Venezuela youth orchestras, choirs to perform in Milan

(ANSA) - Milan, August 11 - A group of more than 1,000 young Venezuelan musicians who were encouraged to join orchestras and choirs as a means to escape poverty will be performing several concerts in Milan from Wednesday.
    Divided into five orchestras and two choirs, the youths are part of El Sistema (Spanish for The System), a music education programme founded in 1975 by Venezuelan educator, musician and activist José Antonio Abreu to help prevent children in impoverished environments from turning to drugs and crime.
    Events will kick off on Wednesday and Thursday night when the Manos Blancas choir - in which differently abled kids play, sing, and mime the music with white-gloved hands - will be performing at Milan's conservatory. Venezuela's National Child Symphony, an orchestra made up of musicians between 8 and 13 years old, will perform at La Scala opera house on August 21 and 23.
    "Being at La Scala is a way for us to render tribute to the Italian maestros who came to teach our children," said conductor and violinist Gustavo Dudamel.
    He cited the late Claudio Abbado (1933-2014), one of the most celebrated conductors of the 20th century, who beginning in 1999 "became like a father to all the kids in El Sistema".
    The program has reached 700,000 at-risk youth so far and aims to teach one million kids to play an instrument, said El Sistema Executive Director Eduardo Mendez.
    Several other events are planned, culminating on September 3 and 4 with concerts by the Simon Bolivar orchestra.