Hilti Foundation

More than 12 years ago, during my first visit to the then-fledgling Sinfonía por el Perú program, I met a boy—let’s call him Juan—who stood out from the crowd of children. Not only because his double bass was more than twice his size. It was also his charisma, the joyful enthusiasm with which he played his giant instrument, and, even then, his social skills and his attentive devotion to his fellow musicians at his núcleo in the La Victoria district of Lima, Peru.

What can we do to exert a positive impact on society?

That was the question asked in 2009 by our three founding organizations in Vienna—the Vienna Boys Choir, the Vienna Konzerthaus, and Caritas of the Archdiocese of Vienna. The response was to envision a place where music would be the joining element, the core engine to reach equal opportunity, and the key to reenergizing what is most essential in society: justice, personal realization, and solidarity.