Recognised for the value of their work

At the end of August, Nikoletta Polydorou and Sistema Cyprus received a Commonwealth Points of Light award for their fantastic work in the local community, ensuring that the programme's third school year started on the most positive of notes.

The Points of Light programme recognises outstanding volunteers who carry out remarkable work in their communities. And, handing over the award on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II, the British deputy high commissioner in Cyprus was effusive in his praise for the work that Nikoletta and her team carry out:

I am delighted to present this Commonwealth Points of Light award to Nikoletta in recognition of the fantastic and inspiring work that she is leading through Sistema Cyprus. Through music, Nikoletta and her team are playing a vital role in integrating vulnerable communities in Cyprus into wider society as well as [in] educating young people in the power of music to bring people together.

Ian Whitting, Deputy British High Commissioner in Cyprus

Nikoletta Polydorou & the Sistema Cyprus team receiving the award

And, indeed, the programme has achieved a large amount since taking its first steps in early 2018. Now organising five hours of instrumental and/or choral tuition a week for around 200 children & young people from 15 countries in Nicosia and Larnaca, Sistema Cyprus has worked hard to develop local and international relationships to ensure its musicians' success.

Working together, at home & abroad

In 2019, teachers and conductors from throughout Europe travelled to teach and play with Sistema Cyprus, with guest classes and appearances by Sistema luminaries arriving from as far afield as Portugal (Juan Maggiorani) and Belarus (Gerardo Estrada Martinez).

Juan Maggiorani holding a Sistema Cyprus young leader development seminar

Last year, a young Colombian conductor also arrived in Cyprus to become the team's new artistic director & conductor, bringing with him years of experience as a a student in La Red de Escuelas de Múisca de Medellín (Medellín Music School Network) and as a conductor in national symphonic orchestras in Colombia. Santiago Ossa Alzate also holds a conducting qualification from EAFIT University (in Medellín) and teaching and additional conducting experience acquired at Acción por la Música in Madrid.

These international arrangements bolster the local alliances that form the bedrock of Sistema Cyprus. Starting out within existing community organisations, such as the Foundation of Cultural Creativity for Children and Youth (Larnaca), the programme has consistently looked to expand its capacities, forming new complementary arrangements with a wide-range of partners. Be it through common activities and a concert with UNHCR Cyprus, a side-by-side perfomance with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, an ongoing collaboration with the Municipality of Nicosia or the integration of a great number of community volunteers, Sistema Cyprus has consistently worked with local people and organisations and has quickly become a significant part of the local social and cultural infrastructure.

Playing side-by-side with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra

The increasingly valuable role that Sistema Cyprus plays locally has in turn been recognised by several institutions which have donated instruments or provided rehearsal and training spaces for this fledging programme in the last year. The Yianis Christodoulou Foundation has played a particularly significant role in ensuring that Sistema Cyprus's musicians have enough instruments to play on and XM Cyprus and the Julia Taft Refugee Fund (granted by the US Embassy in Cyprus) have recently lent their support to the creation of a new wind ensemble in Larnaca.

However, Sistema Cyprus's most exciting local partnerships are perhaps those with the University of Nicosia, the European University of Cyprus and Frederick University. These mutually beneficial agreements grant Sistema Cyprus musicians the opportunity to gain access to life-changing higher education scholarships, provide university students with internship opportunities and Sistema Cyprus with well-trained hands on deck, and offer the possibility of increased research and professional development programmes for Sistema Cyprus and its teaching team.

Happiness as progress

The true sense of a Sistema programme and the atmosphere it emanates is, of course, constituted by much more than just its practical arrangements. So, what can we say about the welcome that Sistema Cyprus provides to its children and their families and the way that the programme's efforts are seen by those that benefit from them?

Well, Sistema Cyprus's volunteer-led leadership team is clear in its emphasis and setting of priorities. When asked how she determines success, Nikoletta Polydorou is unequivocal in her response:

We measure our input in smiles, [in the smiles] of the children and of the parents and of people in the local community.

Nikoletta Polydorou, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Sistema Cyprus

And, a touching mini-documentary produced earlier this year by the young director, Leda Ayiomamiti, shows us just some of the many smiles Nikoletta and her team help produce. The documentary's interviews with three young Sistema Cyprus students and their families succintly highlight the key aspects and achievements of Sistema Cyprus's work, introducing us to Louis, Christos and Mohammed.

Sistema Cyprus through the eyes of its young musicians

Mohammed tells us how Sistema Cyprus has worked incredibly hard to build up the morale and aspirations of unaccompanied refugee minors in the Hope for Children CRC Policy Centre's Home of Hope, giving him something to live for again after experiencing an initially very difficult phase following his arrival from Africa.

And, the interviews and discussions with Louis, Christos and their families show us how significant Sistema Cyprus is for the families and local communities it engages with. Christos himself talks about how close the group of young musicians is and about how many friends he has made, while his father tells us how he often watches rehearsals and how he feels like Sistema Cyprus provides a second family for its young participants.

In Louis's family, it is his mother's pride at what her son has been able to achieve through his participation in Sistema Cyprus that makes the biggest impression. In conversation with Ayiomamiti and her team, Louis's mother expresses how grateful she is for the opportunity that Sistema Cyprus has provided (stressing that it would otherwise have been unaffordable to provide her son with a musical education) and, in an emotional moment, she says how she feels like she is flying when she sees Louis up on stage with everyone clapping.

Coping with corona

Naturally, Sistema Cyprus has its ups and downs like every programme and it hasn't always been plain sailing. The onset of the pandemic hit Sistema Cyprus particularly hard this spring and made it very difficult for Nikoletta and her team to continue their work.

The three-month lockdown that affected Cyprus brought financial, technical, organisational and pyschological challenges to Sistema Cyprus. Fundraising concerts had to be cancelled, the children had to be kept motivated despite the general sense of stasis that entered their lives, online learning had to be arranged despite technical deficits worst affecting those most in need of support and the drop in expected income led to teacher shortages and a temporary change to the curriculum.

However, online classes were ultimately possible for some pupils and the new circumstances provided the opportunity for increased listening work and an innovative Instagram challenge as well as the chance to participate in the digital edition of Side by Side by El Sistema.

And, as soon as the lockdown was over and both teachers and pupils were able to return to work, a renewed enthusiasm was immediately discernable amongst the children, who were so keen to be back playing together that they made a huge effort to be extra well-behaved and attentive! A stance which was still on display at Sistema Cyprus's digital Together Again concert in August, which made innovative use of the space restrictions at that time to digitally combine musicians for performances of the cancan, a cumbia and the William Tell overture finale by Rossini.

Watch our Together Again performance playlist
(Use the arrow at the top right of the video to navigate the clips)

Back on stage!

Obviously, restrictions remain, but a new normality has gradually emerged within which Sistema Cyprus has, to a great extent, been able to take up most of its pre-pandemic activities again. Besides good preparation and planning, the Cypriot climate has also done its bit to help out with the resumption of classes and concerts, with aeration and open-air concerts being a much more tempting prospect in an autumn of 25-35 degrees!

And, it was in these circumstances that the Skali Ampitheatre in Nicosia paid host to Sistema Cyprus's first post-lockdown concert on the 19th September. Hope Lives On featured a classic Sistema repertoire and showcased both the musical abilities and the joy of the Sistema Cyprus musicians at being back on stage after such a long break.

Ably led by Santiago Ossa Alzate (orchestra), Loukia Lazarou (choir) and the young Louis (!), this was a fantastic and lively return to form for Sistema Cyprus.

Watch the Hope Lives On concert highlights

And, keep tuned, as there is much more left to come from this young programme. Their university collaboration and wind ensemble projects have only just got started, they signed a cooperation agreement for artistic exchange with El Sistema Venezuela as recently as August and both a new integration programme for their choir and a Cypriot edition of the Carnegie Hall's Lullaby Project await in the months ahead.

For our part, we wish Sistema Cyprus a successful and healthy Michaelmas term and look forward to seeing them develop further.

Want to find out more about or support Sistema Cyprus?

Have you been inspired by what you've read and want to find out more about Sistema Cyprus or to see whether you can in some way support the programme in the work that it carries out? Below you can find links to Sistema Cyprus's online platforms and to their donation page. Click on the links alongside the relevant icons to visit the pages of your choice:

https://www.sistemacyprus.com/donate-nowsistemacyprus.com/donate-now
https://www.sistemacyprus.comsistemacyprus.com
https://www.instagram.com/sistemacyprusinstagram.com/sistemacyprus
https://www.facebook.com/SistemaCyprusfacebook.com/SistemaCyprus