5:00pm: Deborah Borda: Indeed, music is an essential human right. We have to believe that and act on it.
4:58pm: A discussion of the music on tonight’s concert — the electric cello concerto by Enrico Chapela is like heavy metal.
4:51pm: Gustavo Dudamel made very different choices for the launch of his tenure at the LA Phil: free concerts at the Hollywood Bowl (not at Walt Disney Hall) and the first group he conducted was YOLA (Youth Orchestra LA), not the LA Phil. Why did he do it? Because music is for everybody. It is a human right.
4:48pm: To see other young people playing is the way to connect young people to music.
4:44pm: To have access to beauty is really important. El Sistema is not just a musical movement, but a social movement as well.
4:41pm: As a kid, you love to play — it is fun to “play” in an orchestra — and for Gustavo Dudamel that attitude has continued.
4:37pm: Gustavo Dudamel on Deborah Borda: I thought she was a stalker. Deborah Borda was very persistent in courting him for the LA Phil. On a trip to Caracas, she also realized that even if she couldn’t convince Dudamel to come to LA… she had to bring El Sistema to LA. It was a life-changing trip.
4:30pm: Gustavo Dudamel and Deborah Borda take the stage for our keynote event.