"Who's the new guy?"

No doubt, anyone paying attention during rehearsals for the recent Glitterville Gala noticed that there was a new face in the crowd in the orchestra. That new face is none other than associate concertmaster, Edward Pulgar. The Knoxville News Sentinel ran a story on him in this morning's edition under the rather uninspired title, "Government put music in his soul." Although, from the title, you might think that maestro Pulgars's violin prowess might have come about as the result of a DARPA experiment gone horribly wrong, the article is referring to the government of his home country, Venezuela.

Starting in the 1970s, a time when America's government had begun cutting Fine Arts programs to save money, the Venezuelan government saw fit to fund an ambitious program of classical music instruction for all of its children, especially those in the impoverished inner city, through the establishment of neighborhood music schools and the formation of local youth orchestras. The idea behind the program is that music can be both an escape and a way out of poverty for some of these kids.

Perhaps what is even more startling is that the Venezuelan government has kept funding "El Sistema" (The System) to this day. Along the way, it has produced crop after crop of talented and highly trained orchestral musicians and conductors which the world's orchestras have adoringly lapped up. A recent 60 Minutes video article (videarticle?) chronicled the rise of one of these young stars, conductor Gustavo Dudamel.

Knoxville has been the lucky recipient of El Sistema in the form of Edward Pulgar. He will be performing with other members of the KSO Principal Quartet (Sean Claire, Kathryn Gawne and Andy Bryenton) next Sunday at 2:30 pm at the Bijou Theater.

Thank goodness there's at least one government that cherishes classical music, eh? The United States continues to head down the path of eradication of all Fine Arts programs in all its schools under the auspices that our kids need more math and science. There are currently just two orchestral programs in Knox County schools, and those are poorly funded. The minimization of general music classes keeps kids from experiencing classical music, which, in turn, keeps the vast majority of them from continuing their studies. Thus, choral, orchestral, and band programs begin to wither away for lack of students.

"But just look at the Japanese and the Chinese," proponents of the art diaspora say, "our kids can't compete with them unless we bolster our math and science programs." Really? Have you checked out the ethnicity of many of the orchestras around the world. Seems there's a definite Asian faction there. So, somehow, the Chinese and Japanese manage to teach their kids math and science and music... oh, and don't forget, most of them have taken English their whole lives and can speak the language better than most native Anglophiles. Anata wa Nihon o hanashi masuka, America Iie? No?

Well, maybe your kids will do better in Venezuela. Most American high schools still teach Spanish, I think.