Ravinia 2024 Issue 4

The National Children’s Symphony of Venezuela—in its fifth generation, formed in 2023—arrives at Ravinia for a concert August 6 and, the following morning, a side-by-side rehearsal/workshop with Dudamel in a similar spirit to the four-day National Seminario Ravinia, which took place last month. The appearance is part of an Amer- ican tour that will also include stops at three other prominent venues—Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, Carnegie Hall in New York City (part of its World Orchestra Week celebrating internation- al youth orchestras), and the Tangle- wood Music Festival in Lenox, MA. The National Children’s Symphony of Venezuela, which comprises some of the Latin American country’s most talented musicians ages 10–17, was formed in 1995 by José Antonio Abreu (1939–2018), a much-honored music educator and former minister of culture. The cur- rent iteration of the ensemble, which is led by music director Andrés David Ascanio Abreu (nephew of the founder), made its debut in 2023 and undertook its first international tour to Geneva, Switzerland. The group is an extension of El Siste- ma , Venezuela’s innovative music-educa- tion program founded by the late Abreu. Since its creation in 1975, the principles of El Sistema have garnered worldwide recognition and spread to nearly 80 oth- er countries, including the United States, where there are 140 instrumental-music programs inspired by its success. “It’s all around the world,” Dudamel said in a Los Angeles Philharmonic video, “children listening, watching other children, doing music, being like a family, trusting each other. That is a dream, really—music as a fundamental human right. That, for me, is the most important thing.” Dudamel is arguably El Sistema’s most famous alum, becom- ing involved with the program in 1986 as a budding violinist and getting his professional conducting start in 1999 as Music Director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the national youth orchestra of Venezuela. One of the largest North American El Sistema programs is Sistema Ravin- ia, which operates under the auspices of Ravinia’s Reach Teach Play, a mul- tifaceted portfolio of education and community engagement offerings. In its 11th year, the music program serves hundreds of primarily Black and Latino elementary- and middle-school children in Waukegan and the Austin and Lawn- dale neighborhoods of Chicago. The morning after the August 6 con- cert, students from eight Chicago-area music programs (all of whom are invited to the concert) will sit side-by-side with members of the National Children’s Symphony of Venezuela for a rehearsal/ workshop focused on Jean Sibelius’s Finlandia led by Dudamel. Taking part are participants from Sistema Ravinia as well as the Chicago Arts and Music Project (CAMP), Chicago Metamorpho- sis Orchestra Project (ChiMop), Chica- go Musical Pathways Initiative (CMPI), Elgin Youth Symphony, Highland Park “ In music, you have to listen to each other to create harmony . And when you apply that in society , you are a different person. ” RAVINIAMAGAZINE • AUGUST 5 – AUGUST 18, 2024 24 NOHELYOLIVEROS