‘El Sistema’ Proves Its Worth
Venezuela’s phenomenally successful system for teaching instrumental music to young children, “El Sistema,” has resulted in a universally acclaimed musical organization, the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, which has toured internationally. Now, El Sistema is being widely replicated with children in many countries and with other populations in Venezuela.
Sistema Scotland, for example, has far reaching plans, says the BBC. As a start, 50 talented youngsters in poverty-ridden areas of Scotland are learning to play stringed instruments and have formed an orchestra. In addition, the Scottish Arts Council is providing free lessons and instruments for children under the age of 8 who show some musical ability. The hope is that music can help keep them out of trouble.
In Venezuela, El Sistema’s home country, several prisons are offering music lessons, teaching convicts to play orchestral instruments and to sing in a chorus. Most of the music they perform is Venezuelan, but one group expects to perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in the near future. Now in its third year, Prison Sistema is considered a rousing success and will soon be brought to a wider range of correctional institutions in Venezuela, said reports.
www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/06/el_sistema_in_p.shtml
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4457278.stm
www.musicmanifesto.co.uk/news/details/vacancy-musicians-for-sistema-scotland/21714
www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/11_november/23/venezuela.shtml
www.scottishvenezuelansociety.com/sistema%20scotland.html
www.sistemascotland.org.uk/
New Orchestra Festival Set to Grace Carnegie Hall
Spring for Music is a new orchestra festival set to be held annually at New York City’s Carnegie Hall beginning May 6, 2011. The festival will emphasize creative and imaginative programming, selecting orchestras based on their ability to offer something new and different that is sure to attract new audiences, reports the New York Times.
Sixty-five American and Canadian orchestras are eligible to compete for slots in the nine-day extravaganza, in which as many as seven groups are expected to appear the first year. Much of the financing is already in place and the festival has booked dates for 2012 and 2013.
www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/arts/music/25spri.html_r=1&sq=Carnegie%20Hall&st=nyt&scp=2&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin
www.carnegiehall.org/article/box_office/events/evt_10342.html?selecteddate=04122008
Do Summer Festivals Harm the Environment?
Summer festivals are enormous consumers of energy. People drive to them in cars and on arrival, they picnic using disposable containers. Theaters use energy for lighting and sound systems, not to mention for air conditioning offices during the day.
It’s not all bad news, however. Some summer concert and opera sites are working hard at becoming “green,” says Opera America.
In Virginia, Wolftrap National Park for the Performing Arts is using only biodegradable containers for food. Santa Fe Opera runs buses to and from each performance and recycles programs whenever possible. The most outstanding, says Musical America, is the Ojai Festival in California, which hopes to be absolutely carbon neutral within the next five years.
www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/jun/05/start-of-an-opus-for-a-green-event/
www.musicalamerica.com/news/newsstory.cfm?archived=0&storyid=18313&categoryid=1&cookies=1
School Mixes Arts with English as a Second Language
Many U.S. schools have immigrant students who need to learn English. This year John Jay Pershing Junior High School in Brooklyn will be mixing English as a Second Language with the arts. The Brooklyn Philharmonia Orchestra is part of the school’s Smart Arts Academy, an after-school program that offers instrumental music, music composition, dance, graphic arts, theater, and script writing, along with training in English language proficiency.
www.musicalamerica.com/news/newsstory.cfm?archived=0&storyID=18450&categoryID=1&cookies=1
Denver Hosts Performing Arts Convention
In early June, Denver hosted the National Performing Arts Convention. Four thousand registrants and 200 exhibitors participated. Opera America was there, of course, along with representatives of orchestras, dance groups, opera companies, agents, music critics, and others who participate in the arts. Only the biggest players in the field seemed to be missing. Half of the participants worked at companies with budgets under $1 million, according to Musical America.
Topics discussed included education in the arts and ways of getting a larger percentage of the general public interested in the performing arts. Most convention-goers agreed on the need for a large media campaign with major celebrities and catchy slogans advocating participation in the arts for all, said the report.
www.musicalamerica.com/news/newsstory.cfm?archived=0&storyID=18388&categoryID=1&cookies=1
www.performingartsconvention.org/faqs
www.performingartsconvention.org/
www.denverpost.com/ci_cbs4denver.com/local/center.performing.art.2.744435.
www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/jun/06/mixed-media
www.artsmanagement.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1104
Good-bye to Edgar Vincent
Edgar Vincent was the press representative for many operatic super-stars, including Plácido Domingo, Dolora
Zajick, Samuel Ramey, Birgit Nilsson, and Ezio Pinza. His old-world charm and skillful diplomacy were legendary, and he was still pursuing his craft at the age of 90.
Vincent entered New York City’s Lenox Hill Hospital for hip replacement surgery and succumbed to a blood clot while recovering, according to the Washington Post. Upon hearing the sad news, an audibly shaken Plácido Domingo said, “He was somebody who had the right words, always.”
www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/arts/music/01vincent.html
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/29/AR2008062902003.html
