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Youth of El Sistema brighten Austrian town; Egypt next year Children from the Venezuelan El Sistema initiative were the stars of this year's Salzburg Summer Festival; Egyptian visit announced for next year
With over 280 scheduled performances – including Venezuelan stars: El Sistema Orchestra – this year's Salzburg Summer Festival experienced one of its richest line-ups. By the time the curtain fell for the last time in early September at the Grand Theatre, the audience of Salzburger Festspiele (the annual Summer Festival held in Salzburg, Austria) had attended one of the richest programmes since the creation of the festival 93 years ago. For six consecutive weeks, between 19 July and 1 September, this year's festival offered a total of 280 operas, concerts and plays, including performances by renowned international orchestras, soloists, ballet and theatre troupes. The "spiritual" opening of Salzburger Festspiele 2013 was dedicated to Buddhism, creating a fusion of Buddhist sacred music, Gregorian chants and other Christian songs, along with Shomyo (liturgical Japanese music). The songs were performed by Japanese Buddhist monks and Benedictine monks of Cremona, Italy. Next year, organisers have promised to include musical expressions of Islam within the festival's programme. The festival celebrated the 150th anniversary of the birth of Richard Wagner and Giuseppe Verdi, and it was the first time that Wagner was performed in Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. While for the festival's audiences Verdi is a returning composer, and he was commemorated through several well-known operas such as Joan of Arc, Don Carlo, Falstaff and Nabucco. This year's programming of the Salzburg Festival stepped outside the proverbial box. The picturesque streets of the baroque city were filled with a crowd of tourists and festival-goers; one could also spot groups of young people and children wearing clothes featuring Venezuela's national colors. Huge banners of the ambassadors of "Music to change life," an educational program known as El Sistema that was launched in Venezuela in 1975, featured young, happy faces. Organisers of Salzburger Festspiele, supported by three sponsors, invited 1,300 members of El Sistema including one of its most notable fruits: the Simon Bolivar Orchestra, an internationally acclaimed ensemble which has been hosted by the Salzburg Festival twice. This year however, El Sistema also presented two of its youth orchestras, the National Children's Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela and two choirs. For the White Hands Choir, this was their first international appearance. Together with the orchestra, they performed under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. Founded in 1995, the White Hands Choir consists of children with special needs, including a number with hearing impairments, who accentuated the music with their white-gloved hands, and others with visual impairment or Down Syndrome. El Sistema, a social programme for underprivileged children In April 1975, Jose Antonio Abreu, originally an economist, and founder of El Sistema, had the idea of creating an orchestra consisting of young people in difficult social situations. His goal was very clear, he wanted teaching such children to become the national project of Venezuela. This dream became a reality. Believing that music can ease the lives of children in underprivileged socio-economic environments, Abreu's exemplary dedication garnered the support of both the parents and the State – receiving considerable amounts of funding from the Venezuelan Ministry of Social Affairs. Seventy-five percent of the children who enroll in El Sistema programme come from very poor backgrounds, and through mastering an instrument enjoy a newly gained self confidence and dignity. As such El Sistema has become one of the most important Venezuelan social programmes of the past decade. To date, two million children have participated in the programmes activities, with 400 thousand children enrolled in El Sistema's training centers throughout the country. They learn how to play an instrument and many of them become members of the many orchestras operating under El Sistema's wings. Today, Venezuela boasts 286 music schools and 24 state orchestras scattered aross the country . During the Salzburger Festspiele, Jose Antonio Abreu was the honorary chairman of the opening ceremony. In his speech, he called upon the festival's organisers to promote, in cooperation with Unesco, values that El Sistema represents around the world, adding that there are already 25 countries who have embarked on similar initiatives. Abreu also announced the arrival of El Sistema to Egypt in April 2014. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/82323.aspx
