Juárez Youth Symphony Orchestra To Play In El Paso
The Juárez Youth Symphony Orchestra has its first performance in El Paso, Texas this weekend. The city of Juárez, near the United States border in Mexico, has been ravaged by the violence of Mexico’s drug war.
The orchestra called “Esperanza Azteca,” or “Aztec Hope,” was created to provide the children of the city with an artistic outlet and an alternative to the everyday violence.
The Fronteras Desk reported on the group’s debut in 2011. At that time the group’s conductor Guillermo Quesada said initially, he wasn’t sure kids would stay motivated.
“I thought from the beginning that we would have a few show up and then a lot quit, because of the hours. But, instead, nobody's quit,” Quesada told Fronteras.
Some kids shared how playing music had been helping them with their grades. People in the city said they hoped the children’s music would be uplifting for a community that had suffered so much pain.
The El Paso Times reports that Juárez’s youth symphony orchestra is part of a network of 55 orchestras and choruses in 29 states in Mexico. The young musicians perform Saturday night at the Abraham Chavez Theater in El Paso. The performance is free.
Video by Mónica Ortíz Uribe of the Juárez Youth Symphony in 2011
