Sistema Canada Summit

Bios

José Abreu

 José Antonio Abreu was born on May 7th, 1939 in Valera, Venezuela.   An economist, musician, and reformer, he founded the National System of Young Peoples’, Children’s and Pre-school orchestras of Venezuela (El Sistema) in 1975 to help Venezuelan kids take part in classical music. Some 35 years later, El Sistema is a nationwide organization of more than 200 children/youth orchestras -- and close to 400,000 young musicians.

El Sistema uses music education to help children and youth from impoverished circumstances achieve their full potential and learn values that favor their growth.
There is a simple concept behind Abreu's work: for him an orchestra is first and foremost about togetherness, a place where children learn to listen to each other and to respect one another.

Today, the results of his tireless labor can be seen around the world, where the Venezuelan model of musical education has been adapted in over 20 countries. Maestro Abreu has been recognized world-wide for his outstanding work and is the recipient of many prestigious international awards.

David Ascanio

David Ascanio the most renowned pianist of his generation in Venezuela and one of the most outstanding musicians of Latin America, has made 10 nationwide concert tours in Venezuela and has visited 39 countries in four continents as soloist with orchestras and conductors as José Antonio Abreu, Sung Kwak, Ulyses Ascanio, Jordi Mora, Stanislow Wickslocki, Ferdinant Quattrocchi, Dietrich Paredes, Theo Alcántara; as chamber music and solo recital performer; and as lecture teacher and jury member in several music competitions in important European and American Festivals. He performed the whole cycle of the Mozart Piano Concerti receiving the Special Honor Award as Artist of the Year for his brilliant performance of The 27 Mozart Piano Concertos in the Bicentennial Memorial of the composer. 

Mr. Ascanio obtained both Bachelor and Master Degrees of Music at the Juilliard School. He has been the only Venezuelan Pianist to win the First Prize and Gold Medal at the Latin American Piano Competition, and was distinguished as “Artist of the Americas” by the Organization of American States.

David Ascanio is a founding member of the National Children and Youth Orchestras System of Venezuela “El Sistema”.   He has become the Academic Advisor and Curricula Designer of the Center of Social Action through Music in Caracas sponsored by the Inter American Developing Bank. He has been Professor at the Master Program of Music as well as in the Simón Bolívar Conservatory of Music and the University Institute for Music where he keeps an intense pedagogic activity.

Eric Booth

  As an actor, Eric performed in many plays on Broadway, Off-Broadway andaround the country. As a businessman, he started a small company, Alert Publishing, that in seven years became the largest of its kind in the U.S. analyzing research on trends in American lifestyles. As an author, he has had five books published. The Everyday Work of Art won three awards and was a Book of the Month Club selection, and his latest book is The Music Teaching Artist's Bible.

In arts learning, he has taught at Juilliard (13 years), Stanford University, NYU, Tanglewood and Lincoln Center Institute (for 25 years), and The Kennedy Center (12 years), and held one of six chairs on The College Board's Arts Advisory Committee for seven years. He serves as a consultant for many organizations, cities and states and businesses around the country, including six of the ten largest orchestras in America, and five national service organizations. Widely referred to as the father of the teaching artist profession, he was formerly the Director of the Teacher Center of the Leonard Bernstein Center, and a frequent keynote speaker on the arts to groups of all kinds. He delivered the closing keynote speech to UNESCO's first ever worldwide arts education conference (Lisbon 2006)-the only American speaker. He is Senior Advisor to El Sistema USA, which spearheads the development of El Sistema-related sites around the U.S.

Robert Eisenberg 

  Professionally, Robert specializes in the development of urban and heritage properties.  As founding partner of Intraurban Projects, focusing on medium density, infill housing in midtown and downtown Toronto, the company achieved several awards for its attention to neighbourhood-related issues and for its many assisted housing, seniors housing, and innovative “market’ housing projects.

Robert is also founding partner of York Heritage Properties, which has renovated, restored, and retrofitted over one million square feet of historically important and architecturally interesting older buildings. Several of its projects have received awards from the city of Toronto as well as Heritage Toronto and the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA).

Robert has served on the boards of a number of industry related associations and numerous environmental organizations.  He has been an active, committed community leader, serving on the boards of a number of non-profits and has been a donor and volunteer campaigner for numerous other causes.

Passionate about music, the arts and the need for deep social change among disadvantaged communities, Robert is co-founder and President of Sistema Toronto, a program to teach music after school to disadvantaged youth – to begin in the fall 2011.        

Tina Fedeski

  After a life-transforming youth orchestra experience, Tina went on to study at the world-renowned Guildhall School of Music in London, England, and then played principal flute in the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra.  She came back to Canada for a six-month sabbatical on full scholarship at the Banff Centre for the Arts, and then moved to Ottawa where she played with all the established orchestras and festivals in Ottawa.

In 1999, in partnership with her husband Gary McMillen, she opened The Leading Note, now recognized as one of Canada’s leading classical print music stores and the hub of the classical music scene in Ottawa.

In 2007, in pursuit of her belief in the power of youth music, Tina visited Venezuela to research El Sistema and soon afterwards The Leading Note Foundation was created with co-founders Gary McMillen and Margaret Tobolowska.

Her natural entrepreneurial flair and background in the music business, along with her passion for youth music and equality, have found their home as Executive Director for The Leading Note Foundation’s OrKidstra project. Four years into the adventure, OrKidstra is a proud community building program through music – and very Canadian – with 24 languages spoken amongst 150 children!

Wade Hamilton

 Wade is a Certified Financial Planner and a Senior Financial Consultant with Investors Group in Moncton. Investors Group is one of Canada's largest financial planning firms and is a member of the Power Financial Group of companies. Investors Group Moncton has been season sponsor of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra since 2002. Investors Group has also been the title sponsor of the NBYO's Moncton concert over the past two seasons.

On an individual level, Wade has been involved as a committee member of the NBYO's Blues on the Boulevard concert and he is presently serving as a cabinet member for the Sistema New Brunswick's Orchestrating Change Campaign. A member and a board member of the Moncton West and Riverview Rotary Club, he also runs a Charity Golf Tournament and has served as a committee member for the Greater Moncton YMCA.

Stephen Huddart

 Stephen manages the Foundation’s granting program and is the Director of SiG@McConnell, a founding member of the Social Innovation Generation partnership.

His career includes leadership roles in the private, public and non-profit sectors. Prior to joining the Foundation, he worked with children’s singer Raffi as Executive Director of Troubadour Music Inc. and the non-profit Troubadour Institute. He also co-founded and operated the Alma Street Café, a triple bottom line business that was Vancouver’s jazz café of record, and a hub for civic engagement.

Following this he held several executive positions with the BC SPCA, where he introduced award-winning innovations in humane education, animal-assisted therapy, and humane food labeling.

He was the founding Chair of Langara College in Vancouver and has served as the national policy chair for the Association of Canadian Community Colleges.

He speaks frequently on social innovation, and writes a regular column on technology and social change for the peer-reviewed journal, Open Source Business Resource.

His community service commitments include advisory roles with Philanthropic Foundations Canada, the McGill Faculty of Religious Studies, ArtsSmarts, and the Canada Council. He has a Masters of Management degree from McGill. He will become the President and CEO of the McConnell Family Foundation this summer.

Ken MacLeod

 Ken MacLeod has been a leader in the not-for-profit sector for 25 years - as a senior manager, volunteer, board member, donor and consultant.  

Ken is founder and President of KMA Consultants, a firm specializing in fundraising and communications for non-profit organizations.  With offices in Moncton and Toronto KMA serves local, regional and national clients including social and service agencies, arts and cultural organizations, and those in education and health related sectors. 

Ken is President of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra, which has earned a reputation for innovation and service over the past 10 years.  Achievements include a Carnegie Hall performance, tours in Italy and China, three CD recordings, an ECMA 2008 for Classical Recording of the year, not to mention increased financial support and sold-out halls for concerts.  

In 2009, inspired by a learning tour to El Sistema in Venezuela, Ken has led the NBYO in the development of Sistema New Brunswick - a program that offers social change and hope to vulnerable children, through music.  Sistema NB is expanding annually and will operate four Sistema NB centers in New Brunswick and serve more than 500 children and youth by 2014.  

Ken also serves as Board member of the Greater Moncton International Airport, World Relief Canada and Orchestras Canada and from 1995 - 1999 served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick.

Dantes Rameau

  Born in Ottawa, Canada, bassoonist Dantes Rameau is of Haitian and Cameroonian descent. He is a member of the first class of Abreu Fellows at the New England Conservatory. As an Abreu Fellow Dantes spent one year studying El Sistema including two months in Venezuela where he taught, performed and observed. During the Abreu Fellow Program he co-founded the Atlanta Music Project.

Dantes holds a Bachelor of Music in Bassoon Performance from McGill University where he studied with Stéphane Lévesque and Mathieu Harel of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He graduated from McGill in 2005, receiving the award for “Outstanding Performance in Bassoon." He then earned a Master of Music in Bassoon Performance from the Yale University School of Music, studying with Frank Morelli and graduating in 2007. In 2009 he completed a Performance Certificate at Carnegie Mellon University, studying with Nancy Goeres of the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Festivals he has attended include Orford Arts Center, Banff Festival and Aspen Music Festival. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, as well as with the Charleston Symphony, Wallingford Symphony and Aspen Chamber Symphony. He was a finalist for African-American Fellowships with both the Detroit Symphony and Pittsburgh Symphony. His teaching credits include the El Sistema Nucleo Acarigua-Araure in Venezuela and the Yale School of Music Outreach program.

In November 2010 Dantes was one of 25 artists from over 9000 applicants to be awarded $25,000 from AOL's 25For25 grant program. In November 2010, Dantes was a presenter at TEDxPeachtree where he spoke about music as a vehicle to foster social change.

Stanford Thompson

  Stanford earned a Bachelor of Music from The Curtis Institute of Music where he held the William A. Loeb fellowship and is a graduate of New England Conservatory's Abreu Fellows Program. While in Philadelphia, he had the opportunity to perform with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, Symphony in C and recorded on the Ondine label with Christoph Eschenbach. Stanford also appeared as soloist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Ocean City Pops Orchestra and the North Springs Philharmonic.

In 2004, Stanford served as the founding Director of Operations for the Atlanta Trumpet Festival, in 2008 he founded the Reading Summer Music Institute where he continues to serves as Artistic Director, and in 2009 he founded the All-City Brass Symposium in relationship with the School District of Philadelphia hosted by The Curtis Institute of Music. The summer of 2009 brought a special invitation to consult and implement one of the first instrumental music programs in Kenya through the Meru Music Project where he trained music teachers, taught children, and continues to guide the program. Stanford is currently the Director of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra's El Sistema-inspired program, Tune Up Philly.

Dan Trahey

  Musician, educator, and innovator, Dan Trahey’s professional experiences and accomplishments are as varied as they are impressive. Currently he serves as Artistic Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Education Initiative, ORCHkids, a program he co-founded in 2008 with Marin Alsop, modeled after El Sistema.

Dan plays tuba with The Archipelago Project, a non-profit music education ensemble he co-founded. This project advocates musical arts through performance, residency and consultation in various locations in the US and Europe.

When Dan is not directing and teaching at ORCHkids or traveling and performing with The Archipelago Project, he is a professor for the Peabody Conservatory of Music of the where he founded the El Sistema program “Tuned In”.  Dan’s Community Engagement classes at Peabody have helped cultivate Teaching Artists and community minded musicians throughout Baltimore. He also lectures at the New England Conservatory of Music as part of the Abreu Fellows program.

Dan has been center in the development of El Sistema programs in Allentown, Virgina Beach, Ft. Worth, Charlotte, and Orange County.  He currently holds teaching residencies with the Innsbruck Musikschule, Tyrole, Austria; the Nuclea Acarigua, in Portuguesa, Venezuela, and in the Traverse City, Michigan public school system.

He received a Masters of Music from Yale University and a Bachelors of Music Education from Johns Hopkins University.  As a tuba player, Dan performs regularly with orchestras throughout the world.