From the UN to the BX!

A Venezuelan band set to perform before the UN General Assembly is traveling up to Crotona Park for a rousing musical venue marking ten years since Venezuelan emissaries sought to improve the quality of life in the Bronx.

The performance, dubbed “A Concert of Hope,” will star the Youth Orchestra De Caracas, a 160-member band hailing from the Latin American country. Typically decked in jackets sporting the Venezuelan flag, the band is comprised of young musicians that were part of the Venezuela National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestra and Choirs. The program provides free music lessons to young musicians, who then transition to an orchestra. The model has extended to the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx via UpBeat NYC, which offers free music programming such as an orchestra program for children as young as age 8.

The ensemble is expected to perform classics from famed Russian composers Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Dmitri Shostakovich and French composer Camille Saint-Saëns.

“Music can unify everybody around the world. It’s a real bridge,” said Rafael Gomez Abreu, vice president of government and public affairs at CITGO Petroleum Corporation.

The oil giant is sponsoring the performance, which will commemorate ten years since the company began social investment programs in the largely Hispanic borough. In 2005, Congressman Jose Serrano hosted the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who was enamored by the South Bronx’s grit and vision to giving itself a leg up.

“We name it the ‘Bronx Way,’” said Abreu, adding the borough has its own method to resolving issues.

The company has a foundation called the CITGO Foundation. The group, largely inspired by Chavez’s visit, has launched several outreach efforts, including free oil to underserved families and funding for several nonprofits that focus on community building, arts and education programming. CITGO is also a major sponsor of UpBeat NYC.

Relations between the US and Venezuela have been somewhat distant, though with a concept of hope as the concert’s theme, Abreu expects those relations can improve with help from the borough.

“[W]e have the hope that we can keep, improve, and enhance this bridge between Venezuela and the United States through this beautiful experience that we’ve been developing for the past ten years in the Bronx,” said Abreu.

Editor’s Note: The CITGO Foundation was a sponsor of Bronx Youth Heard, a journalism initiative overseen by the Norwood News. The performance takes place at 4 p.m. on Sept. 27 next to the Crotona Park Amphitheater (by the intersection of Claremont Parkway and Crotona Avenue. Nearest train is the #4 174th Street subway stations.