Young musicians in the Mobile Symphony Orchestra’s “Strings in Schools” program.
In Wednesday’s (10/15) Fox10 TV (Mobile, Alabama), Vanessa Pacheco reports, “In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, FOX10 is highlighting a woman of Peruvian and Venezuelan heritage who is bringing the music education model that shaped her childhood to the Mobile Symphony Orchestra—helping students learn, grow, and fall in love with music. Daniela Pardo is the director of education at Mobile Symphony Orchestra. Her love for music goes hand in hand with her enthusiasm for teaching…. Pardo’s passion for music started in Peru, where she learned how to play the piano … ‘When I was ten, we moved to Venezuela,’ Pardo said. ‘And in Venezuela, I encountered … El Sistema, the system of youth orchestras. And I started in the youth orchestra and then the professional orchestra for 15 years, and then I was teaching all around the country …’ She learned to play the flute, eventually finding her way to the viola…. Today, Pardo channels her passion for teaching through music, working with several schools across Mobile and Baldwin Counties to provide group lessons in violin, viola, or cello—an education program offered through Mobile Symphony Orchestra…. ‘We have 8 faculty members, half of them Hispanic,’ Pardo said…. Each school receives music lessons once a week.”
