North America

As 2024 drew to a close, the Boston String Academy celebrated the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly with a performance at Carnegie Hall alongside Boston Conservatory’s Venus Quartet.

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.

Miami Music Project was honored with a Music Cities Award for “Best Initiative to Support Diversity & Inclusion in Music” at the Riyadh Music Cities Convention on December 8.

Young people have unprecedented access to media, which often leads to a reliance on popular opinions rather than the cultivation of their unique voices. I see this in the classroom when I ask students for their thoughts—they often hesitate, looking around for validation instead of trusting their instincts. This reluctance is disheartening. It highlights a pressing need within youth arts education: we must foster spaces for reflection and honest dialogue.

The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music has had a big year thanks in part to a $250,000 gift from The Joel Foundation.

El Sistema USA is now accepting applications for their 2025 Youth Ambassador Program.

The 1,500-strong audience in eastern Canada’s Moncton, New Brunswick erupted with a roar of approval. 

They were applauding the Sistema New Brunswick (Sistema NB) Children’s Orchestra, 110 musicians ages 9-14. But the performance of Tchaikovsky’s Marche Slave was only the warmup.

Soon, Dan Brown walked on stage. A world-famous author of bestselling novels such as The Da Vinci Code, Brown is also a composer. In 2020, he released a new work, Wild Symphony.