Word: abreu
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Both sides, thankfully, are smart enough to know that the only man who can take credit for the Simon Bolivar is José Abreu, 69, an economist turned classical-music maestro who saw, or heard, in the urban ranchos (slums) and rural outposts of Venezuela the raw material of virtuosos. Like anyone who has spent time in Caracas ranchos such as Catia or San Agustin, Abreu "perceived amidst the poverty an immense musical talent, the facility for elegant and forceful rhythms," he told TIME in an interview over the weekend. Listening to youths play contrapunto on the small, four-stringed...
...today as far away as Scotland. It has also produced its own international superstar: conductor Gustavo Dudamel, 28, who was recently named musical director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic but is returning to lead the Simon Bolivar on this month's tour of the U.S. and Europe. "Dudamel," says Abreu, "is the incarnation of Venezuela's emergence as a musical power in the world." (Read more about Gustavo Dudamel...
...classical music today. Whether or not it's the world's best youth orchestra (many European music writers say it's still not up to the likes of Germany's Junge Deutsche Philharmonie), few are as vibrant, as it showed in its rousing Carnegie Hall debut in 2007. Abreu describes its core personality as "energy, passion, virtuosity," a "primordial, ardent Latin vitality combined with a high level of technical rigor." The orchestra almost always draws on its vast Latin American repertoire - in the U.S. this week it's playing Venezuelan composer Evencio Castellanos' symphonic suite, Santa Cruz de Pacairigua, which...
...Abreu, who founded the orchestra 24 years before Chávez came to power, was one of the first in Latin America to hit on the democratic notion that folks from the humblest backgrounds can not only appreciate but master high art - and he credits his economic training as much as his musical skills. "I was convinced," he says, "that the way to genuinely develop a country was to develop its human capital, and that means promoting people's talents everywhere, not just the élite." It's gratifying, he adds, to watch his students' families, who are often...
...Abreu won't say whether he thinks sharing the Simon Bolivar with the U.S. can improve Caracas-Washington relations, which are at their lowest point these days. (Neither country currently has an ambassador in the other.) But he does believe that the orchestra "can't help but promote understanding, not just between the U.S. and Venezuela but the New World and Europe," where the Simon Bolivar will travel next week. Even if these kids can't change the political understanding between the U.S. and Chávez - and who would want to saddle them with such a thankless task...