Great start to the program! We started out early with breakfast at the hotel before heading out to our first meeting at the Center of Social Action for Music. We learned a lot about El Sistema from Rafael Elster, who graciously offered to tell us about the philosophy, the structure, the mission and vision of the program. The students had great questions and the two hours that the meeting lasted flew by very quickly.
After that meeting we had a tour of the building. Everybody was very impressed with the simplicity of the overall building design and yet the amount of details that went into making the rooms so incredibly fit for music rehearsing and practicing. The Simón Bolivar Hall was absolutely impressive. We were all speechless while we were inside. The organ practice of Pablo Castellanos while we were in made the whole experience even more mesmerizing.
After the tour we got to hear the Simón Bolivar Orchestra B rehearse. Lucky us, they were rehearsing a concerto for double bass and orchestra by Venezuelan composer Aldemaro Rodríguez with Edicson Ruiz (Berlin Philharmonic) as the soloist. We got to meet him at the end of the rehearsal.
We had lunch at around 2:00 PM and relaxed for a little bit before heading going back to the Center. This time we got to see the Youth Symphony of Caracas rehearsing Beethoven's ninth. We got to see Dr. Jose Antonio Abreu working with the conductor and the orchestra.The energy level coming from the musicians far surpassed that of the music itself. It was an absolute delight to hear them and see them. We left the center at 7:30, tired but satisfied with the day's outcome. We look forward to tom
