Four Latin American embassies lent a hand this year for the Sejong Dream Tree Orchestra concert, the culmination of a 10-day music camp for orphans and other children from disadvantaged backgrounds, held at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Seoul on Wednesday.
This year’s concert marks the second iteration here in South Korea of a well-known and innovative program originated decades ago in Venezuela. El Sistema was founded in 1975 by economist and musician Jose Antonio Abreu.
Diplomatic missions representing Uruguay, Panama, Ecuador and Mexico provided some of the funding for this year’s El Sistema-inspired Korean camp. Raul Vergara, camp organizer and emcee at the concert, said he was pleased to see “smiles from ear to ear on the faces of all the kids and their supporters.”
But Vergara, a former percussionist with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, said the camp might not receive adequate support to bring it again to South Korea next year unless there is sufficient public interest, he added.
Some 100 kids took part in the music camp this year. They spent their first three days at Seoul City Music University in Gangchon, Gyeonggi Province, and another seven days training at the Sejong Center.
The children, some from orphanages in Seoul and others from low-income families, practiced all day for nearly two weeks in a rehearsal studio at the Sejong Center. The work culminated with the performance as the “Sejong Dream Tree Orchestra” on Wednesday attended by nearly 30 foreign envoys and other VIPs.
Venezuela’s El Sistema program and its international incarnation, the YOA Youth Orchestra of the Americas, are managed independently, but both provide kids from low-income families and other disadvantaged backgrounds high-caliber musical training and education.
Venezuela’s best-known alumni of El Sistema include musician Edicson Ruiz and Los Angeles Philharmonic musical director Gustavo Dudamel. It also spawned the world-renowned Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra.
