El Sistema needs to sever its links with its corrupt Venezuelan past

The contrast could not be more striking. In London and Birmingham this weekend the Sistema Europe Youth Orchestra — 200 young people from the deprived regions of 16 different countries — will make joyous music together. The spectacle would have delighted José Antonio Abreu, the founder of El Sistema music-teaching network, who died five months ago. Seeing his ideas spread across the globe — not least to the UK, which has a dozen or more Sistema-based projects — would have bolstered his belief that playing in an orchestra can save vulnerable kids from drifting into gangs and crime. More…