The celebrated and dearly beloved conductor José Antonio Abreu died aged 78. The conductor’s great legacy was El Sistema, a programme of music training for youths, saving thousands of children in Venezuela from crime and poverty and subsequently expanding across the globe.
The ‘conductor of the poor’ founded El Sistema in 1975. It all started with nine musicians performing in a garage. Today, about a million children and adolescents in Venezuela participate in the programme, with the international network boasting an impressive membership of well over 300 choirs and orchestras. El Sistema has been lavished with praise and awards, receiving distinctions from UNESCO and the Royal Swedish Academy.
Sistema Europe Youth Orchestra, the European orchestra of El Sistema, performed at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in August 2017, as part of Athens Festival. This year, Athens Festival will host the orchestra Il Pomo d’Oro, an official ambassador of El Sistema Greece, providing free education to all refugee children in Greece.
