Although Venezuela is the fifth largest oil producing country in the world, 75% of the population has been living below the poverty level for many years. Half of the population in Caracas lives in slums, where life is dominated by crime and violence.
The „Sistema” education project is the vision of one man: José Antonio Abreu. In 1975 he organised the first orchestral rehearsals, attended by 11 young musicians, in a subterranean parking lot. On the second day there were 25, on the third 46 young people, and on the fourth day 75. Today, around 250,000 children and young people are part of the „Fundación del Estado para el Sistema de Orchestra Juvenil e Infantil de Venezuela”, or simply „Sistema”. The aim was to launch a wide-ranging educational programme, offering a better life to as many children as possible via a musical education.
Abreu obtained a PhD 1961 in petroleum economics, and in 1964 he graduated as an organist and composer at the National Conservatoire. In 1969 he became professor of economics at various universities in Venezuela and has served as a delegate to the Venezuelan Congress.
During the oil boom, Abreu succeeded in persuading the Health Ministry to pay a subsidy towards his social project. Today, Sistema is one of the biggest and costliest educational programmes in the world, financed by provisions from oil profits. The Venezuelan government contributes 29 million dollars a year to the project.
That is less than the annual budget of one of the larger European opera houses, but a pretty amazing amount for a country where the average annual income is just under 3,200 euros. Abreu explains: „The government supports my project precisely because of its social aspect. The state has a very good understanding of the fact that although the project works with musical elements,
it is in essence a social project aimed at improving people’s quality of life. After all, for the children with whom we work, music is almost the only way to a life worth living. Poverty means loneliness, sadness, anonymity, while the orchestra means enjoyment, motivation, team spirit, striving for success.”
Every day after school, hundreds of children make a bee-line for their music classes. Intensive attention and plenty of encouragement are all part of the educational programme. Mistakes are accepted with humour, but are not a punishable offence. All the same: there is an obligation to participate, because an orchestra needs discipline and responsibility. Yet these clear rules and values are gladly accepted. The Sistema is like a big family for all the young members. Studies have shown that the young people integrated in the orchestra also experience more success in other spheres of their lives. What is more, the separate orchestras have a fundamental social effect in their individual regions where they are active. Even though the primary goal of the project is a social one, and not to train a large number of professional musicians, this intensive involvement in classical music does lead to a great degree of acceptance in the wider public
and to something akin to a musical and cultural renaissance. Or as Axel Brüggemann wrote in the Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung on 22 August 2007: „We are witnessing a South American counter revolution in the field of classical music.”
The Sistema schools are open to anyone. The core element of the educational system is the network of 90 „nucléos”, the music schools located all over Venezuela. In addition, there are courses in which the young people can learn to build instruments; there are special lessons for children with learning difficulties and others for physically and mentally challenged youngsters. There is also an institute for phonetics, an institute for advanced music studies, plus the Centre for Audiovisual Music.
In 1993 the project was awarded the UNESCO International Music Prize and in 1998 Abreu was appointed a UNESCO Peace Ambassador, while in 2001 he was awarded with a Right Livelihood Award. In 2005 Abreu was presented with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (officially Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland) for his exceptional services to musical education. A whole series of similar initiatives has been introduced in other Latin American and Caribbean countries, based on the Sistema model. The Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, which is the flagship of all the Sistema-associated orchestras, has been touring since 1998, reaping international accolades in the process. José Antonio Abreu is with the orchestra on every tour to wish his young charges luck. He is now 70 years old and still feels a thrill of excitement before each concert.
