CATCH UP!

LET’S DO SOME CATCHING UP SHALL WE?


HOLY WEEK WITH THE NEW NATIONAL CHILDREN’S ORCHESTRA

I promised a surprise in my last blog, which was written in Venezuela, so here it is:

In an awesome example of how far El Sistema has come in the last 35 years, they are now putting out a fourth national orchestra. Just to be clear, there are presently 3 El Sistema orchestras that get their musicians from all over the country:

1) Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra A: An excellent orchestra of El Sistema veterans and graduates that performs mainly in Venezuela,

2) Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra B: They play all over the world and we’ve seen them on YouTube. They actually started out as a national children’s orchestra (later changing their name to the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra) and slowly developed into the phenomenon they are today, with Gustavo Dudamel winning the Mahler conducting competition acting as a catalyst for the international El Sistema boom. Many of the players in Simon Bolivar “B” have been playing together since they were 10 or 11 years old. Indeed Dudamel himself was a violinist in the orchestra when he was growing up, and got one of his first conducting opportunities when a conductor was late to rehearsal and he voluntarily stepped in to conduct.

3) Teresa Careno Youth Orchestra: a national orchestra of high school students. If you’ve seen Abreu’s TED Prize video, you’ve seen this marvelous orchestra.

And now, there’s a new, fourth orchestra: the National Children’s Orchestra, comprised of kids 15 years old and under. Their first week of rehearsals was held during Holy Week in Caracas and the Abreu Fellows were graciously invited to watch. We’re not allowed to show any videos or pictures of the orchestra yet so I’ll attempt to describe the scene.

The rehearsals are complete madness. Happening simultaneously we had: 358 kids playing Mahler’s 1st symphony. 20 basses. 18 bassoons. A trillion violins. A coach for every instrument section. Too many apprentice conductors. And running the rehearsal is Jose Antonio Abreu himself, sitting comfortably behind the apprentice conductor sipping ice tea. Yes, that’s correct, the 71-year-old founder of El Sistema still runs rehearsals. This is his baby, after all.

During the rehearsals the kids are told to sit tight because there’s a surprise for them. A few minutes later in walks Gustavo Dudamel. The kids go nuts. I almost start screaming myself but then remember that I am a guest and seated at the front of the room where I can be seen.

They play through Mahler 1, 4th movement for Gustavo. Then the teachers ask him if he has any comments and if he’d maybe like to conduct. The crowd goes nuts again. Gustavo can’t say no. Off comes the watch and out of the pocket the cell phone goes. He looks for a baton and within a few seconds there are a dozen batons in his face. He picks one. It doesn’t feel right. He picks another and steps onto the podium. He turns the score to the beginning of the 4th movement. He then proceeds to conduct the whole movement and never turns a page in the score. The kids play amazingly, like it’s their last day on earth. He then rehearses the orchestra, still without ever using the score, as the kids hang on to his every last word. Without question Dudamel is a rock star. The plan for this new children’s orchestra is for them to go on tour with a world-renowned conductor who I’m not allowed to mention, yet. Watch out.

Oh, I forgot to mention the six (maybe seven)-year old simply known as “Volcan.” He’s a percussionist who successfully auditioned for a spot in the children’s orchestra. In his spare time he conducts (and you should be accustomed to these stories by now), so of course, he was put on the podium for Dudamel, Abreu and the Fellows to watch him conduct, from memory, the 358 musicians in Venezuela’s national anthem. I have the video of this if you don’t believe me, I’m just not allowed to show it to you.

With "Volcan" and Luis Cordova, bassoonist with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra "B"

CUMANA

Cumana

I need to mention my week with Stan in Cumana, a beach town on the coast of eastern Venezuela. The nucleo there was preparing for a concert to be performed in Caracas. Among the repertoire was Shostakovich’s 10th symphony, a staple of all the El Sistema orchestras. I should mention that they were also preparing some great Latin American repertoire. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I believe a symphony orchestra in this day and age is not limited to Mozart and Beethoven. It is an instrument that can play any kind of music with any kind of artist. Indeed many North American orchestras play various genres throughout their seasons and many of my highly trained colleagues from my school days play with hip-hop artists like Kanye West and Common. I hope to see this trend continue alongside the Tchaikovskys, Bachs and Brahms.

One thing I loved about Cumana was that people wear shorts. Being close to the beach, flip flops and surfer shorts were the norm. This was good for me because otherwise I would have stood out as a tourist with my khaki shorts and high white socks (I forgot to pack short socks).

Cumana, fitting in with my high socks and shorts.

The students at the nucleo promised to take me to the beach but of course that never happened because of the intensive concert preparation. Instead of beaching it on the coast on Sunday morning, I spent it coaching bassoonists from the entire state of Sucre (where Cumana is). I can’t complain, I had a great time. I also gave away the rest of the bassoon materials I brought down to Venezuela courtesy of Sue Heineman and Matthew Ruggiero.

In Cumana with the bassoonists from the State of Sucre Orchestra

I should mention the dedication to the nucleo that many former music students demonstrate, and not just in lip service. Many of them have jobs, engineers and accountants for example but continue to teach at the nucleo on a weekly basis. Abreu talks about music affecting the student, the student’s family and the community. Well these former students have gone on to great careers for themselves, certainly helping their families along the way and giving back to the community by teaching at the nucleo. Enough said.

Cumana, la playa.

CAMERATA LATINOAMERICANA AT HARVARD

I want to plug our Venezuelan colleagues living in Boston. They have a chamber orchestra called Camerata Latinoamericana and they performed at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government a few weeks ago. A few of the players grew up with Dudamel. The week before the concert, Dudamel happened to be in Boston to receive a prize at MIT. My Boston-based Venezuelan colleagues tell me that while Dudamel was in Boston they snuck him into their school (late at night to avoid attention) and away from the lights and cameras Dudamel quietly coached the group; his friends who he came up with in his hometown of Barquisimeto. Check out this video of the group playing "Como Llora Una Estrella" (The way a star cries).




THE CONFERENCE IN LOS ANGELES

 Los Angeles, Walt Disney Concert Hall with a giant poster of Gustavo Dudamel that reads: "Pasion Gustavo"

Upon our return to Boston the Abreu Fellows were handed an almost impossible task: create a one-hour presentation on our findings from our residency in Venezuela. And to make things a little more interesting we were to do this in the context of a conference in Los Angeles put on by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The League Of American Orchestras and El Sistema USA. The conference subject: The El Sistema movement in the USA. In the audience were to be 200 top-notch professionals representing orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, school board superintendants and courageous pioneers who had already started El Sistema-inspired nucleos. No pressure.



If you ever plan to take ten strong-minded musicians/educators, give them an hour to make a presentation on the secrets of a complex, ever-changing, musical system/non-system that has been developing for 35 years, you will get a near disaster. Our rehearsals and discussions were enlightening, disheartening, loud and passionate. We had all experienced El Sistema in our own ways. And to top it all off we had several people, including Tony Woodcock, President of the New England Conservatory, critique (severely) our run-throughs, which was helpful, I might add. I’d be lying if I said I was extremely confident in our presentation going into it, especially for myself. After all, not 8 months ago I spent most of my waken hours in tiny rooms playing the bassoon, not wearing suits while advocating for the transformation of society-at-large through music.

 

Presenting at the LA Phil/El Sistema USA/League of American Orchestras conference on El Sistema in the USA

But I have to hand it to my colleagues. In the end we came through as a group and the presentation went pretty well. Not perfect, but we definitely pulled it off, receiving a standing ovation from an audience of very accomplished people. Every fellow really stepped up their game and presented beautifully. I was especially moved by David Malek’s presentation. I’ll try to get a tape of it. All in all the presentation was a public speaking learning experience for me and of course I’m thrilled to have gone through it.

                                                      The Abreu Fellows, post-presentation

The conference was a real success. Partly organized by Abreu Fellow Dan Berkowitz, who is now manager of YOLA, the LA Philharmonic’s El Sistema Program, it was 3 days of “how can we all come together and make this music for social change thing work as movement in the USA and the world?” I was humbled by the presenters,panelists and participants for all the work they have done in their respective fields. I should mention Debra Wanderly Dos Santos, the young founder of the YOURS Project in Chicago. Debra started YOURS with practically nothing and now has program with over 100 kids and will be expanding in the near future. A real pioneer and visionary, I sure you will be hearing more about her and the YOURS Project soon.

I should mention that we had the opportunity to watch Gustavo Dudamel conduct the kids from the YOLA orchestra (LA Phil’s El Sistema program) in Walt Disney Concert Hall where the LA Phil performs. This wasn’t simply for show. I saw the same thing in Cumana with the engineers and accountants who come back to their nucleo and teach there as well.

                                                   My Venezuela group looking sharp in LA

MR. ROBERT GUPTA

Remember I blogged and bragged about my former Yale School of Music schoolmate turned Los Angeles Philharmonic violinist Robert Gupta a few months ago? He’s the one who did the great TED Talk about his time working with the real-life Nathaniel Ayers, the protagonist in the movie “The Soloist” starring Jamie Foxx. Well, here’s Gupta’s TED Talk. He also spoke as part of a panel on education and music at the LA Phil’s conference.



ABREU FELLOWS INTERNSHIPS

Now we’re finally up to today. The fellows are currently in different cities throughout and United States and Scotland doing internships in El Sistema-inspired programs. It will be a nice way for us to see how these programs have adapted the Venezuelan El Sistema to the realities in their own communities. Currently there are Abreu Fellows interning at the Renaissance Arts Academy, Verdugo Young Musicians Association, Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, the YOURS Project, City Music Cleveland, The Harmony Program, Big Noise (Scotland) and the Baltimore Symphony OrchKids program. I am doing my internship in Baltimore with the OrchKids. I’ll be helping to set-up their big end of the year concert in which we will be turning the school gym into a glorious concert hall.

60 MINUTES

El Sistema was again featured on 60 Minutes tonight. This time it focused on Gustavo Dudamel’s arrival at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the El Sistema movement in the USA. The spot featured two programs: the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Youth Orchestra Los Angeles and the Baltimore Symphony Orchkids Program. I watched the show with some of the OrchKids staff tonight. Watch the 60 minutes spot here.

Man…these OrchKids that the Fellows worked with in Baltimore back in November were on 60 Minutes tonight! As I watched I couldn’t help but think how music is already opening doors for them the way it opened doors for me.

The Abreu Fellows are on Twitter. Follow us at: www.twitter.com/theabreufellows

THE SECRET OF EL SISTEMA?

I learned my first important lesson about El Sistema this past week. We all know that "El Sistema" translates to "The System." Well please allow me to reveal to you one of the secrets of El Sistema: There Is No System.

Our camera man Joaquin, who is a native of Caracas, compares this lack of system to the traffic in Caracas. The traffic here is almost always congested. Motorcycles and mopeds can drive between in the lanes legally and pedestrians make frequent and casual appearances in the roads. In some places the traffic is so slow that venders easily walk between the lanes selling everything from car chargers to tupperware.

Now to an outsider like myself it seems like complete chaos, but ask any Caraqueno and they will tell you that every car or motorcycle knows exactly what they're doing and where they're going. How they do it though,  is always changing, reacting in real-time, adjusting to the world around them.

This is how El Sistema functions. It's mission, the democratization of music. Its method, fluid, flexible and always adapting.

So when they told us last week that we would be going to Montalban, the flagship nucleo in Caracas, I was really looking foward to it. Then Monday came and plans changed. Instead of Montalban we went to Rinconada. Apparently Montalban was being fumigated.

On Tuesday I saw my colleague Dan during lunch and he said, "the jazz band at the Simon Bolivar Conservatory has invited us to observe their rehearsal. If you want to go you have to be ready in 2 minutes."

Wednesday it was back to La Rinconada. We had Thursday afternoon off until it was announced, at the last minute of course, that we were going to Montalban to observe their classes. We also went to Montalban on Saturday to watch the orchestra rehearsals but we arrived to find out that the orchestra was departing for an impromptu concert.

All week I heard plans for us to go Barquisimento next week, but everytime I heard about this trip the day changed. I still don't know if we're going. Tuesday is the latest I've heard. We were originally supposed to be in Caracas until about Feb 26. Well, ends up we'll be here until March 4. Why? They haven't told us.

This is "The System." And I think it's beautiful.

I quickly came to terms with the fact that here, writing anything in an agenda is a futile exercise, so now I just keep my  bassoon, camera, note pad, pen and bottle of water ready to go. It's actually quite nice as everyday is a surprise.

So how does this apparent lack of organization help?  I think for one that it helps El Sistema make the most of every opportunity. In a movement that is trying to grow and reach 1 million kids in 5 years, they have to have an organizational structure and mechanism in place that is flexible and adaptable to take advantage of any opportunity: to play a concert at a big event, to take a meeting with a potential community partner or funder or to find a spot for 20 new students in a nucleo.

This kind of thinking helps in the teaching of the the students as well.  For example, we were told at La Rinconada Nucleo that for the string classes there are no set pieces to be played. They have plenty of options for pieces so instead of a strict curriculum, they adjust to the development of each individual class. If the class  moves slower as a group they'll play easier music. If the class loves to play percussive and fast music, they'll play more of that style. If the class needs to work on style perhaps they'll play more Mozart.

And finally this model of flexibility keeps everyone on their toes and motivated. Did  the Montalban orchestra kids know they were going to play a concert yesterday when they arrived at the nucleo? I doubt it, since we were sent there to watch their rehearsal.  That means that students  better be ready to play anytime or anywhere. Responsibility and courage are learned without even being taught explicitly.

Yesterday we were at a function when a few top brass El Sistema employees got a call from Maestro Abreu for something important. They were up and gone in a few minutes. Apparently this happens quite often.  Does this get annoying for them? I'm sure it does, but what a feeling it must be to know that no day at work will be the same and that you're part of something that is moving forward, constantly reshaping itself in order to fulfill its mission.

Yes, the mission. Let's not forget that the El Sistema mission is so clear, and let's be honest, so good, that you can't help but think that while things are a little chaotic there is a goal and everyone involved knows what is being strived for.

Here are some pictures and videos from our activities this week.

Observing a bass and cello class at La Rinconada nucleo. They were working on a two-octave G major scale and a Suite by Jean-Phillipe Rameau. The teacher constantly emphasized to the class that they had to be ready to play, all of them together, when they were instructed to. This is normal, one has to be alert in an orchestra rehearsal.  What stood out for me was how the teacher emphasized that they all had to be ready, so if one person wasn't ready, they would put their instruments down and start the process over. So this process was developing personal responsibility, teamwork and looking out for one another.

With the teacher, Amilcar,  and his bass students from the cello/bass class:

La Rinconada string teacher, Josbel Poche explaining to us the paper orchestra. The paper orchestra, which was started a few years ago because of a lack of real instruments is now a full-fledged part of the initiation to music process (hello Flexibility and Adaptivity!). Before the students can play real instruments, they build an instrument made of paper and materials with their parents. They learn how to care for their instruments, hold them properly, what the different parts are, how to sit in rehearsal and they even "play" the instruments as a piece of music is being played over a stereo system. This process lasts about three months, at the end of which they "perform" a concert. After that they move on to real instruments. Thanks to the paper orchestra, they'll already know how an orchestra rehearsal works and the discipline that comes with it. All that's left is learning to play the instrument.

With Rinconada students Moises (clarinet) and Claudia (bassoon). I worked with Claudia on some Bach Brandenburg, Weissenborn studies and long tones. She sounded great.

Montalban is the flagship nucleo of El Sistema in Caracas. It has more then 1000 students. When El Sistema wants to show off  their program this is where they often bring guests, although I'm sure you could walk into any nucleo and be amazed. They walked us through the building where in every room there  was an ensemble and conductor ready to dazzle us. In all we saw 5 different orchestras. Here's a video of the first stop. You'll recognize the tune: the Finale from Rossini's Overture to William Tell.



El Sistema does jazz. On Thursday we went to see the first and only official jazz band in El Sistema. Most of the students in this band are classically trained and have only been playing jazz for a year and a half. Their director was really adamant that the New England Conservatory send down some of their jazz faculty to work with the ensemble. How do they sound? Check them out playing a Buddy Rich tune:



With the bassoon students from Montalban. Their orchestra was the last stop on the tour of the Montalban nucleo and they played Danzon #2 and Mambo, two pieces that the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra are well-known for. Check my earlier blogs for videos of those two pieces.

Here is a video of an early childhood music class. The class includes things like moving to music, singing, acting, note name recognition, improvisation and listening skills. In this video we see body movement, percussion and listening skills all wrapped into one. I like this class because it encourages creativity and expression. The kids can do no wrong, there is no bad answer. What matters is that they come away feeling that music makes them feel good.




Abreu Fellows Lorrie and Rebecca lead a recorder class in an exercise at La Rinconada nucleo:

At Montalban with Abreu Fellows, David, Stan and Jonathan:

I love this last picture below. I took this from inside the courtyard of La Rinconada nucleo. Many of the students at this nucleo live in this neighbourhood of shanty houses in the hills, known as barrios.  It's a great example of bringing the opportunity to play music right to the doorstep of the kids that need it most.

I'll write again pretty soon as there is some great stuff coming up this week: two road trips, another Simon Bolivar concert and some dinners at restaurants or houses.

But then again this is El Sistema, so this could and probably will change.

PHOTO ESSAY: INTRODUCTION TO EL SISTEMA IN CARACAS

Finally in Venezuela!

In the days prior to arriving in Caracas chaos reigned in my life: too many things to do before leaving and not enough time to do them all. People often asked me if I was excited about getting here and I had to tell that I didn't really know how I felt because I hadn't had time to think about it.

With everything that has been thrown at us this year, the residency in Venezuela seemed very far away to me. My thoughts were consumed with things like budgets, YouTube videos,  first-hand testimonies, management skills, Abreu, fundraising, El Sistema, Spanish. I never had time think much about what Venezuela would be like. On top of that I didn't know what to expect. Travelling so far away seemed vague to me. I hadn't left North America in 12 years or so, the last time being when my high school orchestra travelled to Cuba to do an exchange with the Havana Conservatory orchestra.

As I write this, I realize that's it's kind of interesting that the only other time I've been to a Latin American country was to do something music-related. I am consistently amazed at how music has and keeps opening doors for me to experience different cultures, meet different people and learn new things. I believe that with music I can sit down with someone from anywhere in the world and connect with them without saying a word. I know our time here in Venezuela will prove me right.

It wasn't until the plane landed and the flight attendant announced "ladies and gentlemen welcome to Caracas" that I actually started getting really excited. I immediately went shutter-happy and to the dismay of my colleagues began snapping away pictures to no avail. Our first days here have been mostly an introduction to El Sistema and since I'm overjoyed to be here and taking way too many pictures, I figured why not show what we've been up to.


Upon our arrival at the airport in Caracas we were greeted by El Sistema staff, which included Roberto Zambrano, the director of the El Sistema program in Acarigua. You may remember him from by blog #3 as he was the one who gave us the El Sistema "Tocar Y Luchar" medallions.

Here I am at the airport with Rodrigo, our guide/host here in Caracas.  Rodrigo works in El Sistema's office of International Affairs. He is a marvellous host with impeccable English and an encyclopedic knowledge of El Sistema's history and development. I was thrilled to see that when he greeted us at the airport he was wearing a Leading Note Foundation (Ottawa's own El Sistema-like program) T-Shirt. 


Meet 19 year-old oboist Carmello. He hails from Chacao, a municipal area in Caracas. Rodrigo was leading us on a tour of El Sistema's stunning new performance and rehearsal center named "The Center For Social Action Through Music." Carmello's El Sistema nucleo is in Chacao but I imagine he was at the center to get in a bit of practice before going to attend the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra Concert, which was also taking place at the Center.

Here are all the fellows plus Rodrigo and Stephanie on the far left on a terrace of The Center For Social Action Through Music. This building is beautiful, with several terraces, which are accessible directly from the hallways. Every room in the building is multi-purpose and was built with acoustics in mind. They can all be used for rehearsals, performance or recording of any type of ensemble. The rooms are all equipped with multi-media outlets so performances can be broadcast via radio, TV and internet.  Furthermore,  the rooms all have floating floors which helps to minimize sound transference from room to room. There is minimal office space and at a whim, any office space can be turned into a performance space.  What I admire most about this building, besides its great architecture is that it caters to music-making first and foremost. And from what I understand this was intentional, as this center's focus is to give the students the very best conditions in which to develop.

The same night of our tour we were invited to watch a concert celebrating the 35th anniversary of El Sistema. The program consisted of Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra "A" (which contains the founding members of this orchestra), in Mahler's 9th Symphony. In this picture Dudamel takes a bow with the orchestra at the end of show. I have to point out that Dudamel is one of the only big-time conductors I know of that refuses to stand on the podium when he takes his bows with the orchestra. As you can see in this picture he's on the floor with the orchestra members.  I've noticed this sense of togetherness and humility in every El Sistema student I've come across, from Boston to Caracas. Here, playing in the orchestra is as much about being a family as it is being musicians and this is easily recognizable when they play.

Backstage with Gustavo after the concert.

On Saturday morning we attended a concert at the Center given by the Teresa Carreno Youth Symphony, which is an orchestra of mostly high school students from Caracas. These are some kids lining up for the concert. This here is the future of instrumental music. These are the people that must be attending concerts.

In the picture below, on the left is Lila, the concertmistress of the Teresa Carreno Youth Symphony. She played her solos beautifully in Camille Saint-Saens' Danse Macabre. On the right is Daniel Arias who performed Saint-Saens' concerto for cello  #1 brilliantly. I played both of these pieces in high school so this concert brought back some good memories.

I'm not sure if it's simply the size of the orchestras in El Sistema but they have a way of really drawing in the listener, especially the string sections which seem to all be playing for their life. It's not always perfect, no orchestra is all the time anyway, but it's intoxicating and mesmerizing. And just for your reference, this orchestra is the same one that performs in Jose Antonio Abreu's TED Prize talk, which I put in my blog #1. Believe me, this orchestra is even better live.

Before coming to Venezuela I collected bassoon related materials to give out to El Sistema programs. While Caracas has a healthy supply of these materials, a lot of the nucleos in the country and the mountains are lacking key materials.  Remember that there are 184 nucleos in El Sistema and they don't all have  access to the materials and teachers that a big city such as Caracas does.

Robert Zambrano's nucleo in Acarigua is one of these nucleos in need, especially for bassoon and oboe materials. Here we are at the Center with his nephew, Aquarius Zambrano. These materials, which include reed cases, cane and reed knives were graciously donated by Matthew Ruggiero, a long-time Bassoonist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Sue Heineman, Principal Bassoon of the National Symphony Orchestra. Thank you  both for your generosity.

On Saturday afternoon we attended a rehearsal of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra "B" conducted by Claudio Abbado. This is the orchestra that you see on YouTube all the time and tours the world with Gustavo Dudamel. Here is a picture of the bass section.

In seeing them in person for the first time one thing that caught my attention was how much they moved as a group when they played. I've never seen a bass section move like that. That night we had dinner with Alejandro, the concertmaster of the orchestra, and his wife, and I spoke to Alejandro about my observation. He chuckled and said that what I had seen in rehearsal was nothing. "Just wait until the concert." Well I can't wait to see this. The concert, conducted by Claudio Abbado, is Wednesday and it includes Berg's Lulu, Prokofiev's Symphonic Suite and Tchaikovsky's Symphony #6.

After the rehearsal we got to meet Maestro Abbado. Here I am with Lorrie, Katie, Abbado and Jonathan.

On Sunday morning we got to meet with Maestro Jose Antonio Abreu, founder of El Sistema, for about 2 hours.  In his talk with us three things really caught my attention. The first is that when he started El Sistema he insisted that human development be one of the key concepts of El Sistema. Not music, but human development. To help make his point he made sure that the government funding supporting El Sistema came not from the Ministry of Culture but from the Ministry of Social Welfare. In this way the government had to acknowledge that El Sistema was a social transformation program first and a music program second.

Second he encouraged us to put faith in our teachers, especially the younger ones. The teachers, says Maestro Abreu, will be the heart and soul of our programs. I know from our studies that I can look forward to seeing many, many young students in teaching positions throughout our stay in Venezuela.

And the third is something that will stick with me forever: "Culture for the poor should not be poor culture." This is happening here in Caracas. The diversity of the crowd at the Friday night concert with Dudamel was like nothing I've ever seen before back home. Whites, Blacks,  10 year olds (on the edge of their seats!), and senior citizens sitting side-by-side watching a very well-played Mahler symphony, at a fabulous hall with a world-class conductor.

Maestro Abreu is an incredible leader. He has complete command of his talking points, his arguments and their explanations. Even though he spoke off the cuff with us it was always eloquent and poetic.

Our meeting started as a simple meet and greet. He began speaking casually, pleasantries and all, but then it somehow morphed into a rousing speech. After 45 minutes I was ready to run through a brick wall for him. He is an amazing orator and if you've ever seen him speak you know what I'm talking about.  

On Sunday afternoon we took a cable car up to the top of El Avila (2175 meters), which towers above Caracas. From the top the views were stunning. One side of the mountain looks down over Caracas and the other, which is the picture below, looks down over villages and the Caribbean Sea. In the picture between Stan and I is Adam Johnston, son of author Tricia Tunstall, who you may remember is writing the very first book on El Sistema.

This man is known as "Antonin, the poet of Avila."  He was selling a poster of his own poem. They title is "Como Cambiar El Mundo" or "How To Change The World". Being the hopeless romantic I am, I had to buy a copy from him.

I have no idea what the body of the poem says, and I will translate it eventually, but with a title like "Como Cambiar El Mundo," I wouldn't be surprised if El Sistema was in there somewhere.

In the next few days we will be visiting Montalban, the flagship nucleo of El Sistema. Following this we will be split up into groups of two and three to visit nucleos throughout the country. Teaching and performing will be part of our residency, as well as research and documentation. My group is heading to the Andes to visit nucleos in Merida, Trujillo and Tachira.

Stay tuned for more!