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On June 23, 2022, several members of the Venezuelan Dominican Binational Symphony Orchestra (VDBSO), directed by Professor Javier Abi Harb, joined the project “The Orchestra goes to School”, an initiative of integration with the educational communities in the Dominican Republic in which refugee, migrant and host community children and adolescents have the opportunity to learn about the instruments that make up an orchestra, know their name, hear their sound and begin their journey through music.
The San Rafael catholic school received the pedagogical meeting and more than 500 students participated in the activity, having their first approach to string, wind and percussion musical instruments.
Having more than 30 years of experience in music, Professor Javier Abi Harb, Director of the VDBSO, was in charge of presenting this unique meeting that captivated hundreds of children and teenagers. Harb expressed that “this initiative aims to give tools and communicate to young people and students of all educational levels in the Dominican Republic that they can learn to play an instrument, that they can discover a talent in music, that is why we have started this project where Venezuelan and Dominican musicians that make up the Binational Orchestra can offer their knowledge and contribute to these communities, the goal is that in every corner of a school, community or province there is a choir, an orchestra made up of boys, girls and adolescents whom find in music a space to grow, to have discipline, to be able to have a parallel occupation to school”.
The administrative director of the San Rafael school, priest Gonzalo Herrera Díaz, expressed his pleasure for the presence of the orchestra in the school and considered it a real opportunity for the students: “What the students of this school experienced today is beautiful, seeing how they integrated and paid attention is something very positive that fills us with joy; it is important to have these spaces so that young people have a path of discipline and our boys and girls can learn something else. Music is joy, discipline, responsibility , and I know that we are going to achieve many things with this project”.
These meetings are scheduled to be taken to different educational institutions with the aim of promoting musical education in every corner and thus forming orchestras in the communities of this country, with children and young people from schools as protagonists.
