Our Children, Our Future - A Musical Celebration-Think Anew

Dec 16

Dec 16 Our Children, Our Future - A Musical Celebration

As 2025 draws to a close, we’ve often been consumed by negative events. Yet there is so much that is positive and nothing more so than the precious children of our world. They are our future and in their lives rest the hopes of humanity. Here are four video examples that celebrate the wonder, wishes and possibilities children bring.

Have a wonderful holiday season and New Year!

If the highlighted hotlinks below don’t work with your computer, copy the title of the YouTube video (it appears in bold above the brief photo) and put it in your Internet browser. (A brief YouTube-sponsored ad may precede some of the videos, so skip it or hang in there!)

Sacla Stage a Surprise Opera in a School Lunch Hall

Saclà – the Pesto Pioneers - is a family-owned Italian food company founded in 1939 and still headquartered in Asti, Italy. In this video, four opera singers delight children in a Buckinghamshire, UK primary school lunch room with a medley of Italian classics by Verdi, Puccini and Rossini. The faces of wonder and joy of the children show the power of music in enriching their lives – and the hope they will retain this moment and bring music and joy into their lives and the lives or others as they grow.

Click here for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNgCM7zp30M

4 year old, Wins 1st place at World Competition with Fur Elise by Beethoven

This child, at 4 years, 11 months, won the World Open Online Music Competition in March by playing Fur Elise by Ludwig van Beethoven and Wild Horseman (Wilder Reiter) No.8 Op. 68 by Schumann. Her dedication, thirst for learning and poise, not just her natural talent, are among the many gifts that we can be grateful for and nurture in the young.

Click here for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KSzkx86eyU

What a Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong) | Playing For Change | Song Around The World

This rendition of What a Wonderful World features the African Children’s Choir from Uganda, the West Los Angeles Children’s Choir, Jason Tomba from the Republic of the Congo and “Grandpa Elliott” from New Orleans. It reminds us of the power of community and shared song to build bridges across the globe. While these children come from different countries, they are one in song and in hope for the future of all of us.

Click here for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddLd0QRf7Vg

Flash Mob - Mamma mia! Here we go again!

This song by ABBA and in the musical/film Mamma Mia captures a range of human emotions – longing, anger, heartbreak, nostalgia and a willingness to try again to rebuild a relationship. In this rendition, the voices and movements show us the energy and joy of the music and of dancing that young people bring to doing what they love. Their choreographed performance also shows their ability to work together to create a special moment for themselves and, of course, their unsuspecting and surprised audience. These young people are from Beatrix Crew, a dance studio in Skopje, Macedonia.

Click here for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV6UMWryqGY&t=3s

Photo Credit: vecteezy.com

Terry Newell

Terry Newell is currently director of his own firm, Leadership for a Responsible Society. His work focuses on values-based leadership, ethics, and decision making. A former Air Force officer, Terry also previously served as Director of the Horace Mann Learning Center, the training arm of the U.S. Department of Education, and as Dean of Faculty at the Federal Executive Institute. Terry is co-editor and author of The Trusted Leader: Building the Relationships That Make Government Work (CQ Press, 2011). He also wrote Statesmanship, Character and Leadership in America (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) and To Serve with Honor: Doing the Right Thing in Government (Loftlands Press 2015).