Featured

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

Regions

Africa

Asia/Oceania

Europe

Latin America

North America

Topics

Teaching & Learning

Program Design

Student Voice & Leadership

Community Building

Collaborations

Funding & Support

Perspectives & Collective Action

News & Resources

The NBYO Had Never Sent a Student to the Royal College of Music. Now They’re Sending Two.

Patrick Scafidi, Executive Editor, The Ensemble

04-01-2026

In its 60 years of existence, the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra (NBYO)—Canada’s first provincial orchestra—has celebrated many a milestone. This year, there’s a new kind of success to celebrate: two of its graduating seniors have been accepted into London’s Royal College of Music. 

The Royal College has never accepted an NBYO player before, let alone two. This is relatively rare for programs that value social-emotional outcomes as much or more than musical ones. But for the students involved, those social-emotional outcomes played a critical role in their matriculation, clarifying the value of a movement that builds arts-and-community pipelines traced back to a player’s earliest years.

In Rhode Island, a Music Center Becomes a Community Haven

Sebastian Ruth, Founder and Artistic Director, Community MusicWorks

04-01-2026

Last weekend, in the U.S. city of Providence, Rhode Island, the renowned pianist Emanuel Ax visited Community MusicWorks for a pair of concerts in collaboration with our students and our professional ensemble in residence. Manny’s visit helped to celebrate our CMW Center, which was only a dream when he first came in 2017.

During Manny’s first visit, one concert took place in a neighborhood taqueria, and another on the basketball court of a nearby community center. In many ways, the concerts last weekend marked the new chapter we find ourselves in, welcoming children, families, musicians, and special guest artists into our purpose-built center.

Fifteen Years After Disaster, a Children’s Music Festival Continues to Rebuild Community in Soma, Japan

Yutaka Kikugawa, Executive Director and Founder, El Sistema Japan

04-01-2026

For me, the festival brought back memories of a cold winter day in December 2011, when I met with Soma City Council officials to explore the possibility of launching Japan’s first El Sistema–inspired program. At that time, children in Soma were still deeply affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear power plant accident. Many had lost family members and friends; many faced widespread stigma and discrimination resulting from radiation contamination across Fukushima Prefecture, including Soma City. I was serving as Chief Coordinator of UNICEF’s post-disaster operations.

From Spark to Flame: A Glance at Fire Up! 2025

Elisabetta Lapadula, Communications Manager, SONG – Sistema Lombardia

04-01-2026

Imagine choosing—on purpose—to stop. To give yourself a moment of attention and ask, without judgment, a simple question: “Why do I do this work?” It’s a small exercise of meditation and self-awareness that we rarely find time for in our noisy daily routine. And yet, in that brief pause, something can appear: a spark that feeds the question, gives it space, and makes it louder.

For me, Fire Up! 2025 in Athens—a four-day teaching artist residency led by the Academy for Impact through Music (AIM)—was that spark. 

Creating a Community of Belonging at OrKidstra

Rebecca Russell, Former Director of Development & Communications, Carrie Lauzon, Executive Managing Director, and Tina Fedeski, Co-founder and Artistic Managing Director, OrKidstra

03-04-2026

When you walk down the halls of OrKidstra, you’ll hear the universal language of music around every corner. Laughter as the kids rush to the snack table during their break. And you’ll hear something distinctly Canadian: the beautiful sounds of a community composed of 62 different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. A community of belonging.

Re-birth: 18 Years of Music, Meaning, and Maturing

Elizabeth Njoroge, Founder and Executive Director, Art of Music Foundation

03-04-2026

Many of the students we began with, back in 2006, are the first in their families to finish school, to attend university, and to build careers. The truly amazing part is that now, as young adults, their dream is not to escape. Their dream is to return. They come back to their communities—with purpose, compassion, and determination. More often than not, they come back to Ghetto Classics as teachers. Most of our current 42 teachers once sat where our students now sit. The learners have become leaders.

Which means, of course, that the program no longer “belongs” to me.

Violin Included: Reflections on Leadership, Giving, and Growing Up in This Field

Elizabeth Moulthrop, Executive Director, El Sistema USA

03-04-2026

Last week, I found myself in Union City, New Jersey, USA, sitting in a sea of students, violin in hand, playing “Swan Lake” alongside kids, teachers, and my longtime colleague Melina Garcia. I hadn’t come to visit Melina and her program, the United Children’s Music Project simply for the joy of playing with young people; I was there to deliver a donation. I had just closed a similar program in Pisco, Peru—Notes for Change, Inc.—that I founded 15 years ago, and my donation for UCMP consisted of the final funds from that program. I had expected this to be a bittersweet moment; instead, it felt like a full-circle one. But more about that later.

Through Songwriting, Colombian Communities Resolve Conflict and Make Their Voices Heard

Ana Uribe Law, musicologist and violinist; 2023 Alumna, Global Leaders Institute

03-04-2026

Ask any Bogotano about their perception of Colombia’s Chocó Region, and you’ll likely hear that it is a dangerous and remote place, visited primarily for whale-watching. These inter-regional biases are not uncommon—decades of armed conflict have disrupted networks of community and social cohesion, fragmenting them and threatening the practices that sustain communal life. And though a shared sense of Colombian identity exists, each of the country’s regions maintains a distinct cultural character that is often rooted in music.

Before traveling to Chocó, my perception of Colombia’s outer territories was similarly close-minded.

The Importance of Free Play in Music Education

Dr. Richard Marsella, Executive Director, Community Music Schools of Toronto

02-04-2026

In my doctoral work, I did an instrumental case study of the Music Box Village in New Orleans. This alternative music space wears many hats. It functions as a music venue, learning space, playground, and much more. It includes interactive art installation and instruments made from salvaged materials that form a kind of sonic playground. It’s also widely welcoming: when I was observing grade-four children playing in the space, I noticed that multiple intelligences were accepted and fostered. 

In Jerusalem, a Space for Healing

Micah Hendler, Founder & Artistic Director, The Jerusalem Youth Chorus

02-04-2026

The Jerusalem Youth Chorus (JYC) is a music and dialogue program for Israeli and Palestinian teenagers in Jerusalem. We bring young people from East and West Jerusalem into the same room each week to sing together, practice structured dialogue, and build the leadership skills needed to navigate a deeply unequal and polarized reality.

If you work in music for social change, none of that is conceptually new—“music builds connection” is something we all believe. What has surprised us over time is how much the container matters.

Share

ABOUT US MASTHEAD THE AMBASSADORS THE ARCHIVES SUBSCRIBE CONTACT
© Copyright 2022 Ensemble News