During the 1970s, a broad-ranging musical education programme known as «El Sistema» was launched in Venezuela, which continues to be admired throughout the world. It built the foundation upon which the orchestra which is possibly the best symphony orchestra of the southern hemisphere flourishes – the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. Named for the leader of the liberation wars against the Spanish colonial forces, who was born in what is today Venezuela, the orchestra has been a fixture in the world’s leading concert halls for many years, giving performances with a lust for life that keep electrifying audiences.
The chief conductor of the orchestra is Gustavo Dudamel, who owes his professional career in music to «El Sistema» and is one of the world’s conducting superstars today – since 2009, he has been chief of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and in 2026 will take on the top position at the New York Philharmonic.
At the Philharmonie Luxembourg, Dudamel and the orchestra will first perform Mahler’s monumental Symphony N° 3 which additionally requires an alto soloist, a children’s chorus and a women’s chorus. In a second concert, Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony is combined with recently-composed, colourful music by two Venezuelan-born composers. Gonzalo Grau has written a concerto for the cuatro, the Venezuelan version of the guitar, entitled Odisea. In dialogue with the orchestra, this is a depiction of a sonic «odyssey»: not the ill-fated travels of Odysseus, however, but a meandering journey from the hometown of the soloist Jorge Glem to the hometown of Gustavo Dudamel. Ricardo Lorenz composed the energetic opening piece Todo Terreno, which superficially traces a fast journey in an all-terrain vehicle, but on a deeper level deals with the spiritually fulfilling experience of nature.
Christoph Gaiser
