Maestro José Antonio Abreu was awarded for his extraordinary leadership of El Sistema for over 34 years. A few days ago, in New York City, he received the International Citation of Merit from the International Society of Performing Arts (ISPA), and the Distinguished Service Award from the Conductors Guild.

The International Society for the Performing Arts gave maestro Abreu the International Citation of Merit for his contribution to the wellbeing of thousands of youngsters in Venezuela and the rest of the world. The award was presented at the ISPA's 61st Annual Congress entitled “Art as an Agent of Change”, held at the Rainbow Room of the Rockefeller Center Art on January 13. In 2008 the African social activist and singer Miriam Makeba was awarded with this prize.

The ISPA is a not-for-profit international organization founded in 1949 to develop, nurture, energize and educate an international network of arts leaders and professionals who are dedicated to advancing the field of the performing arts. It is composed of over 600 executives, conductors, directors of festivals, performing companies, and artist competitions; government cultural officials; artists' managers; and other interested parties with a professional involvement in the performing arts from over 50 countries.

The Distinguished Service Award was presented to maestro José Antonio Abreu by the Conductors Guild on January 11, in the same city, at the Annual Conference for Conductors held at the conference room of the Park Central New York.

Maestro Abreu received this award in recognition of his work for the Venezuelan youngsters through El Sistema, whose amazing results have fostered the establishment of similar programs in other countries, including the United States.

Since 1988 the Conductors Guild at its national conference has presented three categories of awards to renowned personalities of the world of music such as: Max Rudolph, Pierre Boulez, Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Masur, and Claudio Abbado. The Conductors Guild is an organization devoted exclusively to the advancement of the art of conducting and to serving the artistic and professional needs of conductors. This organization is made up of over 1,850 members representing all fifty United States and more than thirty other countries.