An Unlikely Country Does Music Ed Right

Musically speaking, Venezuela is best known for “pulsating salsa and down-home folk ballads, songs with bawdy lyrics played on four-string guitars and maracas. But for 31 years, an ambitious state program aimed at instilling a love of classical music in children — particularly poor children — has drawn the admiration of conductors from as far away as Berlin and Boston, while producing musicians who have excelled in Europe’s most hallowed concert halls.”