The members of the System of Youth and Children's Orchestras of Venezuela are supposed to be on vacation, but they are attending seminars instead. These seminars are taking place at the Center for Social Action Through Music and are part of an academic exchange program between the New England Conservatory of Music and the National System of Youth and Children's Orchestras.

Mark Churchill, Dean and Artistic Director of the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC), has visited our country so many times in the last years that it has become his musical home.

Maestro Churchill explains that chamber ensembles are models of cohesive communities and could be provided as examples of harmonious coexistence in small groups made up of three or five people who in turn are members of a big society.  According to the Artistic Director of the New England Conservatory, a chamber ensemble demands even more camaraderie than an orchestra because there is not a conductor and therefore there must be agreement among members.

The enthusiasm generated by chamber music among El Sistema's members attending the seminars is so enormous that a spontaneous concert is performed everyday since the seminars started.

A few minutes before entering the hall at the Center for Social Action through Music where a concert of chamber music would be given, Churchill pointed out that this kind of concerts demonstrates that chamber music promotes teamwork by taking individual interests as a starting point.

The seminars on chamber music started last week (August 21) and continue until August 28.

Some Venezuelan professors will also be conducting the seminars, namely Javier Montilla (flautist), Ulises Aragón and Liber Oscher (horn players), Melisa Sánchez and Miguel Sánchez (trombonists), Héctor Barrios (bassoonist), Valdemar Rodríguez (clarinetist), Frank Di Polo (viola player), and David Ascanio (pianist).