From time to time you find a juxtaposition so jarring in the news that it tells an important story all by itself. In February 2009, Jose Antonio Abreu received a TED award for founding El Sistema ("the system") in 1975 to help poor Venezuelan kids learn to play a musical instrument and be part of an orchestra. Three decades later, El Sistema has seeded 102 youth orchestras. Venezuela's National Youth Orchestra is one of the best youth orchestras on earth. Click here to listen to a Venezuelan Youth Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, a graduate of El Sustema and currently the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
On April 14, 2009, the New York Times published a story about the efforts of a threadbare Ohio high school Sinfonia to finance a trip to a competition in New York City. The video tells the story of one of its most talented members, Tiffany Clay, the orchestra's top violinist and concert master. She works as a car-hop waitress to support herself in school.
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