Europe

 
The Ensemble seeks to connect and inform all people who are committed to ensemble music education for youth empowerment and social change.

GLP Creative Residency Concludes Week in Southern Poland

07-21-2021

In a history-making moment, the Global Leaders Program finished its first residency in Europe. Each year, the program organizes a seven-day international residency, where participants gather and exchange ideas with local communities. This year, GLP cohort members visited Bielsko-Biala, Poland.

The Long-Term Impact of What We Do: A 12-Year Perspective

07-07-2021

Over the years, there have been many memorable and defining moments for me at IHL. The ten-year-old student I chanced upon playing his violin on the street, not busking for money, but playing for the community “to make them feel happy on their way to school”; two young students who took their instruments to church the Sunday after their second viola lesson, to share with their congregation the four notes they had learned; the trip to Canada with our senior students, where we joined with other Sistema organizations for a huge orchestral celebration in our shared language of music; and many more.

Although our program is defined by the powerful togetherness and shared narrative of our orchestral family, I would like to share the stories of two talented and hardworking young artists who had their first taste of music-making through IHL nearly 12 years ago—Simi and Elijah.

Big News from El Sistema Greece

06-16-2021

On July 5, the young musicians of the El Sistema Greece Youth Orchestra and Youth Choir will take the historic stage of the Herodion, tucked just under the Parthenon in Athens. Alongside Blend Mishkin and his reggae-soul band and other musicians, they will perform world-famous melodies at the Athens Epidaurus Festival, celebrating the songs that have most greatly impacted the modern music scene. After a year and a half without live performances, they can’t wait.

Share Your Cleverest Program Design to Be Featured at SEYO SummerFest 2021

06-02-2021

The SEYO 2021 SummerFest is happening this July and will feature a World Ensemble Day on July 22. We will explore some of the coolest, cleverest, most unusual and interesting projects or practices of Sistema-inspired programs around the world. Are you particularly proud of something your program does which others likely don’t do? It could be anything—a surprising and effective way that you present music, raise funds, engage students, inspire teachers, or make connections. Who knows what clever ideas are working out there?

Let us know, so we can share your work at this global conference! It doesn’t need to be a big feature—it could be a musical warmup you’ve invented, or something you do at rehearsals, or a way you communicate with parents.

Mitrovica Rock School: The Art of Listening and Responding

06-02-2021

Mitrovica, a miner’s town in Northern Kosovo, has been called Europe’s most divided city. Since the end of the Kosovo War in 1999, the river that runs through the city has become a de facto border between the minority Serb community in the North and the majority Albanian community in the South.

Sistema Scotland Announces First Global Ambassador

05-19-2021

Sistema Scotland has announced their first official worldwide “Ambassador”: Dame Evelyn Glennie, the renowned and beloved solo percussionist, who hails from Scotland and is internationally known for her passionate commitment to social connection through music. Dame Evelyn will promote the work of the Big Noise programs of Sistema Scotland and, in Big Noise Chairman Benny Higgins’ words, raise awareness about the importance of “how we listen and learn from each other.”

Sign Up for ES Sweden’s Side by Side: Digital Camp by June 3

05-19-2021

Your students can sign up for El Sistema Sweden’s gigantic summer camp, Side by Side Digital, until May 21. This camp is for musicians ages 6-23 from around the world; musicians can join one of 16 different ensemble tracks (based on experience level and interest), including six different choruses. The repertoire is online. You have probably heard about it because of its size when in person, but now young people everywhere can join digitally.

A Tale of Two Cities: Istanbul and Leipzig

05-05-2021

It may not seem geographically possible, but there is an invisible bridge between Istanbul and Leipzig: the bridge that connects the children of Barış İçin Müzik (Music for Peace) and the children of Kinderchor der Oper Leipzig (Children’s Choir of Oper Leipzig). Their friendship dates back to 2014, when Oper Leipzig, with the support of Turkey’s ENKA Foundation, came to Istanbul and visited the youth orchestra program Barış İçin Müzik. This visit led to two joint camp experiences, one in Leipzig (2016) and one in Istanbul (2020), with the total participation of over 150 children. The message created by the children was strong and clear: Peace.

Sweden’s Dream Orchestra Named a Winner of the 2021 Ockenden International Prize

04-07-2021

Congratulations to Sweden’s Dream Orchestra Young Leaders Program for being one of four winners of the 2021 Ockenden International Prize.

Bosnia’s House of Good Tones: Expanding the Scope of a Music Program

04-07-2021

Have you or your colleagues ever thought about responding to pandemic hardships and political tensions by building a multi-media center? The Sistema-inspired House of Good Tones (HOGT) in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina not only thought about that, but did it—and it’s a less improbable response than you might think.

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