Music for Peace, with the support of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), is organising the second Sistema Europe Orchestra Camp, first of which was held last year in the Salzburg Festival, in Istanbul on 14-22 August 2014.
The Sistema Europe Orchestra Camp, hosted by Boğaziçi University, brings 200 children between the ages of 10 and 19 and their teachers from 8 countries to work together for a week. Bruno Campo, music director of the Music for Peace, and Etienne Abelin, member of the Mozart Bologna Orchestra and Lucerne Festival Orchestra, will lead the Sistema Europe Orchestra Camp, which will host children from Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK, along with Turkey's Music for Peace Orchestra.
One of the most significant components of the Sistema Europe Orchestra Camp in Istanbul will be the
"El Sistema Model Training Camp" to raise the next generation of El Sistema teachers. Over 50 teachers from Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Peru, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK, and Venezuela will attend this first training camp. Future teachers of the Music for Peace Orchestra will also participate in the workshop, which will disseminate the El Sistema education model.
200-strong Sistema Europe Youth Orchestra will be on stage at the
Leyla Gencer Opera and Cultural Centre on Thursday, 21 August at 20:00
200 children who will practice together for a week will take the stage for a free concert at the Bakırköy Municipality's Leyla Gencer Opera and Cultural Centre on Thursday, 21 August at 20:00. Under the baton of Bruno Campo, the Sistema Europe Youth Orchestra will perform Tchaikovsky's "Slavonic March", Arturo Marquez's "Danzon No.2", Rossini's "William Tell Overtur"e, Elgar's "Nimrod", Mozart's "A Little Night Music", and the 1st movement from the Holberg Suite by Elgar.
Organised by the Music for Peace Foundation with the support of Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, the 2014 Istanbul Sistema Europe Orchestra Camp is hosted by the Boğaziçi University and sponsored by the Hilti Foundation, Canan Pak İmregün, Acıbadem Health Group, Berrin Erengül, Twist, Nestlé, and Turyol. The third of the Sistema Europe Orchestra Camps, which will also be attended by Music for Peace Foundation, will take place in Sweden in 2015.
About Music for Peace
Initiated by Architect Mehmet Selim Baki and Yeliz Baki in 2005, Music for Peace aims to provide free music education for as many children as possible and to remove any obstacles in the way of accessing art. The Music for Peace Foundation has given free music education to over four thousand children up to date and the number increases by day. Music for Peace has been a member of the Sistema Europe, which is the umbrella organisation for similar formations in 29 European countries, since 2012 and has been named "one of the best practices in the Sistema Europe". In June 2014, Music for Peace was officially accepted as an El Sistema-inspired programme by a "friendship" agreement signed with the founder of El Sistema Jose Antonio Abreu and director of the Fundamusical Simon Bolivar Eduardo Mendez.
Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts has been the institutional supporter of the Music for Peace since 2013 and gives educational support to the foundation through its Tulip Card Membership Programme.