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 ABREU FELLOWS AT TED 2010

TED 2010!

This trip lasted barely two days and it went by very fast. The reason the Abreu Fellows (5 out of the 10 of us) were in Long Beach, California was to perform a number on the TED Stage during the TED Prize session. Here's a little background.

TED, which stands for technology, entertainment and design is a non-profit dedicated to promoting "Ideas Worth Spreading." The organization holds conferences all over the world where they gather some of the best and brightest from all fields to speak for about 18 minutes on their area of expertise. No matter who they are none of the speakers are paid and they all get about 18 minutes. Past speakers have included Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, conductor Benjamin Zander, poet and spoken word artist Rives and of course our own Jose Antonio Abreu, founder of El Sistema.

The TED Conference is the main conference and it is held once a year in Long Beach, California. In theory anyone can attend but there is a pretty serious application and a $6000 attendance fee. Despite this the conference sells out very quickly. Founders, CEOs, politicians and celebrities are generally in attendance. Below is a picture of one TED session I attended where they simulcasted the talk of Britain's next Prime Minister (if all goes as planned), David Cameron.

So why the heck were we invited to perform? Well as you all know by now, the founder of El Sistema, Jose Antonio Abreu, won the TED Prize in 2009 and as a result he receieved $100,000 and a wish, which was to launch the Abreu Fellows Program. It is at these yearly TED Conferences that the TED Prize is announced. But before they announce the new TED Prize winner, they look back at previous winners and through speeches, videos and performances they show the audience how the previous winners' wishes are coming along. To show how Abreu's wish was developing they invited the Abreu Fellows do a skit/music performance.

It was a quick six-minute performance and I think it went really well. We got a standing ovation from the audience and lots of great feedback afterwards. I'd like to think that our performing skills are the reason for the positive reception, but I know it has much more to do with the fact that people believe in Abreu's wish.

I've spoken to so many people who tell me something special happened last year at the TED Conference when Abreu gave his TED Talk. TEDsters (people who attend TED) are generally brilliant and successful and they've seen and done it all, but apparently Abreu's talk and wish really made an impact on them last year. Fortunately for the Abreu Fellows Program, people are really behind this wish and want to see it unfold.

So now that I've given you the background here's how it all went down:

Tuesday Feb 9

9pm: We land at LAX. It's my first time in California and I'm happy to see palm trees instead of snow.

11pm: I meet up with my colleague, former school-mate and TED Fellow Robert Gupta for a drink at the hotel.

11:45pm: I walk around Long Beach looking for food. I see TEDsters everywhere.

Wednesday Feb 10

7:30am: I wake-up and head to the Long Beach Performing Arts Center to watch the TED University Talks session.  I'm excited to see Gupta speak and perform there.

8:45am: Gupta's TED Talk. Have you seen the movie "The Soloist" starring Jamie Foxx? The protagonist is the real-life Nathaniel Ayers, a musician who develops schizophrenia and becomes homeless. Gupta is now his violin teacher so his TED talk is about his experience working with Ayers. Gupta also performs some Bach after his talk. Out of all the TED University speakers, Gupta is the only one that gets a standing ovation. He deserves it as he is fantastic. His talk should be available online in the next few months. Bravo Robert!

      Gupta performing some Bach at the TED University Talks session.


10:50am: I'm walking to meet the other fellows. From afar I see a beautiful blonde walking towards me by herself. As she gets closer I glance at her nametag. It says Cameron Diaz. She walks right by me and like an idiot, I say nothing, not even hello.

12:45pm: Rehearsal on the TED stage. The acoustic piano we were supposed to use turns into an electric keyboard. Most of our 30 minute rehearsal time is taken up by the techs trying to get this keyboard to work. Our run-through is mediocre at best so we'd like another go at it. The answer is "sorry, but no." Great...no pressure guys.

4:00pm: Hair and make-up. No seriously, hair and make-up. The make-up artist tells me I have good skin.

4:30pm: Meg Ryan walks by us backstage.

5:00pm: TED Prize session starts. I'm a little nervous but Mark Churchill the director of the Abreu Fellows program is sitting with us in the audience. Seeing a familiar face helps.

5:45ish pm: Our performance. We kill it. The TED audience is great. I'm relieved it went well. People such as Al Gore, Meg Ryan and Bill Gates are in the audience. Our performance was videotaped by TED and I'll post it as soon as we get it.

6:15pm: Jamie Oliver does his TED Talk and announces his wish. Personally I think it's a great wish: "To create a strong and sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity." Check out his TED talk here.





6:45pm We're backstage. Sheryl Crow, who has just performed after Jamie Oliver, congratulates us, the fellows, on our performance. I ask myself what I'm doing here.

7:00pm The fellows and I head to a restaurant for a reception.

7:15pm We meet various people, all ridiculously good at what they do: a co-founder of Skype, a writer/producer for Grey's Anatomy, the President of this and CEO of that. I remind myself to take it easy on the drinks so I don't say something stupid.

8:00pm As we're standing around a table, a rather tall, black guy comes right up to me, shakes my hand and congratulates us on our performance. It's Will Smith. I tell him I'm a big fan. I decline to tell him that I know every line from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.  He asks what the long, brown thing was that I was playing. He introduces himself to all of us and chats with us for a few minutes. He is very humble and easy-going. As he leaves, I immediately post to Facebook about the encounter. It pains me to admit it now, but I felt giddy, like a 5-year old in a candy store. I again ask myself what I'm doing here.

11:30pm Block party on the street. I run into a few TEDsters who support the Abreu Fellows program like Carl Haney and Michael Melcher. The band is awesome and people are dancing...as best as a bunch of CEOs and Founders dance.

        With Christine, Stan and Rebecca at the block party.


Thursday Feb 11

7:00am Abreu Fellows Breakfast with TEDsters and supporters of the fellowship. Gupta attends too. I sit beside the President and CEO of Gibson Guitars.

Gupta and I at the Abreu Fellows' Breakfast.

9:00am I start writing emails to all the people I've met to thank them for their support.

12:56pm Catch flight at LAX

My TED experience was unbelievable and I feel priveleged to have been invited. Thank you to Rives, who helped us put together our performance, to Amy Novogratz and Anna Verghese who looked after us from the moment we landed at LAX and to everyone in Boston that watched our practice run-throughs and gave us feedback.

We depart for Caracas, Venezuela this Thursday where the real adventures will start. El Sistema, I'm constantly told, is the real deal and will not dissappoint. I hope so, because I've been bragging about it all year now...You'll hear from me soon.

Thanks for reading.

Past, Present and Future

Abreu Fellows and students from Youth And Enrichment Family Services at Menino Arts Center.
Boston, 01/24/10



Video of Abreu Fellows' first semester:






WELCOME BACK TO MY BLOG ON THE 2009-2010 ABREU FELLOWS PROGRAM!

Since I haven't blogged in almost two months, this post is a little long. But so much has happened that I don't want to leave anything out. And don't worry, it's mostly pictures.

As most of you know, after this year of training the fellows are expected to spend one year (and hopefully longer!) as part of an El Sistema-inpsired program somewhere in the world. So you'll begin to notice that everything that's been happening is helping to propel us towards next's year goal.

Let's go back to December of 2009.

My roommate Stan and I had the opportunity to go to Atlanta, Georgia to discuss the possibility of an El Sistema-style program there. We met with several people from the music performance, music education and non-profit world. We also attended a TED conference, TEDxPeachtree, hosted by Al Meyers.

For those who don't know what TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is, it is essentially a non-profit organization that promotes "ideas worth spreading." TED holds their annual conference each year in Long Beach, California. It is at this conference that they announce the TEDPrize. The winners of this prestigious prize win $100, 000 and "one wish to change the world." In 2009, Jose Antonio Abreu, the founder of Venezuela's El Sistema won the TEDPrize and his wish was to start a special training program in the United States for musicians to spread the El Sistema idea to all parts of the world. The Abreu Fellows Program is his wish coming to fruition.

At TEDxPeachtree, organizer Al Meyers, gave Stan the opportunity to do a sort of mini TED Talk on the possibility of starting an El Sistema-inspired program in Atlanta. This is quite an honor. Stan did great (see Stan's talk and presentation here) and we managed to get a few people interested in helping move the process foward.

If you've never seen TED Talks, take your computer, find a comfortable seat and check them out. The talks are given by world's most creative, innovative and inspiring people (like Abreu). Some of them will blow your mind.



Stan and Me, with Melanie Darby and Reggie Brayon at TEDxPeachtree.

Stan is from Atlanta and his mom is a music teacher in the public school system, so we took that as an opportunity to coach some students at her high school.






We also attended a great concert combining the Spelman College and Morehouse College Glee Clubs.


Glee Club concert at Spelman College, Atlanta

Our professional meetings in Atlanta were very productive and it looks like Atlanta has the right combination of a strong arts community (Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, ten youth orchestras and marching bands galore!) and plenty of youth to serve. Defintely furtile ground to start an El Sistema-inspired program.

Back to the pedagogical side of things now.

One of the biggest issues with starting a new music program is deciding what age group and which instruments to start with. Throughout our studies it seems that two instruments are consistently a safe bet: voice (choirs) and percussion.

Therefore this past week we had percussion seminars, led by Jerry Leake and Marcus Santos.


Abreu Fellows, Christine and Alvaro during percussion seminar with Jerry Leake

We learned percussion techniques and rhythms from North and South India, West Africa, particularly Ghana, and Brazil (Samba Reggae, Samba and Samba Funk).

The reason for having percussion be a part of a music program from the beginning is that it's makes it easy for everyone to be involved right away. Hitting the bucket, djembe, repique or surdo makes an immediate sound and incorporating things like call and response, dynamics, singing and dancing provides an exilirating ensemble experience, much like playing Mahler or Brahms in a symphony orchestra. Most of the time you don't need to know how to read music to do it and it'll teach one of the most important aspects of playing music: rhythm.



This is important for kids because sometimes, especially in elementary school, to start having fun on the violin or the clarinet, it takes a long time. Producing a satisfying sound, learning the fingerings and how to read music can be a slow process at first and a child may lose interest if they are not encouraged daily. By having a percussion ensemble, they get access to a musical group performance right away. It gets them "hooked" from the get-go while they slowly build their skill on their orchestral instrument.

Speaking of percussion and Brazil, I will divulge that last semester, with the encouragement of my mentor, New England Conservatory Viola Faculty, Martha Katz, I spent a weekend amongst Brazilians in Boston. I took a Samba class, (in which I required much assistance) and the next day I took a Samba percussion workshop, (which went much better).


At Samba class with my roommate Rebecca (on the right).

I am convinced the reason that Brazilians are so good at soccer is because they dance Samba. Quick feet, a neccesity for both Samba and good ball control in soccer. I have slow feet, which is why I'm good at neither...

The Samba percussion workshop was lead Meia Noite, who hails from Salvador Da Bahia, Brazil, where Carnaval (the biggest street party in the world) happens every year.

Shout out to my good friend Jan who should be making his way to Salvador for Carnaval in the next few weeks.



Now back to Meia Noite. Quite simply, he is amazing. He has been Sergio Mendez' principal percussionist for years and has played with Madonna, among others. Check out this video I took from his workshop. In the video he is playing the "Caixa" with a drumstick in his left hand and using his right hand to also strike the drum. Take note of all the different sounds he gets with only one drum and also watch for the call and response between him and the class towards the end of the video. How could any kid not enjoy doing this?








We have also continued our outreach activities with different music programs in the Boston area. You'll remember that last November we visited Youth and Family Enrichment Services (YOFES) which targets the Haitian community in Boston. Yesterday, January 24, 2010 we returned to do an outreach gig with their students. They have a Suzuki string program involving more than 50 kids.



We had set up the outreach date back in November, but in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, it seemed even more important for us to do this gig.


With Geralde Gabeau, Director of YOFES and Ms. Heidie J. Jean, Violin Instructor

We started off by watching their violin and viola students playing Lightly Row and Twinkle, Twinkle, which are two standard beginner pieces from the Suzuki Method. All the kids played from memory with great big sounds and solid rhythm. Credit to their teacher Ms. Heidie J. Jean.



Following this the Fellows demonstrated our instruments and played a few solo and duo pieces. We then premiered a wonderful new piece titled Puesta Del Sol, composed by New England Conservatory composition student Albert Oppenheimer. Nicely done Albert! And to finish off, the fellows and students took the stage together to play some Haitian folk tunes. The parents joined in singing the words, while one parent even played percussion on a chair. For me this was easily the highlight of the night.


Playing "Haiti Cherie" with the YOFES students.

YOFES then graciously invited us to stay for a dinner of delicious Haitian food including the classic rice and beans and fried plantains.



A big thank you to Geralde Gabeau, director of YOFES, for having us. YOFES has their own Earthquake Relief efforts aimed at Haiti and the Haitian community in Boston. Please go to the YOFES' website to find out how you can help.



Switching gears back to TED for a moment.

Last December an announcement was made that five of the fellows had been invited to Long Beach, California to attend the TED Conference in February 2010. And not only that. But as a group, the five us will be speaking at the 2010 TED Prize presentation.

Unfortunately they could not invite all ten of us and I assume it probably has something to do with the $6000 it costs to get into the conference...

Along with me, TED has invited Christine, David and my roommates Stan and Rebecca. I don't want to give away exactly what we'll be doing on stage but obviously it will be related to Abreu's TED Prize wish. Tune in online at 5pm Pacific Time on February 10 to watch live!



Here's a sneak peak at our rehearsals in Boston which were directed by artist and TED veteran, Rives:


L to R: Me, Dave, Christine, Stan and Rebecca (off camera) for our TED Conference presentation.

I'll admit I'm feeling a bit of pressure with this thing since public speaking is not my background and apparently the TED Prize is watched live online by millions around the world, not to mention the 1500 people sitting in the audience. I've played concerts at Carnegie Hall...no problem! But this? Yikes...







Also coming up quickly is our residency in Venezuela to study El Sistema in person. We're finally starting to get some details surrounding the trip.


We will be leaving on February 18th and will be there for two months. We will be spending the first week in Caracas and then breaking up into groups to go teach, study and perform at various nucleos in different parts of Venezuela. The latest word is that during this first week we will be attending a gala in Caracas celebrating the 35th anniversary of El Sistema Venezuela where we will meet Abreu and watch Gustavo Dudamel a conduct the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra. We're told that we will also participate in rehearsals with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestras so we can get a feel of what it is like to play in their orchestra.



I'm looking foward to teaching and performing with the El Sistema kids. My spanish is not bad, as long as I don't have to speak in the future tense. I'm especially looking foward to not having to wear boots, coats and tuques. Mid-February, the best time to head south from the winter weather...

Kudos to Dan Berkowitz, one of the ten original Abreu Fellows. Over the holiday break Dan was offered and accepted the position of Manager of Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, the LA Philharmonic's El Sistema-program. Dan is already out in LA working hard, but will be with us when we arrive in Caracas in February. Congrats Dan!

And to finish up, shout out to my friend and Yale School of Music classmate Robert Gupta. I still remember the conversation we had the day of graduation:



Gupta: hey Dantes, so what are you up to next year?
Me: Oh, I'm going to do more graduate work in Pittsburgh. How about you man?
Gupta: Oh, I won the Los Angeles Philharmonic violin audition a fews days ago.
Me: (gulp)

Gupta won his first audition, at the age of 19, with one of the best orchestras in the world. But of course, if you knew him you wouldn't be too surprised. In any case, Gupta has been named a 2010 TED Conference Fellow, quite an honor, so he'll be in Long Beach, CA at the same TED Conference we'll be. Gupta, see you soon.


More from the Abreu Fellows Program in about a week. It's been a while and I'd love to hear from you, so please leave your comments or questions down below.

Thank you for reading.