Laurette Goldberg Award

2024 Recipient: Lenora Mendes

Lenora Mendes has done extraordinary work with young people living in the Brazilian favela (Portuguese for a neighborhood or community that is financially disadvantaged and unregulated by local authorities) of Grota do Surucucu. Begun in 1995 as a small program providing recorder instruction for children out of school and with an uncertain future, the initiative has grown exponentially, becoming the Espaço Cultural da Grota (Grota cultural space) which engages approximately 600 young people annually.

The recorder continues as the foundation of the music program for young people, but instruction for violin and viola da gamba were added in 1998. A small string orchestra was formed (Orquestra da Grota) and a recorder ensemble (Conjunto de Flautas da Grota) which includes all sizes of recorders. Both groups perform regularly in public spaces around the city. Mendes and her recorder students participated in Boston Early Music Festival’s online “Recorders Beyond Borders” projects in 2021 and 2022. In June of 2023, Mendes and a group of seven of her wonderfully talented young recorder players traveled to Boston to participate in the BEMF Beyond Borders concert at Jordan Hall. Mendes and the students worked tirelessly to raise the necessary funds to make the trip possible.

According to Mendes, the music lessons initially gave the children “a different view of life, increased their self esteem and all of them went back to school and finished high school. Many of these young musicians [later] continued studying and went on to college, and even became teachers themselves.

I am very grateful for my nomination for the Laurette Goldberg Award. I am very honored, thank you so much.

-Lenora Mendes

Past Recipients