Tour
http://www3.lastampa.it/costume/sezioni/articolo/lstp/459884/?google_editors_picks=true
Claudio Abbado imports
the "Sistema"
of youth orchestras in Italy
EGLE SANTOLINI
milano
Luca Vacchetti, 12 years old, from Turin, is already on the podium: director of the Orchestra Pequeñas Huellas, which means little footprints. Giorgio Napolitano named him Standard-bearer of the Republic, but he hasn't let it go to his head: he was taught that music serves to educate for peace and to train for democracy, and even if you are a "magic wand" (which is what the course Luca follows is called), you must grow and collaborate with others.
The realized utopia of José Antonio Abreu from Venezuela is thus taking root in Italy as well. On December 16, 2010, the committee "Sistema delle orchestre e dei cori giovanili in Italia" (System of youth orchestras and choirs in Italy) was established, co-chaired by Claudio Abbado and Abreu himself, and led by Federculture and the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole. There are 27 operational nuclei, with three more soon to be added, and approximately 6,500 children aged 4 to 14 (though there is flexibility regarding age limits) following the courses.
An incomparable experience, "because - summarizes Roberto Grossi, president of Federculture - learning an instrument means attending the laboratory of one's own personality, experiencing relationships with others in a non-violent and undistracted way, accumulating an emotional richness that will accompany you for life."
But to such wonders correspond, unfortunately, great economic difficulties and the impermeability of institutions. Grossi explains that they formed an Onlus (non-profit organization) "since the bill for state funding with regional branches has long been lying in the Culture Commission of the Chamber," and everything rests on the shoulders of enthusiastic and entirely voluntary teachers. To find funds, they improvise, even by organizing instrument drives to give to children: this happened at the Petruzzelli in Bari and at La Scala; on October 21, it will be repeated in Rome at the Parco della Musica.
How worthwhile it is is explained by Sabina Colonna Preti, viola da gamba teacher, soloist in Bach's "Brandenburg Concertos" with Abbado, and the soul of the Sistema in Piedmont: "Do you know what it means to make a small child play the violin for six hours a week? It is an enormous amount of time, yet we manage it. The important thing is to train them from the basics and all together. In Turin, we managed to open three music nurseries in the San Salvario district, plus one in Torrazza Piemonte, and there will also be one in the Barriera di Milano district. At the 'Rayneri' primary school in San Salvario, then, one module did not have full-time hours, and we stepped in there for a unique experiment in Italy: entire afternoons of violin, three to five times a week. Unlike the adults, child orchestral players are not competitive: it is perfect teamwork."
Andrea Lucchesini, artistic director of the Fondazione Scuola di Fiesole, tells how a very delicate task—the training of trainers—was entrusted to the historic institution founded 38 years ago by Piero Farulli: "So far we have organized three basic meetings for about seventy teachers; soon we plan to prepare a real course with trainees. Abreu's spirit is preserved in the general principles, while taking into account our different social fabric."
But everything, in the end, had already been thought of a few centuries ago. Roberto Grossi recalls: "In the 1700s, Antonio Vivaldi taught music to the orphan girls of Santa Maria della Pietà. In Venice, and here too a coincidence occurs: Venezuela means little Venice, as Amerigo Vespucci called it when he arrived in that lagoon with its shacks. This is the next collaboration project with Abreu: it will be called 'La Musica ViVe', Vi for Vivaldi and Ve for Venezuela."