Matheus was nine years old when his father passed away. He became depressed, did poorly in school, and got into fights. One day, he received a visit from teacher Orion at home, inviting him to participate in music lessons. “I started to express myself through the violin,” Matheus recalls. The depression went away, he improved at school and made new friends. The contact with classical and popular music changed his way of thinking, feeling, and acting.

The transformation of Matheus and other youngsters from the outskirts of Campo Grande has everything to do with the life ideal of maestro Orion Cruz. “Make music for what?” – he asked himself many years ago – and from the answer was born the dream that, little by little and with much effort, is being realized. “Music is for evolution, and my greatest pleasure is to see a kid who was lost discovering meaning in life,” he says enthusiastically.

Two years ago, came the inspiration to name an expressive part of this ideal: the Young Emmanuel Philharmonic Orchestra. A richness to see and hear. There are 32 members, all young people from the social projects of the Centro Espírita Amizade, Francisco Cândido Xavier, and Lar Mãe Mariana, institutions in the outskirts of Campo Grande, where Orion teaches. The project has already received support from public defenders, from councilman Eduardo Romero, who, through the Instituto Amigos do Coração, destined resources for the purchase of instruments, from the Medical Association of Mato Grosso do Sul, and from the Chico Xavier Foundation.

Now, Fraternity without Borders, in Mato Grosso do Sul, welcomes this dream with the hope of expanding to more young people from the outskirts of Campo Grande the opportunity to know and feel music to choose a better present and future. The classes are distributed throughout the city. There are cello classes at Casa Caridade O Caminho, in the Northwest district; classical guitar classes at Amizade, in the Jardim Tayaná district, where the Orchestra rehearses, and violin classes in the central region.

The goal is to expand to 10 poles and integrate 300 young people into the study of music. The project is open to sponsors who want to help in this collective dream, which is growing in the heart of maestro Orion and of young people like Andressa. Delighted with the world she has discovered, she remains dedicated. She was admitted to the music program at Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS) and dreams of playing in the German Orchestra. The girl who used to be afraid of performing in public, even to show her work at school, today says, “My dream will go far.