a single person: the conductor, composer and economist José Antonio Abreu, who thirty years ago had the idea of combining social work and classical music in order to help children, chiefly from poor backgrounds, to develop social skills through music and to enable them to lead worthwhile, independent lives.

Abreu formed the first Venezuelan children’s orchestra in Caracas in 1975, and since then he has built up a whole network of orchestras and centres of music covering the entire country. In all of them the teaching follows the same unique curriculum: what is sought is not the ability to play an instrument perfectly but – from the very first day – the ability to play together. From the outset children are integrated into an orchestra in which their elders initially impart their knowledge to them. Behind this simple concept lies Abreu’s whole aim and philosophy: for him, an orchestra is first and foremost a community in which children learn to listen to and respect one another. The whole point of their work together is to allow the children to be integrated into a social structure in which each of its members is responsible for his or her actions and contributes to a common cause. Thomas Clamor, the artistic director of the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble, describes it as a “social system that gives many young people a new perspective on life through classical music and at the same time helps to reform classical music. It is a system that succeeds in opening up the world of music to children and young people and allowing them to sense that world for themselves, while also enabling them to do some good in the world and, above all, to do good to others. It is a system, finally, that cuts crime through classical music, enabling children to develop a sense of creativity and social responsibility through music and potentially giving many people the courage to face life anew.”

This unique orchestral landscape initially gave birth to the Simon Bolívar Youth Orchestra, which, under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel, is causing a tremendous stir all over the world. Then, in 2003, the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble was formed under the patronage of José Antonio Abreu and Thomas Clamor. Made up of the finest musicians from the sistema, this ensemble has come to enjoy equal international success, with continuous rehearsals and regular concerts creating a group of musicians whose ensemble playing is altogether exemplary.

What is also particularly impressive is the way in which the brass players and percussionists, aged between eighteen and twenty-six, regard themselves as members of one large family, central to which being the great responsibility they feel for pursuing their common goals together. And, in addition to following their own musical careers, all are active as teachers within the system. As ambassadors of their country’s orchestral movement, they take Venezuela’s oft-cited “musical miracle” to all four corners of the earth. During their national and international tours, they also undertake important educational work with pupils of all ages.

With its exciting mixture of classical and Latin American works, the almost fifty-strong ensemble provides convincing proof of its multifaceted abilities, and in the shortest possible space of time has succeeded in captivating audiences with its sheer delight in performing this repertory. In only a few years the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble has already chalked up a number of significant successes, making a notable Proms debut before more than five thousand enthusiastic listeners at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 2007. The Guardian described their performance as “phenomenal”, commenting on their “unbelievable panache and astonishing virtuosity”, while the German press, too, was equally fulsome in its praise: “Simply unique,” wrote one critic, while others noted that “the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble had the audience on the edge of their seats” with its “brilliant tonal clarity” and “mega sound”. The group was additionally hailed by the “ZukunftsMusiker” Foundation as an outstanding example of successful social work in the field of music and has already released its first CD, We Got Rhythm!, on the EMI label.

The Venezuelan Brass Ensemble is already unique thanks to its outstandingly high musical standards, its multiplicity of talent and its ability to create a sensation on the international stage. But it is much more than that: it is also a wholly convincing example of a new way of learning, playing and passing on music, a real-life vision of a better world.

Translation by Stewart Spencer.

ES-NYC member Jacqui Danilow got The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall to open the dress rehearsals of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra on November 11th and 12th 2007.

ES-NYC member Olivia Koppell got Chancellor Klein of the New York City Department of Education (NYC-DOE) to view a 23-minute DVD about El Sistema.  That resulted in a meeting on October 12th 2007 with NYC-DOE Arts Director Sharon Dunn and Director of Music Barbara Murray.