León

In spite of significant flight delays due to stormy weather in Texas, our entire group of 130 arrived in Mexico happy, healthy, and ready to make incredible music together.

United Airlines actually held one of our connecting flights for over an hour to ensure the integrity of our itinerary, which we suppose is what happens when you purchase half of the seats on an airplane! We had a wonderful exchange with local youth musicians, followed by a rehearsal of Mahler Symphony No. 6 with players from Mexico’s premier youth orchestra in preparation for our first concert in the evening. Words cannot adequately describe the feeling of joy and excitement we all felt in bringing such spectacular music to life.

Veracruz

The ensemble arrived in the host city of our second concert after two long days of bus travel. We decided to divide the 12 hour drive time in half by stopping for the evening at a charming hotel on the grounds of a historic farm near the Teotihuacán pyramids.

The group enjoyed a fabulous farm-to-table dinner and an unforgettable evening filled with laughter, singing, and dancing with an enchanting Mexican songstress. We spent the following morning visiting the pyramid archeological complex before taking the long drive through the mountains to reach the coast. Upon arrival, the orchestra returned their attention to the demanding precision and dynamic sensitivity of our second program: Verdi’s Forza Del Destino, Dvorak’s 9th Symphony, and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.

Many of the concerts on this tour are already sold out, and the overwhelming response from the audience has been an affirmation of the message of hope for a better future that we carry with us.

Xalapa

The journey to our third city began with another long drive through the arroyos and mountains of a captivating landscape. Although it had been raining fairly consistently throughout the tour, the ensemble continued to shine wherever they went.

The concert was located in a fantastic hall nested within a beautiful university set upon a hill overlooking the city. The lush colors of the campus flora and the mist from the rain created a gorgeous atmosphere for the players to reflect in preparation of their second recitation of Mahler’s colossal sixth symphony. BPYO personnel manager Harold Rivas did a superb job translating Ben’s explanation of the music in real time, and the performance itself was simply phenomenal. The level of talent and artistic commitment found within this youth orchestra is astonishing.

So many fascinating things happen on tour with a group of young people this large. Spending this much time together transposes naturally to open dialogs about meaningful topics: the future of technology, objective beauty, politics, morality, and of course, the appropriate placement of the scherzo in the Mahler program_… an ongoing discussion!

Mexico City: Part One

The weather continued to be a mildly menacing presence, but we did not let it dampen our spirits. Thankfully, the rain abated and gave some us time to buy souvenirs at a labyrinthian artisan craft market, then explore the epically architected Xóloclo Square in the heart of Mexico City. The collective energy of this gifted group of young people has been a source of inspiration for all those with whom they have come into contact.

The final performance of the Verdi, Dvorak, and Stravinsky program took place at the historic Bellas Artes, a resplendent and palatial European style hall managed by the Mexican federal government. In this concert, the moments in between the music were not without their own drama. Illogical protocols led to security denying late-comers an opportunity to take their seats after the overture. Ben refused to return to the stage until everyone waiting was allowed to enter to hear Dvorak’s triumphant New World Symphony!

Yet again the ensemble effectuated furious virtuosity, dissonant repose, and an impassioned, fully articulated expression of the repertoire. The concert was attended by newly appointed US ambassador to Mexico who remarked that he had never heard anything like that before in his life. After the performance, there was a wonderful reception in a beautifully grand, columned lined terrace with a stunning view of Mexico’s oldest municipal park. Rule number six was invoked, and musicians, parents, friends, audience members, staff, the ambassador and the security guards all celebrated the orchestra’s incredible artistic achievement together with great joy, enthusiasm, and love.

Puebla

The orchestra spent two days in deep creative collaboration with Mexican youth musicians who share our values and love of classical music. Seventeen years ago, Ben decided to skip a day at an important leadership conference in Mexico City to instead visit a fledgling music and social education program in the town of Puebla. Since that vital and serendipitous visit was made, the Esperanza Azteca school and community network has proliferated across Mexico, impacting the lives of tens of thousands of children and their families through the transformative power of music education.

Upon our arrival, we were graciously received by the program’s directors and given a brief viewing of the school grounds. The campus was created through conversion of an antiquated textile mill, and the practice rooms and performance spaces were designed to preserve historic elements of the property’s industrial past. The evening concluded with an outstanding concert presentation from Esperanza Azteca musicians who were all demonstrative of the program’s success, and BPYO musicians stood and cheered boisterously, beaming with admiration, for every single performer.

The following day was spent in side by side rehearsals to prepare for the concert in the evening. There were many artistic and production challenges for this performance due to both unfamiliar repertoire and the incredible number of participating musicians. The suite of arrangements conducted by founder, Julio Saldaña, included two choruses. In combination with both orchestras, there were more than 350 musicians on stage when the concert began! BPYO assistant conductor, Alfonso Piacentini, led another ebullient rendition of Márquez’s Danzon No. 2, which has also been a featured encore on the Mahler program.

The concert concluded with life affirming and celebratory remarks from Ben that invited the audience to contemplate the meaning of miracles, followed by powerful selections from Dvorak’s 9th Symphony, From the New World.

Mexico City: Part Two

The orchestra returned to Mexico City with two free days to discover more of the brilliant corners that can be found throughout this vast and extraordinary metropolis. We spent a morning wandering around the proportionally vast and extraordinary National Anthropological Museum followed by an absolutely delicious catered meal of authentic Mexican cuisine at a locally famed restaurant, Los Ponchos. Later in the afternoon, we explored a leafy bohemian square in the Coyocán neighborhood before the rain persuaded us to retreat back to the hotel. When we arrived, Ben convened the group to share a theory of resonance and the incredible story of his initial journey to Puebla, then led a spirited discussion where students reflected on what they had experienced.

Our final day of the tour was all about the music. Although Mahler’s Sixth Symphony describes a tragedy, it is an exquisite masterwork that traverses the full range of human emotion. The ensemble performed with beautifully relentless precision in an overwhelming display of symphonic power. The University Hall where the concert took place was magnificently designed and elevated even the subtlest pianissimo to reach every listener with crystalline clarity and warmth. After the performance, we celebrated the collective growth of the orchestra over the course of our season in Boston and during this incredible tour over another a delicious meal in a premier restaurant.

I became the dean of the New England Conservatory Preparatory School in the fall of 1979. One of my first actions was to reinstate Benjamin Zander as conductor of the school orchestra, called the Youth Chamber Orchestra, to expand and rename the group the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, and begin the work towards establishing one of the great youth orchestras of the United States. Having traveled internationally a number of times as teacher, player, and musical assistant with a small group called the New England Youth Ensemble, I knew that touring had to be part of the picture. So, in the spring of 1981, the YPO ventured out on a three-week tour to Eastern Europe hosted by Friendship Ambassadors, an organization whose mission it was to foster friendship between Western and Soviet Bloc youth through the performing arts. Touring every other June, the 80’s saw more tours to Soviet Republics and Western Europe, the 90’s to Latin America, and, after that, a mix of Asia, Europe, the US, Canada, and South America until Maestro Zander left NEC and launched the BPYO in 2012. Since then, the BPYO has toured internationally every June. Ben and I have calculated that this year’s Mexico tour is the 28th!

To explain the significance of these tours on the lives of young musicians is to shine a light on their profound humanity, musicality, energy, and tenacity, and their emotional, social and basic intelligence. Nearly all of them say that tours are their greatest experiences, that they’ll never be the same, that their eyes have been opened to the larger world, that they have learned that all human beings are their brothers and sisters, that their capacity to envision ways that they can grow to contribute to the betterment of humankind have deepened and broadened, and, perhaps above all, they have embraced and been nourished by some of the greatest creations or Western music more deeply than they could have imagined. Let me give a few glances into why all this can happen in a space of a couple of weeks in June.

First, they become full time students of Ben Zander, not just dropping into class once a week. They see Ben’s exuberant lust for life in front of them hour by hour. They feel how much he believes in them, how he himself acts in the world, radiating sunshine, warmth, creativity, passion, humanity, and love. His total belief in the power of great Western classical music to uplift and transform the lives of every human being on the planet is transferred directly to their hearts and minds. They see and hear how his lofty oratorical skills when speaking to them and to audiences is always focused on both the understanding (hence the greater impact) of the music and his noble ideals about deep bonds within the family of human kind, the need to break down the barriers between cultures and clans, and the ever present belief in “Possibility,” the ability to envision a better world and the confidence that we have the power to bring it about. Albert Einstein said that one’s example isn’t just the best way to influence and educate others, it’s the only way. So, number one is learning from Ben in ways that are simply not possible in the rush of life back home.

An enormous amount has been said and written about the profound benefits of travel to the human experience. Seeing young people experience the variety of ways that different cultures interact with each other and the world has an enormous impact on each of their futures. They gain the ability to put their own joys and sorrows into a far broader context, helping them to feel the commonality among all people. This happens most dramatically in the interactions with the young musicians of countries visited, where lasting friendships are created, palettes of music expression are amplified, and lessons in how the sum of the parts can be greater than the whole are learned. They travel with a musical mission, to play their concerts at the highest possible level, but then they realize that this brings them to a far greater mission: learning that human relationships are the central factor in all that we are and do.
A somewhat more subtle effect of tours is one very close to my heart: the validation that the music-making that they have dedicated their lives to, is a worthy and noble human pursuit. They hear and feel the gratitude of audiences (especially those in Latin America) for their performance in ways more difficult to perceive in the U.S. They so often come into contact with listeners who are clearly moved and uplifted by their generosity of spirit expressed through their music. Their musical work, beliefs, and hopes are validated by those experiences in ways that will sustain them throughout their careers in music and other fields. I can’t overstate the importance of this. Every young musician in the U.S. struggles with doubts about the relevance of Western classical music to the world of today and the future. They feel how deeply meaningful their music is to people in the places they visit, and they are moved to carry on in one of the most demanding paths a person can pursue.

But there’s more to the validation of our students’ musical lives than what they experience in the concert halls. Often, they participate in interchanges with youth music programs, and most of those are inspired by the Venezuelan El Sistema model. In a word, El Sistema believes in the power of excellence-driven music learning and performance as a tool to uplift the lives of impoverished children, giving them tools to prosper and contribute to their families, communities and societies, creating, as El Sistema founder Jose Antonio Abreu stated, “an affluence of the spirit.” The young musicians who have wondered how their chosen profession can impact the broader world in positive ways, see concrete examples of how it can and does. These El Sistema inspired programs are a palpable example of how numerous highly trained and accomplished musicians have used their values and learning methods to improve the lives of all the children and young people in their midst. On this Mexico tour, they interacted with one of the most miraculous stories of how this philosophy is impacting tens of thousands of lives throughout the entire country of Mexico with their exchange with the breathtaking work of Esperanza Azteca. You can read about this miracle in the words of Rosamund Zander in her book “Pathways to Possibility. Find it here.

Lastly, the experience of playing great works of music three, four, or more times on tour after honing them over months of work back in Boston allows the players to own these pieces in a way that can’t be equaled. They carry them in their hearts and minds throughout their lives, and they will represent the high water mark for the preparation and performance of every work they encounter throughout their careers. One of the most compelling things about an outstanding youth orchestra’s playing is they are, number one, youthful, and, number two, they are falling in love with the masterpieces that they’re playing for the first time. This is nowhere more tangible than in the last performances of a tour. As I write this, I’m backstage waiting to take my seat in the audience for this orchestra’s last performance of Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 6. Without doubt every player will put their entire heart and soul into this concert, some with the bittersweet awareness that they are departing from the orchestra and that music making will never quite reach the emotional heights that they’re enjoying at that very movement. For me, I’m prepared to join them in one of the most moving musical experiences of my life as well.