Enriching Lives through Music students selected to participate in National Youth Orchestra
San Rafael, CA - Five local Canal students were accepted to participate in a prestigious National Youth Orchestra, an unprecedented initiative to create a unified platform for El Sistema-inspired programs throughout the United States. It will be held this summer at the Aspen Music Festival from June 24- June 29.
Four of these students attend Davidson Middle School (Emerson Gonzalez, cello, Axel Sanchez, oboe, Nicolas Lau, violin and Adiel Rodas, flute and one is a junior at San Rafael High (Willy Sanchez, flute). These students were selected based on a competitive audition process and will join other young musicians from across the West coast to form the first National El Sistema youth orchestra. They will be conducted by Juan Felipe Molano from the LA Philharmonic and ELM’s long standing guest conductor and artistic director.
By offering young people the opportunity to learn from exceptional musicians, become ambassadors of their programs, and for many travel out of state for the first time, the project aims to develop a model for excellence and a national community of citizen musicians from historically excluded populations in the United States.
The National Take a Stand Festival is a three-year project that began in 2015 with a teacher training and pilot program, followed by the formation of regional youth orchestra camps in 2016, culminating in a 7-day national youth orchestra camp in 2017, featuring a final performance led by LA Phil Music Director Gustavo Dudamel.
These students participate in Enriching Lives through Music (ELM), a full scholarship, multi-year program of intensive music education, ensemble and performance experiences that inspires youth from underserved neighborhoods to envision and achieve success through music education and performance. “Talent and intelligence are equally distributed. But opportunity is not. Enriching Lives through Music is one way we can change that paradigm” says Jane Kramer, Executive Director and Founder of ELM. “We are thrilled that our students were selected through a competitive process to join this international community of student and professional musicians and can only imagine how much they will grow socially and musically through this immersive musical experience. They will return to ELM as ambassadors of this dynamic community to inspire their peers and teachers upon their return. We couldn’t be prouder.”
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