Jos\u00e9 Antonio Abreu has been hailed as a visionary, not only in his native Venezuela but throughout the world, as architect of the extraordinary music-education program called El Sistema. He is quick to point out that “Venezuela’s musical miracle” is not a musical project, but a social action project. Some of his students, 80 percent of whom have come from low-income backgrounds, have gone on to be performers and music teachers, but many are politicians, diplomats, academics, teachers, doctors, lawyers, civil servants, and community leaders\u2014in short, pillars of society. El Sistema represents education in the widest possible sense, and Abreu, at 74, is still lit from within by the fire of its possibility.<\/p>\n