Tricia Tunstall
Changing Lives
Changing Lives: Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema, and the Transformational Power of Music (W.W. Norton & Co., 2012)
“Changing Lives chronicles perhaps the most inspiring story in the history of arts education…This book demonstrates how the love of learning, nurtured by expert direction, can be the surest path towards the enrichment of countless lives, worldwide.”
- John Williams, film composer and conductor
ABOUT THE BOOK
When 28-year-old Gustavo Dudamel ascended the podium at the Hollywood Bowl for his inaugural concert as conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he immediately captivated the hearts of his audience. Maestro Dudamel’s story is the entry point to an equally captivating subject: El Sistema, the extraordinary youth orchestra program in Venezuela that has close to half a million children, many living in poverty, playing in youth orchestras for many hours every day.
Changing Lives, the first major book on El Sistema, tells these intertwined stories.
Part history, part reportage, it is a testament to the potential of music education to effect powerful social change.
AWARDS AND TRANSLATIONS
2013 Deems Taylor Award from ASCAP: The Béla Bartók Award for Outstanding Ethnomusicology Book honors Tricia Tunstall, for her book Changing Lives: Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema and the Transformative Power of Music, published by W.W. Norton & Company. The award was established in memory of the great Hungarian composer and ethnomusicologist Béla Bartók .
2016 Prix Des Muses, from Fundacion Polignac, awarded to distinguished literature about the arts and society
Translated into French, Japanese, Spanish, French, Turkish, and Mandarin
REVIEWS
This passionate and inspiring story should be read by all those interested in music education, community building, and advocacy for the disadvantaged. An essential purchase.
- Library Journal
Tunstall, in a compelling, readable book…uses Dudamel’s youthful exuberance and enthusiasm for music as an example of the way that music education can be a tool for social transformation
-Publisher’s Weekly
Tunstall soundly probes how it is that classical music has played such a powerful role in the protection, education and elevation of so many children born into poverty. The author does a noble job tracing the history of El Sistema, while managing to keep the narrative as much in the immediate present as possible.
- Kirkus Reviews
Tricia Tunstall’s new book is the first to document the process that Mr. Dudamel describes airily as ‘creating miracles
- The Economist
One of the Three Best Education Books of the Year.
- Gary Stager, Huffington Post
The lessons learned from El Sistema are more than musical. They could have far-reaching effects on how societies in the 21st century turn situations of dead ends and despair into ones of hope and promise.
- Jamie Allen, Symphony Magazine
Changing Lives is the first work to pull the entire tale together in one volume.
- Reed Johnson, Los Angeles Times
It’s hard not to get caught up in Tunstall’s enthusiasm and believe that, as crazy as it sounds, classical music just might save the world.
- John Lewis, Baltimore Magazine
PRAISE
“Essential reading for every one of us who cares passionately about our neediest children. Tunstall’s vivid, inspiring story-telling shows how the El Sistema model transforms children’s lives, by the hundreds of thousands — not only in Venezuela. It can happen here too.”
- Quincy Jones, composer, producer, arranger
“Changing Lives chronicles perhaps the most inspiring story in the history of arts education…This book demonstrates how the love of learning, nurtured by expert direction, can be the surest path towards the enrichment of countless lives, worldwide.”
- John Williams, film composer and conductor
“This is a book the whole world needs to read – the story of a man of destiny who saw in music the power to transform the lives of children everywhere. Tricia Tunstall tells the story with great flair and a music educator’s insight…Read the book. Join the movement. Change the world.”
—Sir Richard Holloway, Founder and Former Chair of Sistema Scotland
“No musical story of our time has proven as captivating and inspiring as that of El Sistema. Tricia Tunstall has illuminated the moving story of its creation… We are fortunate to have the story of El Sistema, with its world of limitless possibility, related so eloquently.”
Deborah Borda, Former CEO of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic orchestras
“This book is a must read for anyone who wants to change the world for the better, but has no idea where to start. With her excellent book – and she is a terrific story teller of a great story – Tricia Tunstall has captured one of the most remarkable people of our day – Jose Antonio Abreu, who does not know the meaning of the word impossible… The book beautifully communicates the joy, pride, dignity, confidence and sense of purpose that accrue from engaging these children with his orchestra communities.”
— Sir Clive Gillinson, Executive and Artistic Director, Carnegie Hall
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