Classical Music

Dialogue on Disability: Celebrating Abilities

Since 2003 WXXI and the Al Sigl Community of Agencies have worked together with the Herman and Margaret Schwartz Community to help break the ingrained stereotypes about individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities. The year-round project called MOVE TO INCLUDE, is designed to motivate individuals to take action and include more people with disabilities in the workplace, in schools, neighborhoods and in all aspects of society. Dialogue on Disability, a week-long spotlight initiative takes place every January, and is supported by the Fred L. Emerson Foundation with additional support from The Golisano Foundation.

DoD: El Sistema music education emphasizes Music for All, no matter their ability

Classical 91.5 WXXO-FM | By Ruth Phinney

Published January 14, 2021 at 1:35 PM EST

Many of us are familiar with El Sistema, the music-education program, founded in Venezuela in 1975 by Venezuelan educator, musician, and activist José Antonio Abreu. Since its founding, Venezuela’s National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras and Choirs have used music education as a vehicle for social change. During Dialogue on Disability Week, we're taking a look at some special El Sistema programs in Venezuela and Tokyo that take the philosophy of "music for all" to a whole new level.

Meet the students of the White Hands Chorus of Tokyo, an inclusive musical ensemble formed by children with various challenges, where each one of them has the opportunity to reach the highest artistic level and to exert positive changes to its society. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqpvpwF-oA0

Here the White Hands Choir of Venezuela had the privilege of performing at the Salzburg Festival in 2013, a concert that was, in 2014, released in the series "Festival Documents."

Truly this is "Music for All."

El Sistema remained under the radar in much of the world until the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, began to tour internationally under the baton of the brilliant young conductor Gustavo Dudamel. El Sistema is an extraordinary cultural, educational, and social program that pursues the goals of social engagement and youth empowerment through ensemble music education. The unprecedented success of these programs have inspired hundreds of similar programs which serve an estimated one million children in at least sixty countries around the world.

Credit https://www.rocmusic.org/

ROCmusic logo

Here in Rochester, ROCmusic, an El Sistema inspired program, leverages the collective resources of Rochester’s major cultural organizations, educational institutions and governmental agencies to provide exceptional music education and performance experiences for youth living in the City of Rochester. Through year-long community-based programming and resident-informed activities, ROCmusicoffers three programs that students will be placed in based on their experience and interests in music.