Blossom Hill Fellow Dimitra Raftopoulou’s program for refugees uses music to integrate refugees into Greek society and to give them the opportunity to pursue their love of music.

In early April, the Blossom Hill orchestra, composed of refugee children from the Middle East, joined other musicians from El Sistema Greece to perform at the Stavros Niarchos Hall of the Greek National Opera after only six months of lessons. The young musicians of El Sistema Greece shared the stage with the professional musicians of the Radio National Symphony Orchestra and the Mixed Choir of Thessaloniki, performing a repertoire of dance pieces through the centuries, genres, and the world.