Founder of Music for All
Founder of Music for All, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing music and arts education in the US; author of the 2004 report, "The Sound of Silence," about the decline of music education in California public schools
Listen to the Music For the first time in years, state money is flowing to public schools for the teaching of music, just as the Los Angeles Philharmonic hires a new conductor who is a poster boy for music education developed in Venezuela. Gustavo Dudamel became director of Venezuela's National Youth Orchestra when he was 17. He's won the Gustav Mahler conducting competition in Germany, and conducted Mozart's Don Giovanni at La Scala . When Esa-Pekka Salonen steps down as music director of the LA Philharmonic at the end of next season, Dudamel will be his successor. Salonen took over when he was 34. Dudamel is now 26. We hear about Dudamel and a possible turnaround for creative arts in California schools.
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
Venezuela spirals into economic and political chaos Venezuela, a country whose potential for prosperity is unmatched, finds itself on the verge of civil war. What sustains the repressive government? With time running out, guest host León Krauze looks at what the international community can do to pull the country from the edge of collapse.
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.