Latin America

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

Brazil Celebrates Access to Music for All

04-02-2025

Post-Carnival, Brazil is showing no signs of slowing down in celebrating its rich musical and cultural diversity.

Trombone Shorty Builds Musical Ties between U.S. and Cuba

03-05-2025

Musicians wield powerful tools for strengthening diplomatic relations: their instruments.

EDITORIAL
Reflections on the 50th Anniversary of El Sistema Venezuela

02-05-2025

The Venezuela of 1975 is in sharp contrast to its current reality. Fifty years ago, the country was fully reconstructed after an oppressive military dictatorship and on track for economic growth. That was the context in which a young, brilliant composer and conductor, who also happened to be a gifted politician, used his combined talents to convince the government to support something that felt out of place to officialdom, but, in his vision, right at home.

Global Collaboration Reimagines Classic Song with an Important Message

12-11-2024

What’s better than true international collaboration? Over 100 musicians, educators, and students from five countries—Ghana, Rwanda, Panama, Morocco, and the United States—have reimagined the Tears for Fears song “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” with a new music video produced by non-profit Young Musicians Unite and the Playing for Change Foundation.

Beethoven in Cochabamba: The Power of Musician-Run Music Projects

11-06-2024

Something genuinely new in Bolivia’s classical music scene is happening here. The last decade has seen a new generation of enthusiastic Bolivian music students and teachers who are notably increasing the size of Bolivian audiences for classical music. As a result, self-managed orchestras have become commonplace not only in Cochabamba but across Bolivia.

EDITORIAL
The Sound of the World

09-04-2024

National and international youth orchestra and choir festivals instill a collaborative mindset in their participants and provide all attendees with powerful, lasting memories. But they are time-consuming to organize, requiring logistical know-how and well-considered, family-flexible safeguarding policies for the children and young people. It’s not only tiring; it’s expensive. And program leaders know firsthand that students progress with or without these national or international festivals. So why bother? What do they offer to young people that their own programs can’t provide?

My answer, in a word: perspective.

The Citizens of the World Festival

09-04-2024

For the last eight years, I’ve coached violinists for the YOLA National Festival. Each summer, it is a remarkable thing to walk into the first sectional on the first day and witness an exceptional level of preparation from 18 violinists who, for the most part, don’t know each other and have never played together—a group of students that have made a commitment to each other before even meeting one another. This is what defines the YOLA National Festival: the dedication and integrity of all participants, a spirit that lives in the YNF students and also in the staff and the incredible faculty who return each summer. It is a special and profoundly devoted community, something I have not witnessed elsewhere.

NEOJIBA Conecta Celebrates Closing Concert

09-04-2024

The NEOJIBA Conecta project celebrated their closing concert at the end of July, with a program reflecting the cultures and traditions of participating musicians from the Global South.

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