Vielka Esparza, a member of Orquesta Sinfónica Esperanza Azteca, practices the violin daily at her home in Juárez, Mexico. Photo: Erika Angulo/NBC News.
In Thursday’s (7/6) NBC News, Andrea Mitchell and Erika Angulo report, “Across the border from El Paso, Texas, a bus goes house to house, picking up children and transporting them to a place that has become an oasis in a city with a reputation for drug cartel violence. The students are part of a youth orchestra in Juárez, called Orquesta Sinfónica Esperanza Azteca, or Aztec Hope Symphony Orchestra…. Violinist Jové García runs the after-school program that teaches 250 children, ages 7 to 18, how to play an instrument or sing in a choir. His main goals are to keep the children safe and give them an opportunity to better their lives…. García started the children’s music program in 2008 … in a classroom he rented with donations, teaching 60 students how to play stringed instruments: violin, cello, viola and double bass…. The Mexican education department eventually took note of the program’s success and made it part of a national chain of federally funded orchestras for children in need…. The music students [have] crossed the border into El Paso and combined their musical talents with the [El Paso Symphony Youth Orchestras]. García calls the merged orchestra ‘the bridge… We need more bridges than walls. Music is the universal language.’ ”
