MonteVerdi Newsletter

The Hope of Venezuela

Music can be a gateway to a better life. And there is perhaps no better example than 'El Sistema', the spectacular network of Youth Orchestras in Venezuela. Not only has this music-education program changed the life of thousands of children, it has also created the young star conductor Gustavo Dudamel and his Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra. José Abreu, founder of 'El Sistema', was honoured last week with the prestigious TED Prize. Coming soon on MonteVerdi: three excellent videos starring this incredible orchestra, including their 2007 appearance at the Salzburg Festival. 

Bernstein and Brahms

The legendary American conductor Leonard Bernstein recorded all four Brahms' symphonies in commemoration of the composers 150th birthday, live in the Vienna's Musikverein, with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. These recordings are now regarded as one of the finest and shouldn't be missing from anyone's collection! Now available on MonteVerdi.

And the winners are ....

MonteVerdi CEO Rob Overman handed out a unique DVD to the Dutch prize winner Eric van Keimpema, who is now the proud owner of a signed Gavrylyuk DVD.  Directly after his stunning debut, young master pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk signed 10 DVDs for the MonteVerdi competition. Find more about Gavrylyuk here  

A Classical Music Blog

MonteVerdi's editor-in-chief Rob Overman has given in to the bug, and started his own personal blog. Above all things, Rob is a classical music lover, and here in his blog, Rob speaks his mind on all things classical. 

Mahler in Amsterdam

The 'best orchestra of the world', the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (RCO) in Amsterdam, will present a prestigious series of Mahler compositions in the next seasons to commemorate the composers 150th birthday in 2010 and his 100th dying day in 2011.