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In South Africa, a Marimba Band Moves with the Music

Thandeka Dlamini, Band Manager, Organizer, and Coach, Goede Hoop Marimba Band

06-03-2026

Since 2014, the Goede Hoop Marimba Band has operated in Boksburg, Gauteng, a small South African town in the smallest South African province. The band started in 2014 at the Goede Hoop Primary School, the hub where all practice takes place, as a way of keeping children out of the streets after school, committing them to something that could positively impact their future, and strengthening their community bonds.

Music in an “Off” Year: MiniSEYO Launches an Eclectic Format in Italy

Maria Majno, SONG President and Sistema Europe Vice President, and Nicola Tomasi, Project Coordinator, MiniSEYO

06-03-2026

Since the inception of the Sistema Europe Youth Orchestra in 2012, our international network has created SEYO summer camps every two or three years, bringing young people together from different countries for a week of rehearsing and performing together. It’s an exciting tradition!—and its only downside is the restlessness of the participating members…during the “off” years, when camps don’t take place. 

From Program to Public Infrastructure: The Evolution of Dream Arts

Jeehye Suh, CEO, Inculture Consulting (Rep. of Korea); Adjunct Professor, Korea National University of Arts

06-03-2026

When we first designed the Dream Orchestra in 2010, we saw “isolation” as one of the most urgent conditions in children’s lives. At the time, the intensity of college entrance competition had already reached elementary school, and many children were being pushed into highly competitive, lonely environments.

Fifteen years later, children’s lives have not become easier. They remain caught in the competitive trap of the education system while social and economic inequality continues to deepen their vulnerability. Declining physical and mental wellbeing, weakened community ties, and the replacement of direct relationships with media-based activities have also left them increasingly disconnected.

In Their Words: The Flying Carpet Festival’s Sahba Aminikia

Sahba Aminikia, Founder, The Flying Carpet Festival, as told to The Ensemble

06-03-2026

Late last year, the Flying Carpet Festival was honored with an Aga Khan Music Award, given to organizations that display “exceptional creativity, promise, and enterprise in music performance, creation, education, preservation and revitalisation in societies across the world in which Muslims have a significant presence.” Founded in 2018, the Flying Carpet Festival is a traveling artist residency, or mobile festival, based in Southeast Turkey but operating in many of that region’s conflict areas. Having first covered their work last year, The Ensemble recently spoke with Founder Sahba Aminikia about receiving the award, working in areas of conflict and displacement, and how he is learning and growing alongside the program.

Dispatches from an Inspiring Trip to Superar Budapest

Danielle Williams, Director of Education, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra OrchKids, Maryland, USA

05-06-2026

If I could offer a travel tip to anyone lucky enough to visit another city or country, it would be this: reach out to a local El Sistema-inspired program, or a similar music for social change program, and visit it! Over the past two decades, I’ve had the privilege of visiting such programs across five continents, learning from colleagues who share a common mission while working in vastly different contexts.

During my spring break this year, a trip to the beautiful country of Hungary led me to connect with the wonderful team at Superar Budapest. What began as a simple visit quickly turned into something much more.

Hosting Fire Up! in Athens: A Week of Collective Practice and Exchange

Angeliki Georgokosta, General Manager, and Lydia Margari, Ensembles Manager, El Sistema Greece

05-06-2026

When the Academy for Impact through Music (AIM) suggested bringing the Fire Up! residency to Athens, we felt both excitement and a strong sense of responsibility. Our space is deeply meaningful to us; El Sistema Greece is a vibrant community grounded in trust, creativity, and daily collaboration, and inviting colleagues from across Europe into that community felt acutely personal. The residency itself was intense and demanding, with constant transitions between workshops, rehearsals, peer exchanges, and shared experiences. It also afforded us a rare opportunity: a chance to be students in our own teaching spaces, and to see those spaces through the eyes of our peers.

After Years of Outreach, Brass for Africa Puts Down Roots

Ronald Kabuye, Country Director, Brass for Africa – Uganda

05-06-2026

For years, Brass for Africa has worked toward one powerful goal: using music to empower all young people and their communities to fulfill their potential and thrive. Since 2009, that mission has come to life through an outreach model, wherein music and life-skills teachers make long, often demanding journeys across communities.

It worked. It reached thousands. But in 2026, we’re trying something new: the Hub Model.

TUTTI Passeurs d’Arts: A Living Dynamic at the Heart of Communities

Jean-Claude Decalonne, Founder/Director, TUTTI Passeurs d’Arts

05-06-2026

TUTTI Passeurs d’Arts is a network of children’s and youth orchestras in France, committed to creating learning environments conducive to the development of children from all backgrounds. Our commitment naturally aligns with the global family of programs inspired by El Sistema in Venezuela and its founder, Maestro José Antonio Abreu. We share the deep conviction that orchestral practice transforms life paths and opens doors where none have seemed to exist.

One of our most accomplished initiatives, TUTTI Bretagne, embodies this vision in a particularly concrete way.

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.

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