NEC Presents Símon Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela in 3-Day Musical Extravaganza, November 7—9
Dudamel Conducts SBYOV
For Immediate Release:
October 16, 2007
Events Include Seminar, Public Symposium, Chamber Music Exchange, Masterclasses, Outreach, and Joint Concert with NEC Musicians
Hot Young Conducting Star Gustavo Dudamel Leads Symphony Hall Concert, November 7, Rehearses NEC Philharmonia, November 9
Free November 8 Concert at NEC’s Jordan Hall Highlighted by Venezuelan and NEC Ensembles, Boston Children’s Chorus, NEC Gospel Choir
Follow the Blog of Josh Weilerstein ’09 as He Travels with the SBYOV
SBYOV Residency Sponsored by Liberty Mutual
New England Conservatory will present the Boston debut of the Símon Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, under its brilliant young maestro Gustavo Dudamel, in a three-day musical extravaganza November 7—9. The residency marks the third stop on the SBYOV’s first North American tour. NEC violinist Josh Weilerstein ’09 is performing with the orchestra on tour and has begun chronicling his experiences on a blog that can be accessed by clicking here.
The SBYOV’s Boston visit will celebrate the ongoing relationship between NEC, the orchestra, and Venezuela’s nationwide music education system El Sistema. Among the highlights will be the SBYOV’s first appearance in Boston’s Symphony Hall, November 7 at 8 p.m. This will be followed on November 8 with a day of exchange activities including chamber music, masterclasses, workshops and outreach. Those events culminate in a free Jordan Hall concert at 8 p.m. with NEC students and their Venezuelan counterparts playing together, and special appearances by the Boston Children’s Chorus and NEC Gospel Choir. As a musical coda, Dudamel will rehearse NEC’s Philharmonia in the Beethoven Symphony No. 3 on Friday morning, November 9.
Preceding the Symphony Hall concert on November 7, NEC’s Center for Music-in-Education will present an invitational seminar and a public symposium on El Systema, the Venezuelan music education miracle. Scholars from around the country will assemble for the morning session under the direction of Larry Scripp, director of the center. During the public afternoon symposium, musicians, educators, and government leaders will debate the possibility of replicating El Sistema in the United States. Dr. José Antonio Abreu, founder of El Sistema, will be the keynote speaker at the afternoon session.
On November 8, NEC’s Community Performances and Partnerships Program (CPP) will present three daytime outreach events in Boston Public Schools. At 10 a.m. the Venezuelan Juventus String Quartet and NEC Outreach Seminar Piano Quintet will perform at the Roland Hayes High School in Roxbury. At 1:15 p.m., the Símon Bolívar Brass Quintet will play at the Hurley Elementary School in the South End. And at 3 p.m., the Venezuela Trumpet Quartet will perform at the Umana Barnes Middle School in East Boston.
NEC, which has a longtime association with El Sistema, is producing the SBYOV residency in association with the Celebrity Series of Boston and the Boston Symphony Orchestra—-a first-time collaboration between these three musical institutions. Liberty Mutual is lead sponsor for the residency.
At its Symphony Hall concert, the SBYOV will perform the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra, Bernstein Symphonic Dances from “West Side Story,” Beethoven Symphony No. 7, and a selection of music from Latin America. Program details for remaining performances are still being finalized.
Tickets for the Symphony Hall concert, $20/$25/$30/$100, are available for purchase at the Symphony Hall Box Office or SymphonyCharge 888-266-1200. For more information, visit the NEC website or call the NEC Concert Line at 617-585-1122. NEC’s Jordan Hall, Brown Hall, Williams Hall and the Keller Room are located at 30 Gainsborough St., corner of Huntington Ave. St. Botolph Hall is located at 241 St. Botolph St. between Gainsborough and Mass Ave.
Símon Bolívar Youth Orchestra Background
The SBYOV is the flagship ensemble of Venezuela’s 31-year old National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras (_El Sistema_), a monumental program of music education that serves over 250,000 children and young adults, most of whom live in impoverished conditions. It was founded by Dr. José Antonio Abreu, an economist, organist and politician, who saw in the discipline of musical training and the communal spirit of the orchestral an opportunity to transform children’s lives.
From a start of 11 children rehearsing in a parking garage, the program has grown exponentially. Today, El Sistema, as it is familiarly known, is budgeted by the federal government at $29 million, employs 15,000 music teachers, operates 90 music schools, and feeds into 30 professional symphony orchestras within Venezuela alone. Some of its alumni have made international careers, like Dudamel—who won the 2004 Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition, regularly leads the world’s major orchestras, and was recently named successor to Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
For many years, New England Conservatory has been informally supporting El Sistema and in 2005 signed a friendship agreement celebrating the relationship. The school regularly sends faculty—including violinist Donald Weilerstein, pianist Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, violinist Marylou Speaker Churchill, Preparatory School and SCE Dean Mark Churchill, and conductor Benjamin Zander--to coach the young musicians. NEC has also organized two tours of Venezuela by its Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, and jointly created the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, which enlists young instrumentalists from throughout the North and South American continents to rehearse, play and tour together. The YOA most recently toured European festivals in summer 2006.
Not only has El Sistema improved the socio-economic lives of Venezuela’s children, it has also become a beacon of artistic excellence and spiritual transcendence. Some of the world’s greatest musicians, such as Claudio Abbado, Placido Domingo, and others make regular visits to conduct and coach the young players and come away deeply moved. On European tours, the Bolívar orchestra has been received with rapturous acclaim. And its recordings, most notably the recently issued Deutsche Grammophon CD of Beethoven’s Fifth and Seventh Symphonies, have received universal praise. Sir Simon Rattle, music director of the Berlin Philharmonic, asserts that “There is no more important work being done in music now than is being done in Venezuela.”
SBYOV, which is visiting North America for the first time, will perform in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, and New York City. In New York, Carnegie Hall will host the orchestra in a joint residency with the Berlin Philharmonic and Rattle.
ABOUT NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY
Recognized nationally and internationally as a leader among music schools, New England Conservatory offers rigorous training in an intimate, nurturing community to 750 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral music students from around the world. Its faculty of 225 boasts internationally esteemed artist-teachers and scholars. Its alumni go on to fill orchestra chairs, concert hall stages, jazz clubs, recording studios, and arts management positions worldwide. Nearly half of the Boston Symphony Orchestra is composed of NEC trained musicians and faculty.
The oldest independent school of music in the United States, NEC was founded in 1867 by Eben Tourjee. Its curriculum is remarkable for its wide range of styles and traditions. On the college level, it features training in classical, jazz, Contemporary Improvisation, world and early music. Through its Preparatory School, School of Continuing Education, and Community Collaboration Programs, it provides training and performance opportunities for children, pre-college students, adults, and seniors. Through its outreach projects, it allows young musicians to engage with non-traditional audiences in schools, hospitals, and nursing homes—thereby bringing pleasure to new listeners and enlarging the universe for classical music and jazz.
NEC presents more than 600 free concerts each year, many of them in Jordan Hall, its world- renowned, 100-year old, beautifully restored concert hall. These programs range from solo recitals to chamber music to orchestral programs to jazz and opera scenes. Every year, NEC’s opera studies department also presents two fully staged opera productions at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston.
NEC is co-founder and educational partner of “From the Top,” a weekly radio program that celebrates outstanding young classical musicians from the entire country. With its broadcast home in Jordan Hall, the show is now carried by National Public Radio and is heard on 250 stations throughout the United States.
Contact: Ellen Pfeifer
Public Relations Manager
New England Conservatory
617-585-1143
epfeifer@newenglandconservatory.edu