To Play and To Fight

In the 1970s, conductor Jose Antonio Abreu founded a youth orchestra with less than two dozen children. Today, the VYOS has grown to an amazing 240,000 children and adolescents in a network of 200 orchestras throughout Venezuela. With interviews from celebrated musicians and conductors as well as the young musicians themselves, Alberto Arvelo's TO PLAY AND TO FIGHT exposes the powerful impact Abreu's idea has had on a nation and on the world. These children, from as young as two years old, experience the joy of being part of a musical community as they leave their rural villages to travel the world and share their talent. The Berlin Philharmonic's youngest member Edicson Ruiz, and esteemed conductor Gustavo Dudamel are two of the many success stories of this amazing program. In this incredible film, music speaks for itself. (In English and Spanish with English subtitles) – E.J.B.