In Thursday’s (9/29) San Diego Union-Tribune, James Chute writes, “Eduardo Garcia Barrios, general and artistic director of the Orquesta de Baja California, believes in miracles. At least he believes in El Sistema, the music education program also known as the ‘Venezuelan miracle.’ The Russian-trained conductor saw the program’s transformative potential when an 18-year-old student was inspired by an El Sistema-based workshop to find a new purpose in life and enlisted Garcia Barrios’ support. ‘He said, “Maestro Garcia, I want to make a deal with you, a gentlemen’s deal, a pacto de caballeros,” ‘ recalled Garcia Barrios. ‘ “I’m going to be a great musician. I want to promise you that. I want you to be with me, because this has changed my life. My destiny was to be a drug dealer and now I know I can be a musician; I can be a human being.” ’ … El Sistema has demonstrated a potential to not only foster skilled musicians, but to strengthen communities, enhance academic achievement and ease social challenges. … On a recent afternoon at Lauderbach Elementary School in Chula Vista, students involved in the San Diego Youth Symphony’s El Sistema-based Opus program were rehearsing ‘Pictures at an Exhibition.’ … ‘If a healthy community can be represented in the making of music, then the gathering of community to support that making of music becomes as fundamental to the music as the music itself,’ said Dalouge Smith, president and CEO of the San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory.”
Posted September 30, 2011
