Juan Diego Florez has his own ‘sistema’

Information received:

The Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez is the founder of a social project in Peru, trying to improve the life of children and youngsters through music. Following the philosophy of the Venezuelan “El Sistema”, Flórez has founded “Sinfonia por el Peru”, a project, that currently reaches out to 9 of the most difficult regions of Peru and to about 2000 children, who attend music schools and, by learning together in the orchestras and choirs, learn about societal values like respect, consequence and diligence, they experience growing self-esteem and are able to develop their skills as musicians and singers.

To create awareness for his own as well as for other projects of the same kind, Juan Diego Flórez has decided to put together an orchestra – The Harmonia Symphony – consisting of young musicians from different music projects. This orchestra will accompany Flórez and his singer colleagues Fatma Said (Egypt), Pretty Yende (South Africa) and Sergey Artamonov (Russia) in a concert on Human Rights Day  in Geneva on December 10, 2014. Youngsters from South America, South Africa, Asia and Europe will play together, conducted by Spanish conductor Pablo Mielgo. For many of the musicians it is the first international concert.

Projects involved:

• Academia Filarmonica de Medellin (AFMED, Colombia)
• The National System of Youth and Children Orchestras and Choirs of Venezuela
• Superar (Austria, Switzerland)
• MusicEnsemble (Geneva, Switzerland)
• The New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy (USA)
• The Mangaung String Program (Bloemfontein, South Africa)
• Bravura Musical Foundation (Cochabamba, Bolivia)
• Sinfonía por el Perú  (Peru)
• Verbier Festival Orchestras (Switzerland)
• The “Sistema Orchestre e Cori Giovanili e Infantili in Italia” (Italy)

The concert will broadcasted live to over 63 countries.