13 August 2010

Musicians Cross U.S.-Mexico Border for Youth Orchestra

Benjamin Loeb conducts a rehearsal of the El Paso Symphony Youth Orchestra.

By Erica M Marrero
Staff Writer

Washington – American conductor and orchestra director Benjamin Loeb says no matter the concert hall or venue, wherever he goes, music is a universal language that has the power to transcend differences.

“In every concert that I perform, whether it’s in Mexico or anywhere, I see the exact same reaction from the people as I would have from the audience in Carnegie Hall [in New York City]. It’s this deep appreciation of the implicit meaning of the music that makes us sense our own personal potential and the potential of our community.”

To harness that power, Loeb founded the El Paso Symphony Youth Orchestras (EPSYOs) in 2005. Each year, young musicians from both the United States and Mexico audition for a chance to play with one of the several EPSYOs groups. Today, the musicians include more than 200 students from Texas, southwest New Mexico and Juarez, Mexico, ranging from 9 to 23 years old.

COMMITMENT AND DEDICATION KEY

A boy from Juarez plays piano during a master class given by Benjamin Loeb.

For the young musicians from Juarez, the three-hour weekly orchestra rehearsals often require them to allot two to three hours to cross the border. In exchange, they advance their musical training and achieve artistic and personal growth that will form the foundation for future successes, said Loeb.

“The young musicians [who perform in the EPSYOs] get the personal motivation of playing great music that challenges them. But it also makes them realize that they can do even more than they think they can. It opens their horizons [and] they take that enthusiasm back to their schools and it really spreads around the community,” he said.

Each year, the EPYSOs musicians perform alongside the professional El Paso Symphony Orchestra in an annual Side-by-Side Concert. Loeb says that the energy on stage between 160 mentors and aspiring musicians feeds the music and reaches the audience.

“The kids were inspired to be playing next to these professionals, and the professionals were inspired by the enthusiasm and energy from the kids. It was just a perfect example of what music can do to a community — it brings everybody together and it creates this unbelievable positive energy,” he said, recalling the experience.

Just as the professional orchestra sets an example for the youth orchestra, the young musicians in the EPSYOs are models for the students in their school music programs and examples for their community. It is this mutually reinforcing sense of pride and responsibility in their music that Loeb says “can grow the confidence in a community, especially one that may be stereotyped as poor or disadvantaged.”

Watch the El Paso Youth Symphony Orchestra perform “Danzón No. 2” by Arturo Márquez.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)