Ravinia 2023 Issue 2

PATRICK GIPSON/RAVINIA rchestra’s For All National Seminario Ravinia unites students of El Sistema-inspired orchestras By Kyle MacMillan GIVEN THE COUNTRY ’s historical ties to such celebrated composers as Wolfgang Mozart and Franz Schubert, it’s hardly surprising that music education is compulsory in Austrian schools from 1st through 10th grades. ¶ But one of the most innovative and acclaimed such programs in the world emerged thousands of miles away in a seem- ingly unlikely country with much less connection to the traditional canon of classical music—Venezuela. Known as El Sistema (literally, The System), it had involved more than 700,000 student musicians by 2015, including perhaps its most famous alumnus, Gustavo Du- damel, who will take over as music director of the New York Philhar- monic in 2026, as well as the San Diego Symphony’s Rafael Payare. RAVINIA MAGAZINE • JULY 3 – JULY 16, 2023 10