Eduardo Méndez (El Sistema): “It is an honor to play with Coldplay and send a message of peace and community”

MaximoTV

Raquel Laguna/ SUCOPRESS. Interview with Eduardo Méndez, the Executive Director of the international music education program El Sistema. The organization’s professional orchestra, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra & Choir, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, will be accompanying Coldplay during their 10 sold out nights at Wembley this August, and also performing August 28 at the Southbank Centre in London. To commemorate El Sistema’s 50th Anniversary, Eduardo and his team brought together the organization’s leading ensembles for three weeks of unforgettable concerts across the country. Select recordings of these performances were recently released including: The monumental Cantata Criolla (https://album.link/cantatacriolla) by Antonio Estévez, considered by many to be Venezuela’s most iconic symphonic-choral composition. Performed by young musicians from the Special Music Education Program, most of them visually impaired, Guaro Club (https://album.link/guaroclub) by Lara Somos blends tradition, rhythm, humor, and boundless talent. Founded in Venezuela, El Sistema celebrates music and its ability to inspire by not only offering young people and impoverished children free music education, but a path to personal growth and opportunity.

Transcript

00:00uh in his 50th anniversary and we have been doing a social work in venezuela using the music as a

00:12tool music is has been our flag to do everything we have done in in our country and was the the

00:21we introduced the music to all the communities because of the idea of our founder maestro

00:28abeo who wanted to give the art and the power of music to transform life to the children and the

00:34youth people in venezuela so in this 50s 50 years of work the system has been growing a lot in our

00:43country uh now we have more than one 1.3 million students in el sistema venezuela and we have been

00:53grown also to more than 70 countries spreading the idea of a system in the world so uh what we

01:01like to figure in this 50th anniversary the idea to have the music excellence through the program of

01:09a system has been teaching music in a collective way which is our main uh activity and it was very

01:19innovative in the 70s when we start to do this and now has become one other way of teaching music

01:27to the world to play with cult play would be an amazing opportunity for the orchestra we know

01:35what play has been always a band a with a charge of innovation of different messages to the world

01:43and sistema as well has been like this has been a innovation completely and sending messages to the

01:49world so this opportunity to go together to send a message of peace and to send the measure the message

01:56of community and the possibility to to be together with through music and to arts and this is something

02:04that also reveals how the orchestra could be so flexible to play not only to be a classical music

02:13organization that performs in the best venues in the world and to be one of the best orchestras in

02:19latin america who can perform uh all this classical music but also they can play and be flexible to play

02:28rock and to play together with a band like called break what means uh the real feeling of a system

02:34that we are really engaged with this music in all these uh possibilities and this opportunity to be

02:42exposed on the 50th anniversary to play with cult playing at wembleywood is an amazing opportunity

02:48but during this season will be also in london the orchestra recording a couple of cds and with platoon

02:56and with deutsche gramophone which also made us very happy and very proud that uh and in the in parallel

03:03as we are playing rock which is called play and different pop music at wembley also we are going

03:10to every road and to royal festival hall to make a classical music recordings so it's something that

03:17really uh show to the world how a system can be flexible and the highest level possible showing how

03:24inclusion works in venezuela but with music excellence gustavo amel has been our main ambassador since

03:32many years gustavo is a product of a system and he is also a music director of the system so his work

03:42through the world has been showing what a system has achieved and he has been of course the main

03:48musician that is having all these great uh masterpieces with different orchestras is performing every day

03:58with different the most important orchestras in the world and it is something that has only been achieved

04:05by the greatest conductors and gustavo is now one of the greatest conductors and we are very happy and

04:11very proud that he belongs to a system he's part of our family and of course his work has been

04:17shown to the world where he comes from because this is a question for everyone but does he coming

04:24from a famous conservatory in the world or something like that and he's coming he says no

04:29i'm coming from el sistema so as as well as gustavo gustavo is the main ambassador as i mentioned but

04:36after gustavo are many other musicians that are also having positions in different orchestras in the

04:42world showing what a system also is not only inclusion is also a music excellence

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