The “WYO4Children” project is underway: musical education for children in Ho Chi Minh City
The WYO4Children project by the World Youth Orchestra Foundation directed by Maestro Damiano Giuranna is aimed at orphaned or abandoned children in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The goal is to promote their emotional, individual and social growth through music and art. The initiative, which started on January 27 and will end in September 2024, includes a program of weekly lessons in which 80 young people aged between 5 and 17 years old will be able to learn first musical rudiments and to play classical and traditional Vietnamese instruments, create a community choir as well as improve relational skills by playing social games. The support of the Missionaries of Charity of Bin Dhuong , who made their facility (about an hour from Ho Chi Minh City) available, proved to be fundamental for the realization of the project.
WYO4Children is part of the broader “Sounds of Brotherhood” project, which benefits from the important support of the CDP Foundation and the contribution of LCA Studio Legale.
During 2024, the first of the three years of activity planned in Southeast Asia, the project will take place in Vietnam with the aim of promoting – also thanks to the support of the Embassy of Italy in Hanoi and the Consulate General of Italy in Ho Chi Minh City – cultural and artistic cooperation between Italy and Vietnam, developing the artistic, musical and theatrical language of the local tradition and supporting Vietnamese artists and their artistic production.
“A project as ambitious as WYO4Children can only be realized through the creation of solid links with the local social fabric. The support of the Missionaries of Charity of Bin Dhuong, whom we thank, is precious because it makes the local community an active part of this initiative”, declares Maestro Giuranna.
“Music is a universal language that brings together different cultures and transmits emotions and sensations that transcend single realities. Between Italy and Vietnam, it represents a fundamental bridge of dialogue and understanding that allows to overcome geographical distances”, declares Enrico Padula, Consul General of Italy in Ho Chi Minh City.
There are five young Vietnamese teachers involved in WYO4Children thanks to the collaboration with Father Dominic Nguyen, a Catholic priest who contributed to their selection. The teacher coordinator, Hoang Vu, who will train and direct the choir, is supported by four colleagues who will give guitar, percussion, piano and violin lessons. The weekly classes will be accompanied by a monthly online meeting with the project manager of the WYO Foundation.
The program includes recitals and small concerts every two months and a final event in September, which will allow children to share their experience, not only in the music field, and strengthen their bond with the community that welcomes them.
The musical workshops are possible also thanks to 22 stringed, percussion and wind instruments donated to the young students by the project sponsors.
“After successful initiatives in countries such as Iran, Israel, Palestine, Morocco, Lebanon, the United States, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Bulgaria, the World Youth Orchestra Foundation arrives in Southeast Asia, a land of age-old civilizations. Faithful to its mission, the WYO researches and enhances local cultural traditions, implementing artistic experiences that link tradition to contemporaneity, nourishing pedagogy, social life and individual growth with new blood” , declares Adolfo Vannucci, President of the Foundation World Youth Orchestra.
Info:
http://www.worldyouthorchestra.it/
https://www.facebook.com/wyofoundation/
Press Office Contacts:
Antonella Bartoli – cell: +39 339.7560222; email: bartoli.anto@gmail.com
Gabriele Carchella – cell: +39 329.4025813; email: carchellag@yahoo.it
