In Sunday’s (1/20) St. Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota), Rob Hubbard writes, “Can you fight violence with violins? Drugs with drums? It seems to have worked in Venezuela, where ‘El Sistema’ was founded in 1975 and has grown to create a worldwide buzz among advocates for music education. For 37 years, children living in poverty in Venezuela have been given orchestral instruments, lessons and opportunities to join orchestras and other ensembles under a government-funded program. … And now ‘El Sistema’ has come to the Twin Cities, thanks to a group called ACME, or Advocates for Community through Musical Excellence. Its first 25 students, first-graders at the Nellie Stone Johnson Community School in North Minneapolis, will receive their instruments at an ACME fundraiser at which the musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra will perform works by Antonio Vivaldi (his ‘Four Seasons’) and Astor Piazzolla (his ‘Four Seasons of Buenos Aires’), with violin soloists Erin Keefe, Stephanie Arado and Pamela Arnstein. The event, which includes a silent auction, will take place from 5:30 to 9 p.m. on Feb. 13.”
Posted January 22, 2013
