Focolare Movement

Young People, Music, and the City: On Tour with Gen Rosso

Nov 11, 2011

News of Gen Rosso’s latest tour. Working together with young people, walking with them for a part of their life’s journey, discovering an Ideal that does not deceive.

In September and October the international musical group Gen Rosso made stops in Italy and in the Czech Republic. This tour was part of a European project for secondary schools that involves students from half of Europe in a unique and fascinating adventure. In Udine, Italy, thanks to the “Arts & Culture Reshaping Urban Life” project, 16 youths worked together with Gen Rosso for three days as they performed their musical “Streetlight.” As one of the participants explained: “Each one of us has a role. If you know how to play an instrument, you shouldn’t be afraid to play and, if anyone doesn’t know how to play well, he or she shouldn’t be afraid of not being at their best. . . everyone has a place here.” Turning personal talents into a common resource for everyone is one of the results that Gen Rosso is often able to obtain during these events. The youths from Bohemia know this firsthand, after having participated in the “Silni Bez Nasili – Strong Without Violence” project in the cities of Jihlava, České Budějovice and Plzen. More than 850 teens from different institutions have participated in various types of laboratories – theater, music, dance, and voice – and then performed in shows before thousands of people. The teens experience for themselves the gift that they are, not only for their own personal fulfillment, but also for the prevention of marginalization, violence, and feelings of awkwardness that sometimes accompany the teenage years. And so they are able to contribute in proactive ways toward the building of a more united world. Both the local and national press has focused on the dynamic of working “together with” and the great answer that these young people have been able to offer their own peers. Honza Musil, a popular television presenter in the Czech Republic, was always on hand to open the events in the various cities beginning with the first project in Brno (May 2011): “Where you are, is where I also want to be.” The last stop is Belgium where there will be the launching of “Together4Peace,” an initiative focused on developing creativity in youth by offering them an experience of unity in diversity. The project will conclude with a performance of Gen Rosso’s musical “Streetlight,” involving some 120 youths within the framework of “Together for Europe” on the 12th and 13th of May 2011.

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