NEWS

Press release
Amsterdam, 17 December 2009

The Praemium Erasmianum Foundation (Amsterdam) has awarded the Erasmus Prize 2010 to Jose Antonio Abreu, founder director of El Sistema (Venezuela).

The theme of the Erasmus Prize 2010 is ‘The Future of European Classical Music’.
The Prize is awarded to Mr Abreu in appreciation of his efforts to involve a large group of young people in music making, offering them inspiration and a new social context. El Sistema is the National Network of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela. This organisation, originally called Social Action for Music, has become an important factor in the training of professional musicians and is instrumental in reaching new audiences for classical music worldwide. www.youtube.com/watch?v=276oR_tEmbs

The Prize is awarded annually to a person who, within the cultural traditions of Europe, has made an especially important contribution to culture, society or social science in Europe. The prize money is a sum of € 150.000.

The award ceremony of the Prize will take place on 7 October 2010 in the Recital Hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, has invited the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra, which is part of El Sistema, to give a concert in the Main Hall of the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and to develop an education project for this occasion.

For more information on El Sistema click www.fesnojiv.gob.ve