Once again, the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela is on tour in the U.S. and making a big impression on music fans and critics alike. Last night, the Venezuelan group performed in Los Angeles.
The star of the tour is clearly Gustavo Dudamel, the renowned young conductor who was tapped to lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic starting next year and who was recently profiled on 60 Minutes.
Dudamel is known as a maverick of classical music, an innovative composer with a unique style and boundless energy. Though most of the reviews of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra performances focus on Dudamel, he has attributed his own success to “El Eistema,” a government-funded youth orchestra program established in Venezuela in 1975. Still today, it continues to bring music education to low-income children who would otherwise lack access to involvement in the arts. Founder Dr. José Antonio Abreu was awarded the Glenn Gould prize this year.
To read glowing reviews of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra’s recent performances in California in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, and the Oakland Tribune. Next week, they head to Chicago and London.
