Crescendo! The Power of Music

El Sistema, Venezuelas phenomenal youth orchestra program, now a global movement, brings social transformation to disadvantaged children. Our film is an in-depth, verite-based look at three kids as they participate in a pair of Sistema-inspired programs in the US. In Stanford Thompsons Play On, Philly! program, Raven is a violin natural whose rambunctious spirit gets her in trouble. We also meet quiet, quirky Zebadiah, whose viola brings him out of his loneliness. Meanwhile, in Harlem, Anne Fitzgibbons Harmony Program nurtures troubled Mohammed, their trombone star, whose African-born father is far more concerned with his sons failing grades. Heartbreak and joy come in big doses as we watch our three young people discovering themselves through the mysterious power of music.