ES-NYC founding member Ms. Olivia Koppell said that the NYC Council will be issuing a Proclamation honoring Maestro José Antonio Abreu, founder of El Sistema. This resulted from a screening/presentation on Thursday, April 24th 2008 in the RED ROOM at City Hall.

Professor Elise S. Sobol, NYSSMA Chairperson Music for Special Learners, was there; her words to the NYC Council members added weighty lift to the presentation resulting in a consensus that an El Sistema implementation move forward.

A ceremony at NY City Hall is planned some time in early June, when Maestro Abreu will be an honored guest at a GALA Concert by the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas.

Infinite thanks to Ms. Olivia Koppell whose very hard work led to this.

From a NYPhilharmonic perspective, by Orin O’Brien.

     I cannot tell you what an impression that Gustavo D. has made on us: I had a bit of a special interest, since one of my students from yrs. ago (Jacqui Danilow, who plays in the Met. Opera Orch.) has been trying to start “El Sistema” here in the USA… she has a committee of several interested musicians trying to meet with various people in the schools, etc. to see if this could be done.. It would surely revitalize classical music, which has almost NO music appreciation in the schools any more, let alone orchestras!!!
    So — Dudamel took the NYP by storm last week: he began with the Prokofiev 5th, and went right thru it, no problem, and very good instincts.  Then the Chavez  “Sinfonia India”, with lots of changing rhythms, etc.  -  he did not have to stop and say, “I will do bar 8 in 3 and bar 9 in 4, and the 5/8 bars are 3 beats plus 2, etc.” — he just bounded onto the stage, with a big grin (Like he was saying, “let’s have some fun!”), and proceeded to conduct perfectly, every beat in place, with incredible inner pulse always, with a sense of color.. very much the same energy and spirit as Lenny Bernstein used to have: a shared JOY in music making!!!!  Infectious!!   And NOT phony!
    I was bowled over, and he is only 26…. Stephen Freeman, our bass clarinetist, was quoted in the NY Times article (by DAn Wakin, who is himself a clarinetist) as saying, “he reminds me of the young Bernstein.”    I concur wholeheartedly….   The audiences have been going crazy: 10 curtain calls at the end of each concert, with Gil Shaham getting 4 bows for the Dvorak concerto, which Dudamel conducted like it was a symphony with violin obbligato!!!   A full rich tone, with plenty of rhythmic incisiveness, just like Muti does, and Bernstein used to do!!!!
    This kid… he played violin at first (his dad played trombone), and then at age 17 he began to conduct the Simon Bolivar Youth orch. (the one that has been touring this past year, and you can see them, with Dudamel, on YOUTUBE!).
His mentor and conducting teacher was the man who founded the El Sistema program [Jose Antonio Abreu], and he keeps watch over him, letting him know if he can improve this and that, etc.    So he has had a lot of experience, which most young conductors don’t have… and also Simon Rattle has praised him, and had him conduct Berlin. 
    Anyway.. it is all true.  Of course he doesn’t have the “old master” approach yet, but he has the skill (perfect baton technique, so effortless that you don’t notice it: but the orchestra plays together!!!), the HEART, and the ears!!!  ANd he solfeges like Morel used to (when I was a student at Juilliard, he was the French-conservatory-trained conductor who trained the JSM orch., and he used to solfege harp glissandos!!!)  So he has everything but age, and that will come!!! Meanwhile, he has the instinct of knowing how to handle an orch.
     So this was a brief interlude of great joy… and the orch. will remember it for a long time.  He is coming back next year for a week of Mahler 5….
   

DAME EVELYN GLENNIE’s LOBBYING EFFORTS

“Julian Lloyd Webber applauds the Government’s injection of £332 million into music-making
“

“…in England, the Department of Culture has put aside £2m to a three-year scheme based on the Venezuelan model which will focus on three impoverished areas south of the border.” According to Peter Stevenson of Sistema Scotland, the £2m mentioned here is part of the £332 million that the Glennie-Galway-Webber-Kamen consortium
helped generate.

“…if miracles can occur in Venezuela so they can here [UK]…”

“…At a stroke they shattered the myth that classical music is white, middle-class and elitist: three
adjectives constantly used in recent years to beat it over the head.

Here, on our doorstep, were kids from the barrios – much poorer than ours – playing Shostakovich as we had never heard him before. Suddenly, far from being elitist, playing an orchestral instrument seemed sexy again, and the idea of music being a catalyst for social change began to take root.

The revolutionary aspect of Venezuela’s “El Sistema” is that
it doesn’t set out to produce great musicians.

Instead, it gives children an opportunity to transform their lives by developing skills, teamwork and interpersonal relationships within the context of something – in this case a symphony orchestra – that can become great only when they work at it together.

This extraordinary social miracle was not lost on the Government or on the BBC – both had already decided to back a “Sistema”-based pilot scheme on Stirling’s troubled Raploch housing estate. As from yesterday, several more test runs are in the pipeline.”

The Music in Education Consortium (UK) was spearheaded by Julian Lloyd Webber, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Sir James Galway, and Michael Kamen.

CAN IT HAPPEN HERE IN THE USA?

Great Britain has a population of around 60,776,238.

In US Dollars, Great Britain is spending around $11.07 per person.

Assuming US population at 300 million, the equivalent amount for music-education here in the good old USA should be around $3.3 BILLION.

For New York City, it should be around $88.5 MILLION.

PLEASE WRITE TO YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS AND ASK THEM TO INCREASE
FUNDING FOR MUSIC-EDUCATION.
CLICK HERE FOR YOUR NYC ELECTED OFFICIALS.

FOR CONGRESS, CLICK HERE.

THANKS.

For full story, click HERE.

ES-NYC member Larry Rawdon attended a symposium about EL SISTEMA in Boston on 7 November 2007.

To view a webcast of the symposium, please click HERE.

ES-NYC member Olivia Koppell has followed up on the October 12th 2007 meeting with Sharon Dunn, NYC Department of Education (DOE) Senior Instructional Manager for Arts Education.
Sharon Dunn has put Olivia in touch with Christopher Caruso, DYCD’s Assistant Commissioner for Out-Of-School-Time (OST) programs.
There will be a meeting with top DYCD officials on Monday, 17 December 2007.

PLEASE HELP BY CONTACTING YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS AND ASKING THEM TO SUPPORT MUSIC-EDUCATION FOR ALL CHILDREN.
CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT WHO REPRESENTS YOU IN NEW YORK CITY.