October 2026

 
The Ensemble seeks to connect and inform all people who are committed to ensemble music education for youth empowerment and social change.
 
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A Living Network Meets in Milan

Nikoletta Polydorou, Executive Director, Sistema Cyprus; Board Member, Sistema Europe

10-07-2026

“It gave me great peace of mind to know that there are such capable and inspiring people whom I can turn to when I face problems that I cannot solve on my own.”

This was how one of my peers reflected on our three days together in Milan last August. Her words got to the heart of a question I had been thinking about for some time: 

What keeps a network alive?

Solving the Instrument Crisis in Global Music Education Programs

Graciela Briceno, Program Manager, In Concert Opus Network

10-07-2026

The image is jarring: a vibrant green lawn scattered with brass instruments in various forms of disrepair, some rusted, others broken or bent. A few rest in old cases with broken hinges. This video was shared by Kyewalyanga Fredrick (Freddie), founder of Saved by Music Foundation, a nonprofit in Uganda that serves 111 children between the ages of 8 and 16. Alongside shelter, food, healthcare, and school fees, the program teaches music through the Elgon Youth Brass Band that rehearses every day. Unfortunately, like a majority of programs in the region, Saved by Music Foundation does not have enough playable instruments for all of its students.

In Gaza, Children Sing with Drones

Ahmed Abu Amsha, Founder, Gaza Birds Singing; musician, singer, composer, sound engineer, music teacher, and manager of music education programs in Gaza, as told to Ensemble editor Tricia Tunstall

10-07-2026

In the beginning of the war on Gaza, I was displaced from my town of Beit Hanoun at 3 a.m. We were running, without shoes, without anything. We arrived in Jabalia, near Gaza City. I was not thinking about music; I was just running for a safe place.

Jeunesses Musicales International: The Story Behind the Movement

Matt Clark, Programs and Marketing Director, JM International

10-07-2026

Almost a hundred years ago, as construction began on the majestic Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Belgium, Director Marcel Cuvelier walked through the construction site with a dream. “I always thought of giving concerts for young people,” he later wrote. “When I walked like an insect in that huge frame that would become a concert hall, meeting rooms, offices, halls…I thought about an audience that is demanding, worthy of respect, living: young. I could already hear the shouts and the applause.” 

EDITORIAL
When an Instrument Case Means ‘Don’t Shoot’: Symbolic Recognition in Medellín

Nathaly Ossa Alzate, strategic arts management and social impact consultant

10-07-2026

In Nancy Fraser’s framework, social justice requires both redistribution (economic resources) and recognition (cultural and symbolic status). Symbolic recognition is the validation of one’s identity, dignity, and self-worth within a broader socio-cultural context. And in 1990s Medellín—our time—young people faced material deprivation and severe symbolic misrecognition, viewed solely through the lens of urban violence, stigma, and invisibility. 

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