An education method with social impact

Musethica is an education method enabling selected advanced young musicians and their tutors to improve their interpretative skills and to further develop their inspiration, listening, and musical abilities. It is rooted in the belief that making music is an act of communication between musicians and audience that cannot take place in isolation. The basis of the method is giving the selected young musicians daily performance opportunities during an intense period of time, accompanied by an experienced tutor. Instead of a concert being the end result of an educational process, concerts become an integral part of this process.

Over 85% of the concerts are performed outside traditional concert halls, in front of audiences who are not usually exposed to classical music and who may be unable to access traditional concert venues. They take place in refugee centres, prisons, schools, kindergartens, hospitals, care homes, homeless shelters, special education institutes and many other places. Musethica has a strong and direct social impact, providing free concerts of the highest quality to excluded groups in society, turning community centres, school halls and hospital common rooms into concert venues that are treated by the musicians in the exact same way as they would approach a concert in the most prestigious hall with the most discerning audience.

Musethica - Revolution in classical music education: Avri Levitan at TEDxZaragoza

Learning through regular encounters
with an audience

Teaching a young musician to become a bridge between a musical text and a listening ear is a complicated and challenging task. This task requires intensive attention during the musicians’ years of study at the university but is currently dealt with very seldom.

To be a bridge between a musical text and a listener, we need the listener in order to fulfill this formula of musical interpretation. To completely master an instrument, musicians need to have regular encounters with an audience. The Musethica method, therefore, combines daily concert performances with mentoring and feedback sessions.

Audiences play a special role in this process, as people who are less accustomed to the conventions of classical music performance (including, for example, children) show their emotional reactions to the music freely – in both positive and negative ways. Such direct responses are a rare experience for musicians and can help them develop their inspiration, listening, and musical abilities. After each concert, a dialogue takes place between the musicians and the audience to further promote audience engagement and musicians’ listening skills.

Musethica’s activities

Musethica's primary educational activity is the session, which is a week-long course designed for exceptionally talented young musicians. These sessions consist of 10-14 concerts held in social institutions and public venues. Each session follows a consistent structure:

The week begins with two intensive preparation days, during which the young musicians receive coaching from world-renowned soloists or professors who serve as Musethica's tutors. In many instances, the tutor collaborates with the young musicians to form an ensemble. On the third day, the musicians start performing concerts within the local community. Typically, they play between 2-3 concerts per day, always accompanied by the tutor who provides valuable feedback and instruction between performances. The session culminates with a public performance in a traditional concert hall. Notably, all community concerts are offered free of charge.

Regardless of the venue, be it a traditional concert hall or a kindergarten, the same repertoire is presented with unwavering respect and the highest artistic standards. The musicians do not adapt the repertoire based on the audience, and no explanations are necessary; the music speaks for itself. After each concert, the audience has an opportunity to engage in dialogue with the musicians, fostering meaningful interactions.

Apart from regular sessions, Musethica hosts annual chamber music festivals in Berlin, Zaragoza, Tel-Aviv, and Bourg-en-Bresse. These festivals are large-scale events where up to 14 international musicians participate, delivering up to 30 concerts in various social contexts throughout the local community.

Furthermore, Musethica's impact extends to prestigious chamber music festivals such as the Zeist Music Days in the Netherlands, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany, or the Gotland Chamber Music Festival in Sweden. Additionally, Musethica has been integrated into the study programs of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw).

Musethica’s Founders

Violist Avri Levitan was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1973, and commenced his musical journey at the age of five. His musical education began at the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel-Aviv, under the tutelage of Prof. Chaim Taub, and then led him to the Conservatoire de Paris. During his formative years, Avri Levitan had the privilege of studying under the mentorship of Pinchas Zukerman, Pnina Salzman, Michael Tree of the Guarneri Quartet, and Ivry Gitlis. These mentors played a pivotal role in shaping his musical identity.

Beyond his role as a performer, Avri Levitan devoted himself to nurturing the next generation of musicians. At the age of 25, he became a dedicated viola and chamber music teacher. In 2008, he assumed the position of Professor and Music Director of the string program at CIEC La Rioja in Spain, and from 2010 to 2018, he held the position of Professor of Viola and Chamber Music at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón (CSMA).

Throughout his illustrious teaching career, Avri Levitan conceived a pioneering concept aimed at revolutionizing music education for future generations of musicians. Musethica, an organization founded by Levitan in 2012 in Saragossa, Spain, strives to integrate more concert practice into music education. Young musicians collaborate with their teachers to perform a wide range of concerts, with a remarkable 85% of these performances taking place in social institutions. The overarching objective of Musethica is to incorporate this model into master's programs at music institutions, and the organization has since expanded its reach to 12 countries. It collaborates with prestigious institutions such as the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, the Escuela Superior de Música de Cataluña in Barcelona (ESMUC), the Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse de Paris, and the Central Conservatory in Beijing.

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Carmen Marcuello is a full professor in the Department of Business Management and Organisation at the University of Zaragoza. She specialises in social economy management and efficiency assessment in her teaching. In collaboration with several professors from the Faculty of Economics and Business, she has created the Social Economy Laboratory, which focuses on the development and support of social entrepreneurship projects. The study of social economy organisations, social entrepreneurship and social impact have been at the centre of her research development. Since 2003 she has been director of the GESES Research Group at the University of Zaragoza. From 2008 to 2014 she was director of the Department of Business Management and Organisation.

Since 2016 she has been Director of the Chair of Social and Cooperative Economy. Since 2017 she has been President of the Ibero-American Observatory for Employment, Social Economy and Cooperatives (OIBESCOOP) and Vice-President of CIRIEC-Spain. She is a member of the International Scientific Commission "Social and Cooperative Economy" of CIRIEC-International and of the Scientific Commission for the Social Economy of CIRIEC-Spain. She is also a member of the editorial board of the journals Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics and Revista CIRIEC-España, Revista de la Economía Social, Pública y Cooperativa. She collaborates as an expert in the Specialised Commission of the Observatory of Volunteering in Spain and in the Social Entrepreneurship Programme in Aragon of the Aragonese Development Institute. She participated in the creation of CEPES-Aragon and is co-founder of the association Musethica, of which she has been social director since 2012. She sits on the Board of Directors of the Special Employment Centre, Arapack, and the Insertion Company, Mapiser, as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Integration and Employment.