December, 2020 

SISTEMA CYPRUS BRING CARNEGIE HALL’S LULLABY PROJECT IN CYPRUS for a creative venture filled with parental love.

Pregnant women and new parents are paired with professional musicians to create personal lullabies for their babies.

The program supports maternal health, aids child development, and strengthens the bond between parent and child.

SISTEMA CYPRUS- One of 35 national and international partners of Carnegie Hall.

This season, Sistema Cyprus serves as an international partner for the Lullaby Project, a program of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute (WMI), that pairs pregnant women and new mothers and fathers with professional artists with the purpose to write personal lullabies for their babies. The participants are offered the creative opportunity to communicate feelings, hopes, and dreams, through the intimate medium of lullabies, as they look to the future with their children. The Lullaby Project supports maternal health, aids childhood development, and strengthens the bond between parent and child.

This is the first time that the Lullaby Project collaborates with a Cypriot organization, and, in its Cypriot manifestation, the project embraces parents who are active in Sistema Cyprus, as well as parents who are newcomers to Cyprus, including beneficiaries of Caritas Cyprus.

As their companions for this creative journey, the established and upcoming artists Yiorgos Christofi, Georgia Christoforou, Andreas Michalopoulos, Mostafa Ismail, Annita Constantinou and Marios Kolonias, work closely with the families for the composition of their personalized lullabies.

In New York City, the Lullaby Project reaches mothers in hospitals, homeless shelters, foster care centres, schools, and correctional facilities. The first Lullaby Project took place at Jacobi Medical Center in Bronx, New York in December 2011, and since then it has been adopted by various regions and countries. To this day, more than 1,600 families from around the world have written original lullabies for their children, many of which are available for listening and sharing at carnegiehall.org/lullabies. Lullabies have been written in more than 20 different languages and a wide range of musical styles, reflecting the diverse backgrounds of participating families.

Follow Sistema Cyprus’ social media platforms on Facebook and Instagram to experience the journey of Lullaby creation.

November, 2020

Her Majesty The Queen joined a video call this week with three winners of the Commonwealth Points of Light award, to celebrate their achievements and the importance of volunteers across the Commonwealth. The call included The Queen’s first ever virtual musical performance and virtual tour.

The Queen awards one volunteer from across the Commonwealth each week with a Commonwealth Points of Light award, in recognition of the difference they have made while volunteering in their local community. During the call Her Majesty thanked the volunteers, praising their work.

Her Majesty The Queen said: “Thank you all for taking part in this programme. I’m delighted to have heard your stories and I think it’s wonderful work that you’re all doing, and volunteering so much. Thank you very much.”

During the call, Her Majesty, Head of the Commonwealth, was introduced to three award winners from Trinidad and Tobago, Mozambique and Cyprus, who spoke of the impact of their initiatives in their local communities and beyond.
During The Queen’s first ever virtual musical performance, 45 children performed a piece of music in celebration of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh’s recent 73rd Wedding Anniversary.

The Sistema Cyprus Symphony Orchestra performed a never before heard piece – Modus Cyprius – due to be premiered to the public next week (composed by Cypriot composer Andreas Michalopoulos). 

Nikoletta Polydorou, a music teacher from Cyprus who received her award in August 2020, founded ‘Sistema Cyprus’ in 2018. The initiative transforms the lives of children and young people from challenged communities by providing free music education and instruments, and runs its own children’s orchestra and choir. The initiative also collaborates with three Cypriot Universities to provide academic scholarship opportunities, and now has their first student studying music at University.

Her Majesty also spoke to Len Peters from Trinidad and Tobago, who received the first ever Commonwealth Points of Light award in February 2018 in recognition of his community driven conservation organisation – the Grande Riviere Nature Tour Guide Association. Over 30 years, Len’s educational work in local communities and regular patrols of local beaches has transformed entire communities, with Trinidad and Tobago now home to one of the densest leatherback sea turtle  nesting sites in the world. Len’s work also appeared on BBC’s ‘Blue Planet 2’ with Sir David Attenborough.

Len Peters said; “Here you have a young boy from a turtle eating family wanting to make a difference…at night we would walk the beach back and forth protecting the turtles…to try to convince people that it was the right thing to do. What we didn’t know, that 30 years later that effort…would see Trinidad being recognised as one of the most important nesting sites for the leatherback seas turtles in the world.”

The Queen then spoke to Ruy Santos from Mozambique who received the Commonwealth Points of Light award in July this year. Ruy founded Makobo in 2009, a collaborative working space to promote nutrition, education and youth employment, of which Her Majesty had her first virtual tour.

The space includes a Soup Kitchen, which during the pandemic fed 6,000 people daily, including lunchboxes to support local school children. In response to Covid-19, the organisation also began working with 15 local dressmakers, producing over 6,000 masks for underprivileged communities, hospitals and charity workers.

Ruy Santos said; “We are trying to replicate the lunchbox initiative and…kitchen all over the country to feed one million children by the end of 2025. But it’s more than food, we want to promote more opportunities for young people and especially women to reduce the high rates of malnutrition and illiteracy in Mozambique that effects 80% of our population.” During the call, Ruy presented Her Majesty her first gift of a facemask – one of Makobo’s handmade facemasks “from Mozambique with love”.

Footage Copyright: Buckingham Palace.

November, 2020

Σε υπογραφή Μνημονίου Συνεργασίας προχώρησαν το Πανεπιστήμιο Frederick και η Sistema Cyprus με στόχο την ανάπτυξη των μεταξύ τους σχέσεων σε θέματα κοινού ενδιαφέροντος. Το Μνημόνιο υπέγραψαν η κα Νατάσσα Φρειδερίκου, Πρόεδρος του Συμβουλίου του Πανεπιστημίου Frederick και η Δρ. Νικολέττα Πολυδώρου, Εκτελεστική Διευθύντρια του Sistema Cyprus. Παρούσα στη συνάντηση ήταν και η Δρ. Μύρια Κκάλη (συνιδρύτρια του  Sistema Cyprus).

Το Sistema είναι ένας μη κερδοσκοπικός οργανισμός που στοχεύει στην παροχή δωρεάν μουσικής εκπαίδευσης σε παιδιά και νέους μέσω της συμμετοχής σε ορχήστρες και χορωδίες. Ο οργανισμός στοχεύει επίσης στην προώθηση του σεβασμού και της αναγνώρισης ευάλωτων πληθυσμιακών ομάδων.

Τα δύο συμβαλλόμενα μέρη, θα συνεργαστούν για τον σχεδιασμό και τη σύνταξη προτάσεων, καθώς επίσης και για την εφαρμογή ευκαιριών επαγγελματικής ανάπτυξης, εκπαιδευτικών σεμιναρίων, διαδραστικών εργαστηρίων και ερευνητικών έργων που θα ωφελήσουν την αποστολή κάθε οργανισμού. 

Επιπρόσθετα, οι φοιτητές του Πανεπιστημίου θα μπορούν να έχουν εμπλοκή στις δράσεις του Sistema, προκειμένου να διεξάγουν έρευνα στο πλαίσιο των μαθημάτων τους, ή και να πραγματοποιούν την πρακτική τους άσκηση. Οι μαθητές του Sistema, θα μπορούν να υποβάλουν αίτηση για εισδοχή στο Πανεπιστήμιο Frederick και να διεκδικούν υποτροφίες σύμφωνα με τα διαθέσιμα σχέδια. Τέλος, το Πανεπιστήμιο θα στηρίζει ποικιλοτρόπως τις ενέργειες και τις δραστηριότητες του Sistema Cyprus.

Κατά την υπογραφή του Μνημονίου, η κα Νατάσσα Φρειδερίκου, δήλωσε: «Είμαστε ιδιαίτερα χαρούμενοι που υπογράφουμε το σημερινό Μνημόνιο Συνεργασίας. Η φιλοσοφία και οι αξίες που μας χαρακτηρίζουν ως Πανεπιστήμιο ταυτίζονται απόλυτα με αυτές του Sistema Cyprus. Είμαι σίγουρη πως οι σημερινές υπογραφές σηματοδοτούν την αρχή μιας όμορφης και καρποφόρας συνεργασίας».

Η Δρ. Νικολέττα Πολυδώρου, αναφερόμενη στη στρατηγική αυτή συνεργασία, σημείωσε «Ένας από τους στόχους μας ως Sistema Cyprus είναι να δίνουμε την ευκαιρία στα παιδιά να ονειρεύονται. Μέσα από αυτή τη συνεργασία, το Πανεπιστήμιο Frederick συνδράμει ουσιαστικά στο επόμενο βήμα που είναι τα παιδιά να μπορούν να πραγματοποιήσουν τα όνειρά τους. Είμαι βέβαιη πως μέσα από αυτή τη συνεργασία, τόσο το παιδιά να μπορούν να πραγματοποιήσουν τα όνειρά τους. Είμαι βέβαιη πως μέσα από αυτή τη συνεργασία, τόσο τα παιδιά του Sistema Cyprus όσο και οι φοιτητές του Πανεπιστημίου Frederick θα αποκτήσουν εμπειρίες ζωής που θα τους καθιστούν εν δυνάμει ενεργούς πολίτες στην κοινωνία».

October, 2020

We are excited to be seeing our team of young musicians becoming stronger, and proud to be witnessing our Larnaca nucleo growing further with the addition of lessons for wind instruments. Key for this heart-(and ear-)warming development has been our major sponsor for Larnaca, XM Trading Point Holdings Ltd. We extend our gratitude, our young musicians’ smiles, and many melodies and harmonics to the company for helping us in making this happen! 

September, 2020

The amphitheatre of Skali Aglantzias echoed in rhythms of love hope and solidarity!

With the hopeful message ‘Hope Lives on’, Sistema Cyprus returned with another concert which was held on Saturday 19th September 18:00 at Skali Amphitheatre in Aglantzia.

In a sold-out amphitheatre, taking care of all the measures of social distancing and measures regarding the safety and health protocol, the Orchestra and Choir of Sistema Cyprus Nicosia and Larnaka performed under the artistic direction of Santiago Ossa Alzate and Loukia Lazarou

The amphitheatre echoed with the most delightful music played by the incredible skills of the young musicians of Sistema Cyprus, the whole experience conveyed messages of love, joy, hope and solidarity to the audience. Something much needed for the difficult times we live in!

The night was also special for the group of Larnaca which performed with their cajons for the last time, thus saying goodbye to the set of percussions, in order to welcome their new wind instruments, thus creating their own wind orchestra.

Surprises were not missing from the unique concert of Sistema Cyprus ‘Hope Lives on’, as young Louis with his baton took the chance to direct the string orchestra of Sistema Cyprus and fired the enthusiasm of the audience with his talent and sauciness!

Gold Sponsor: Cultural Services of the Cyprus Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport and Youth

Supporters: Larnaca Cultural Foundation, Nicosia Municipality, Nicosia Municipal Multifunctional Center and Intercity Buses

Media Sponsor: RIK

Photos: Yiannos Christou

August, 2020

On Friday the 21st of August, 2020, the Executive Director and co-founder of Sistema Cyprus, our very own Nikoletta Polydorou was honoured by Her Majesty Queen of the United Kingdom Elizabeth II. 

Her Majesty the Queen, as head of the Commonwealth, has recognized Nikoletta, representing Cyprus, as the 153rd Commonwealth Points of Light recipient in honour of her exceptional voluntary service supporting marginalized children and young people through music education and the work of Sistema Cyprus. 

Thank you to the UK in Cyprus – British High Commission Nicosia for hosting us today for a day we will never forget! So proud!

Photo credits: Leda Ayiomamiti

Read more about the award here: https://www.pointsoflight.gov.uk/sistema-cyprus/