The new head of Venezuela’s famed youth orchestra network said he would strive to uphold the program’s legacy of musical excellence and social service as it faces one of the toughest periods in its history following the death of its charismatic founder.
In an interview at the network’s Caracas headquarters, incoming director Eduardo Mendez said the program must overcome a crippling economic crisis that has forced hundreds of musicians to leave the nation along with the passing of Jose Antonio Abreu, who created the orchestra network known as El Sistema.
“We will have to multiply into thousands of Abreus,” Mendez said.
Photo: AP
Abreu, who died on Saturday aged 78, was a consummate musician and astute politician who secured government support for El Sistema and turned it into one of Venezuela’s showpiece programs.
The network now runs about 300 community schools that have given children in poor neighborhoods an opportunity to study classical music.
It has also produced a crop of world-renowned musicians, including Los Angeles Philharmonic director Gustavo Dudamel.
Mendez acknowledged that steering the orchestra network through Venezuela’s social and economic crisis would not be an easy task.
El Sistema’s new director said 8 percent of the program’s teachers have left the nation to seek a better life abroad.
The network’s marquee Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra has lost 42 percent of its musicians over the past six months, though most of the vacancies have been filled with younger musicians.
“It hasn’t been easy to convince people to stay,” Mendez said. “Many of these people are leaving in search of economic stability.”
Mendez, who worked alongside Abreu for 15 years, said his priority would be to strengthen musical initiation programs and explore new genres in the network’s academies.
According to El Sistema’s own figures, 980,000 children and young musicians are participating in its programs throughout Venezuela, but Mendez will also have to avoid conflicts between musicians and the Venezuelan government, which has been accused by critics of using the music program as a propaganda tool.
Tensions between El Sistema and Venezuelan officials surfaced last year when the network’s star pupil, Dudamel, criticized efforts by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to install a constituent assembly dominated by government supporters that is seen by critics as another step toward dictatorship.
Maduro asked Dudamel to “not attack those of us who have been crucial to the expansion of the [musical] movement.”
Shortly after the heated exchange, Venezuelan officials suspended two El Sistema tours of the US and Asia, which were going to be conducted by Dudamel.
No official explanation was given as to why the tours were canceled.
Mendez said Dudamel would continue to be creative director at El Sistema.
Dudamel is expected to lead several concerts in Venezuela in August and September, and might also participate in an exhibition on El Sistema at a UN summit in Vienna in May.
When asked if he would allow his musicians to voice their political views, Mendez said he would not censure anyone.
“Everyone is responsible for his actions and is responsible for saying or doing what they think is right,” Mendez said.
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