Last Monday, October 6th, took place at the Museo Universidad de Navarra a meeting between the students and the members of the Orquesta Juvenil del SODRE of Uruguay. The meeting began after 11 a.m. and lasted an hour and a half. Ariel Britos, in charge of conducting the ensemble, spoke about the history of the orchestra. Britos is also the founder of the Sistema de Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles del Uruguay, and was trained in Venezuela with maestro José Antonio Abreu, whose method he applied when founding the Sistema. The musical ensemble conducted by Britos offered a concert in the Museum's auditorium.

The musicians performed "La Conga del Fuego" by Arturo Márquez to open the meeting with the students. At the beginning, Ariel Britos explained that the orchestra was born 18 years ago with a mission of Social Action "which is based on and strengthened by the fact that the orchestra is like a small society". He affirmed that they have "broken with the elitism of music" in Uruguay, making it possible for children and young people, regardless of their social class, to study music if they wish. For Britos, the orchestra's currency is meritocracy, which makes it possible for young people from less privileged backgrounds to make a qualitative social leap.

The dream of this musical ensemble is that every child can have an instrument. "We fight against limits. Limits are a barrier that we have to overcome and go placing it higher and higher," said the director. Another point highlighted by Ariel Britos is that in the SODRE Youth Orchestra the interdependence of its members is basic. All the musicians are valuable, each member of the orchestra depends on the others and, in turn, all depend on each member in particular.

To explain the importance of this concept, he asked the orchestra to play the introduction of "La Conga del Fuego" again. He then had them play the piece without the string instruments or with just the percussion. Using this example as a metaphor, he claimed that"we cannot seek a better society if we do not know the problems" and that"our society will be better as long as each of its members is better". The idea behind the project is that music helps not only the professional development but also the personal development of young people. Britos concluded that "in the orchestra not everything is music, but everything is learning".

One of the attendees asked for the testimony of one of the musicians and Mathías Pereyra, a violinist, briefly told his story. Fourteen or fifteen years ago, he said, a call was opened in the public schools to join the orchestra. It was not necessary to have musical knowledge and each student was given an instrument, on loan, to start. Today he is the conductor of a children's orchestra and is a professional musician, not only in the Orquesta Juvenil del SODRE, but also in the Orquesta Metropolitana de Montevideo.

The orchestra is made up of 140 members, all of whom receive a scholarship. Although there is no minimum age to join, there is a limit of 26 years of age to remain in the orchestra. The director estimated that 80% of the orchestra's musicians are professionally dedicated to music, although there are also those who combine their musical studies with university careers such as medicine or engineering.

The conductor also pointed out that most of the members of the SODRE Youth Orchestra are teachers: they teach music to children. Ariel Britos said that it takes courage to go on stage, but the courage needed to teach in a poor neighborhood, sometimes under a tree, is much greater. "It is in adversity that we become great," he explained. Far from falling into pessimism, he insisted that"those who have knowledge can pass it on and have the obligation to do so" and said: "In working with children and young people we are educating the governors of the future".