In a Sunday (11/13) Associated Press report, Christina Hoag writes, “Gustavo Dudamel stands off to the side of an orchestra of T-shirt clad teens as they laboriously rehearse Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 5. He’s listening, not just with his ears, but also with irrepressible fingers that tap and pluck the air as if he’s actually conducting the piece. … Dudamel’s ebullient style of conducting, which sends his long dark curls bouncing as he gestures, has made him the rock star of the classical realm. … With Dudamel at the forefront, Los Angeles has emerged as the national flagship of the U.S. version of the System, El Sistema U.S.A, which in just four years has grown to encompass programs in more than 50 cities. Under the aegis of the Philharmonic, Los Angeles has the biggest Venezuelan-inspired initiative, enrolling some 500 mostly minority children in two neighborhoods where music is more likely to mean hip-hop than Haydn. Next year the Philharmonic is stepping up its commitment by launching a teaching center to train instructors in the distinctive El Sistema method, which provides intensive musical training in way that enhances children’s self-esteem. The initiative, which also includes adding a third neighborhood program somewhere in Los Angeles County in 2013, has now become part of the Philharmonic’s mission, said Deborah Borda, president and chief executive of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.”
Posted November 14, 2011
