Venezuela the miracle of music

Venezuela
the miracle of music
Chefi Borzacchini
2
Miguel Ignacio Purroy
President of Bancaribe
hen one talks of the National System of Youth and
Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela, one talks of more
than a miracle. A miracle presumes the intervention of
superhuman or divine forces, but the explanation of what has
happened with the System is totally human and of this world:
the wonderful combination of the Venezuelan people’s musical sense, Maestro José Antonio Abreu’s unlimited vision, the
establishment of a series of values that has given meaning to
the project, and its organization based on clear relationships
of discipline, order, division of labor, and defined goals. These
four factors, in an especially virtuoso blend, have been the
driving force behind the most important musical project undertaken anywhere and have also made it not only sustainable
over time but also increasingly solid.
This program has already been functioning for 35 years,
and everything points to it having more and even better
years ahead. In point of fact, back in 2004, when Bancaribe
sponsored the first book, which told the story of the System,
its milestones, achievements, and testimonies under the title
Venezuela Bursting with Orchestras, we were convinced that this
story was only just beginning. Since then, the System and all its
components have given only joy to Venezuela and the world,
with Gustavo Dudamel as its most outstanding emblem, but
not the only one, gaining recognition equally at home and
abroad, every day, through concerts before massive audiences,
interpretations that are now considered historic and have
been preserved in recordings under the most demanding
music record labels, tours that have taken in practically the
entire globe, wholesale recognition from the most outstanding musical authorities -conductors as well as musicians and
composers-, all of which culminated in 2008, with the Prince
of Asturias Award for the Arts, today one of the most prestigious awards coveted by everyone devoted to the arts.
Five years have elapsed since that first book, and now, to celebrate the thirty-fifth anniversary of this portentous work and
Bancaribe’s fifty-fifth anniversary, we are sponsoring this new
compendium of the story, memories, and high moments of
the System of Orchestras under the stimulating title ­Venezuela,
the miracle of music. This new book brings the earlier one right
up to date, develops the issues more fully, and, as though that
were not enough, approaches new subjects and somewhat
rounds out the “report and accounts” of the System from renewed perspectives and drawing on different testimonies and
items of information. So, the work we are presenting today is,
in fact, a new and original one. The author, Chefi Borzacchini,
has brought skill and passion to the challenge of capturing in
her writings the wonder of the System’s evolution.
From this book we have garnered the following admirable
figures: more than 300,000 participants, 100 beginners’
orchestras, 150 children’s orchestras, 146 youth orchestras,
25 music groups in the Special Education Program, 342 children’s and youth choirs, and 363 chamber music ensembles.
At first glance, these impressive figures are an indicator of
3
how the System is being extended to the masses, and that has
certainly happened. But on closer look, we find that this influx
of students has never posed restrictions on the excellence and
quality of the results. In other words, the System has proved to
us that quantity can accompany, expand, and enhance quality.
Equally admirable are programs such as the Penitentiary Academic Program implemented in Venezuelan prisons, in which
more than 2,000 inmates have taken part and today has some
600 pupils under the slogan “an orchestra in every prison,” or
the programs that allow handicapped children and youngsters
to enjoy making music to the full. Then there is the “Music in
Schools” program with choirs in schools in low-income areas
sponsored directly by Bancaribe, which has become such a
large movement that we are able to attend a major event each
year that brings all the schools together; that means more
than a thousand voices in a single choir that produces an
almost celestial sound from a virtuoso group of human voices.
And we must not forget the Youth Festival, which if we count
the first time it was held, under the name of Festival Bancaribe,
is now to hold its sixth annual event, intended, as always, for
the general public who continue to fill the auditoriums.
Music truly can change lives. “It saved my life,” says a young
participant. In point of fact, music turns living into a festival,
a celebration as, by giving life meaning, an objective, it fills
it with freedom and creative possibilities. So, one way or
another, thanks to these orchestras, music goes to the people,
touches them deep down, and elevates them to the dignity
of being themselves, of acknowledging who they are without
restrictions or fears.
Obviously, we cannot but be deeply satisfied with our decision to accompany this project for many years now, and we
have done so because we realized, from day one, that there
was a clear convergence of the System’s values and those of
our bank: a sense of social responsibility towards the country,
because this is not something that is alien to either the orchestras or our bank or something to which we are indifferent, as
4
we carry Venezuela in our souls and it is the objective of all our
­efforts; industriousness, in other words nothing of importance
is achieved without tenacity, without perseverance, without
working day after day, regardless of the conditions in our
surroundings; transparency and honesty, doing everything
entrusted to us with professional honesty, without sharp practices or injustices, always with transparency, without indulgence or laggardness, and without alleging difficulties for not
performing our tasks; the combination of serious, thorough,
unwavering individual work and teamwork, based on the conviction that, without others, we will not get far, that only with
others we will reach the most valuable heights, because yes,
the goal is a collective one and is reached only together, but no
team works if it is not made up of individuals with a rigorous
formation and an inexhaustible sense of responsibility; and
daring to combine tradition and innovation, because tradition
gives us the basics and experience and innovation is essential
for growing, creating, and opening up new horizons.
But above all, both the System and the bank are clearly
committed to the present and, in the present, we legitimate
nothing with our past and we trust nothing to the mists of the
future. The best way of honoring the past is to take the best
it has to offer and make it better today. And the best thing
the future can hold for us depends on our being capable of
guaranteeing it today, making the present a moment that is
pleasurable, amiable and livable. For example, we are determined to defeat the conditions that are a breeding ground for
poverty. In fact, the System cleanly breaks the social and economic vicious circle that produces social inequality. We also
firmly believe that poverty can be overcome and vanquished
with good work, in-depth education, and a balanced distribution of benefits as factors that undermine the foundations
of inequality. Cooperating in this task is one of our firmest
purposes and yet another reason why we support this project
headed by Maestro Abreu.
Now then, there is one last point I wish to emphasize. In the
case of the System, none of its successes would have been
possible had it not be equipped with a management, planning,
and work structure that draws from the best traditions of the
world of those who undertake collective works and works
for the community: sustained leadership (embodied, in this
case, by Maestro Abreu and a group of founding pioneers);
indefatigable, creative workers (the thousands and thousands
of children and young people who have made playing music
the very meaning of their lives); and the effective, hardworking administrative staff (that group of people, always in the
background, without whose daily, disciplined, committed
efforts we would have never heard the System emit a single
chord). Any undertaking, of whatever kind, be it economic,
social or artistic, becomes established thanks to a similar
­support network, and for which there is no substitute.
to other lands –our lands- giving more brilliance, greater
splendor and a clean sonority to musical harmonies, those
harmonies that are typical of the unending task of our species
of becoming more and more human. Because, as Maestro
Abreu maintains, “one can never say ‘mission accomplished”
of great projects as, paraphrasing the Olympic slogan, they
can always reach higher and be stronger.
Five years ago we wrote that “Venezuela deserves these orchestras” and that these orchestras deserve a better Venezuela
because, in order to achieve that, they work unceasingly, day
and night, with the spirit of those who do their duty with an
incomparable sense of enjoyment.
“Play and fight,” yes, to get ahead.
June 2010
But besides this highly effective structure, mention also needs
to be made of a fundamental alliance: the alliance that has
been achieved between the State, the private sector, and the
Venezuelan people. The first two as unwavering and unconditional sources of support for the orchestras, and the last, the
people, organized in that particular kind of nonprofit
association that is faithfully represented by the members of
the System; a three-pronged alliance that demolishes any
myths about the lack of discipline and constancy of our
people, the reluctance of businessmen to put their backs into
something that does not produce cash dividends, and the impossibility of a respectful and productive partnership between
the private sector and the State.
In short, it has to be said that this marvelous result, which is
tangible in the System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras,
points unerringly to the true possibility of a better Venezuela.
That is why, in many parts of the world, similar attempts are
being made and that the creation of the Ibero-American
­System of Children’s and Youth Orchestras is about to
happen. In other words, Venezuela is also able to export enlightenment, talent, and hope and share them out ­generously
5
6
Chefi Borzacchini
The Author
here are journalistic works that one does not manage to
define objectively because they are impregnated from start to
finish with emotions and sentiments. That is what happened to
me with the two publications I’ve had the pleasure to dedicate
to the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras and
Choirs: Venezuela Bursting with Orchestras (2004) and ­Venezuela,
the miracle of music (2010), both commissioned and edited by
Fundación Bancaribe.
The original title was particularly apt at a time when the System
was leaving behind its time of sowing. On that occasion we
compiled the memories of this project’s progress –started in
1975– during its first 30 years and its early triumphs at home
and abroad. But the buds were about to open and send forth an
aroma that was to spread with great exquisiteness. Barely a few
months had elapsed when, in 2005, all the flowers had opened
and the tree was laden with fruit. So, Venezuela, the miracle of music
tells how the rich harvest of a triumphant program is being gathered in. It is, moreover, an opportunity to recall how thousands
of Venezuelan children, adolescents, men, and women who
have been assimilated into the System have caused new riches to
burgeon in our land: bunches of orchestras, forests of musicians,
and vast crops of citizens of all ages, disciplined, tenacious, and
satisfied at having achieved a better future.
I have the honor to offer this new book on what the world has
called simply “the System.” In it, I sought to reflect the wonderful reality of a country that has risen up as a world power,
capable of exporting its most luminous face and, on the most
coveted scenarios, of hoisting the flag of equality (because all
children and young people regardless of race or social stratum
can have ­access to education and art), the flag of tolerance (because in an orchestra, each member must adopt a democratic
attitude and show respect for his fellow musician with whom he
shares a music stand), and the flag of individual and collective
self-betterment (because they must all be perfectly in tune in
order to achieve, as one voice, high levels of excellence in pursuit
of applause). In these ten chapters, in which I have combined a
variety of genres –interviews, testimonies, monologs, articles,
biographical sketches, analyses, and reviews–, I offer a wide-
ranging feature story of the most authentic and progressive
humanistic, social, and cultural phenomenon that Venezuela has
brought about in the past half century.
I dedicate this book, first of all, to the thousands of children,
adolescents, professional musicians, and teachers of the System
who are traveling the world with their message of happiness
and the singular energy that is so typically Venezuelan; to the
thousands of mothers and fathers who have ­accompanied their
children in the struggle to achieve goals and triumphs; and
to the hundreds of workers, guides, and managers of Simón
Bolívar Musical ­Foundation who have devoted themselves
to promoting, taking care of, and loving all those children and
young musicians.
As a journalist, my thanks go to José Antonio Abreu for his confidence in me and the support he has given so that I might, with
total freedom, recreate his story and that of his young musicians.
And, as a Venezuelan, I dedicate this book to Maestro Abreu,
for whom I foretell a Nobel Peace Prize for having heaped love,
tolerance, joys, union, and a sense of the meaning of life on so
many Venezuelan children, adolescents, and families; for having
created this social and musical formula for rescuing our children
from the horrors of violence, drugs, and material and spiritual
poverty; and, last of all, for having turned Venezuela into a country of music, of great musicians, and for being the inventor of a
new universal model for teaching music that is indisputably
a contribution for the advancement of this art.
I also wish to express my gratitude and appreciation to the
presidency and board of directors of Bancaribe and Fundación
Bancaribe for having chosen me to produce this second book in
their endeavor to depict, preserve, and disseminate the cultural
memory of Venezuela as the best gift we can offer present and
future generations of Venezuelans and as a testimony to what we
have all worked for so that Venezuelans who have yet to be born
may appreciate and corroborate their lineage with pride.
June 2010
7
Contents
I
IV
The System: a model of peace
and progress for mankind
The orchestra-school: a seven-star philosophy / Attitudes and skills
the System develops in children and adolescents -90
The bounties of the System / Infography -96
Igor Lanz: we form well rounded individuals for society /
Interview -98
Words of praise from converts / Opinions from Rattle, Penderecki,
Holloway, Djupsjöbacka, Vulliamy, Pelinka, and Kwak -100
A musical echo heard way down in Patagonia / Accounts by Ulyses
Ascanio and Florentino Mendoza -102
Venezuela’s biggest social and education revolution / Opinions from
Tulio Hernández, Esteban Araujo, Alberto Grau, Carlos Paolillo,
Patricia Van Dalen, and Patricia Phelps de Cisneros -106
V
Music saved my life
The forger of dreams and realities
A stellar life / Biography -48
José Antonio Abreu, at the high point of his career / Interview -50
Voices raised in admiration / Opinions from Plácido Domingo,
Claudio Abbado, Simon Rattle, Wynton Marsalis -64
Recognition of an exemplary life: Awards and Accolades /
Infography -68
8
A choral chronicle: 35 years on / Account of the first tours, concerts,
and rehearsals and the début of the first Youth Orchestra -72
Dreaming a forest / Testimonies from the founding members of the
System -80
Frank Di Polo: We gave our all / Interview -86
Venezuelan youth:
a harvest of triumphs
Emblem of splendor / Article on the Simón Bolívar
Orchestra -12
Eternally young / Article by Santos López -16
Symphony Orchestra Superstar / A selection of reviews from
the international press -22
Sheer Energy / Review by Joshua Kosman -28
Four snapshots from London / Chronicle by Reynaldo
Trombetta -30
The repertoire that’s not rehearsed / Review by Marjorie Delgado
Aguirre -31
The great batons’ dream / Opinions of Venezuelan and foreign
conductors -32
The sound of a continent / Recordings -36
Leaving emotions in their wake / Testimonies from personalities -38
The crowning moment / Article -40
Around the world with the Simón Bolívar Venezuelan Youth
Symphony Orchestra / Infography -44
II
III
The pioneers of
this miracle
Breaking the vicious circle of poverty / The System: pillars and
fundamental objectives -112
The musician from my neighborhood / Article on a concert in the Caracas
barrio of La Vega -115
Ripple effect in the family and the community / Testimonies -116
There’s a place for everyone in the System / Special Education
Program -120
The orchestras set them free / Prisons Academic Program and Prison
Symphony Orchestras Network -124
A light on the road / Testimonies from the System’s youngsters and their
mothers -128
A fresh chance at life /Testimony from Lennar Acosta -136
VIII
VI
Top-notch teaching
The country of music / How the System and its nuclei have multiplied
around the country -196
The System is also a choir of voices / Interview with Lourdes Sánchez -202
An academy to grow singing / Article on Margot Parés-Reyna -204
Entrepreneur in a major key / Article on Libia Gómez de D ’Adonna -205
A single song from Vienna to Caracas / Article on Gerald Wirth -207
Springboard to the vanguard of music / Article on the System’s music
ensembles and festivals -208
A stage for celebrating splendor / Bancaribe Youth Festival and
Música Bancaribe program -210
“When I mention the orchestras, my heart is filled with stars”/
Interview with Edgar Dao -212
The country is one big orchestra / Infography -114
A breeding ground tended with discipline / The System’s programs
and teaching structures. Platforms for achieving goals -140
Foolproof artistic and managerial tenacity / Interview with
Valdemar Rodríguez -146
Instruments with a heart / Luthiery Academic Centers -150
Excellence as the loadstar / Latin American Academies -152
A two-way world conservatory / International agreements and
exchange arrangements with the world’s music centers -154
VII
Talent for export
Dudamel deciphers the score of his life / Biographical sketch,
international tours, and accolades -160
Dazzling, energetic, and brilliant / Press reviews -164
Duda-mania has its angels / Article on the publicity phenomenon and
Dudamel’s début with the Los Angeles Philharmonic -168
Interviews out loud / Selected excerpts from interviews -170
Painting a portrait with testimonies / Rattle, Marina Mahler,
Ladenburguer, Abreu, Reinshagen, Quilléveré, Argerich, Osawa,
Domingo, Borda, Abbado, Jones, and Barenboim -176
Music and stagecraft / Javier Vidal -177
With Bernstein’s magic baton / Article by Eloísa Maturén -178
New sap on the horizon / Biographical sketches of emerging talents:
Matheuz, Vásquez, Carreño, “Pacho” Flores, Olivo, Vivas, and Arias -180
Edicson Ruíz: A tremendous leap from San Agustín to Berlin /
Biographical sketch and interview -186
Claudio Abbado: a maestro seduced by the tropics / Interview -188
Venezuela bursting with
choirs and orchestras
IX
A flourishing
cultural enterprise
How great the management ensemble sounds! / Testimonies from
and interviews with González, Bottome, Méndez, Baroni, Árvelo, Ana
Abreu, Méndez, Liddye de Pérez, Celis, Velásquez, Méndez, Rojas, and
Dávila -218
The platform for “Playing and Fighting” / Simón Bolívar Musical
Foundation, the System’s organizational structure -223
It just goes to show / Article on the closing concert of the 2010
national tour in Maracaibo -232
X
The future
of music is here
The dawning of a new generation of musicians / Article on the new
National Children’s Orchestra of Venezuela -238
“The most important developments in symphonic music
are happening in Venezuela” / Interview with Simon Rattle -240
The 21st century conservatory / Center for Social Action
through Music -244
9
a harvest of triumphs
If anyone were to doubt, if anyone were to
hesitate, if anyone were to think that this is
a barren land, we would only have to come
to this concert hall to listen to the Simón
Bolívar Venezuelan Youth Symphony
Orchestra in order to leave with our hearts
full of hope.
Arturo Uslar Pietri
The Venezuelan Youth Orchestra celebrates its thirty-five years
of successes on its new stage, the Simón Bolívar Concert Hall at
the Center for Social Action through Music
I
Chapter
Venezuelan youth:
Emblem
of splendor
e can close our eyes and let our ears and
hearts be our guides. Then we will be
ready to tune into another frequency and feel
that enormous and powerfully perfect wave
of ­freshness and mischief that sweeps over us.
None of us, nor anyone who has listened to the
Simón Bolívar Youth Symphony Orchestra
(SJVSB) -became in 2011 the Simón Bolívar
Symphony Orchestra- during a rehearsal, a gala
performance or a matinee in Venezuela or at
any venue elsewhere in the world- will be able
to forget those sounds that plunge us into the
nostalgic void of its violas and cellos; cradle us in
the virtuoso warmth of its violins; that, without
pause, shake us with the force of its percussion
and plunge us into the depth of its horns, trombones, and trumpets to then swiftly envelope us
in the sweetness of its flutes and oboes.
The concert over, we open our eyes once again
and can no longer doubt. Futile considerations
aside, we are left with the conviction that we have
witnessed, for a moment, a flowering of 21st century music and art offered up from ­Venezuela by
an orchestra of young people who have assumed
12
their own challenge: that of ­reinterpreting
symphonic music with vitality and energy and
with their polished and convincing technical
formations, dusting off the classics’ creations.
With freedom and a natural intuition, our musicians have restored to us an intense and elevated
Mahler; with their enamored spirits, they have
flirted with Vivaldi, Chopin, Bach, Beethoven,
Stravinsky to allow us to enter their works of
fantasy; with daring and singular self-confidence,
as though it were the first and only time they
had played him, they offer us the gift of Mozart’s
joy and genius; and with the rhythmic legacy
of this small corner of the planet where they
happened to be born, they o­ ffer us the catchy,
passionate works of Bernstein, R
­ evueltas,
­Ginastera, and of their fellow countrymen
Estévez, Castellanos, and Carreño.
It is not easy to sum up the virtues of a musical
enterprise that bears the name of the Liberator of America, but what we can do is to tell
how the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra
became the lode star of the complex network of
Venezuelan youth and children’s orchestras and
a “symphonic iceberg” for Latin America and
the entire world.
More and more of an orchestra
Handled like a precious diamond that, from
the start, had to be cleaned, cut, and polished,
its beautiful shape discovered, protected, and
looked after with care, its creator, José ­Antonio
Abreu, visualized the SJVSB as the great symphony orchestra of the American ­continent.
He dreamed a great future for it, of global
proportions, and, right from the first concert in
1975, he molded it as a dynamic, modern, and
demanding ensemble.
Like a veteran chess player, Abreu designed a
meticulous strategy to cause an earthquake in
the orchestra world: he opened the doors to the
most outstanding and daring young musicians,
from the north, south, center, west, coasts,
and plains of Venezuela, to give the ensemble
a nationalistic character and a distinguished
temperament, so that all its members would be
Venezuelan. He put emphasis on the individual
and collective training of its members; after
careful analysis, he proposed including the most
varied challenges in the repertoire, maintaining
a pace of rehearsals of fundamental works of
academic music; and, above all, he himself took
up the baton of the newly-formed orchestra and
offered it love and a father’s strictness.
Most important of all, he managed to clearly
convey a forceful message that has been handed
down to the present day, to all the generations
of young Venezuelans: make music to the
­highest level, forgetting that the musicians of
the New World are at a disadvantage compared
The SJVSB at the Royal Albert Hall de Londres, during its presentation in the Proms 2001. In 2011,
the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra received 20 minutes of ovation
13
Before going out on stage, the members of the brass section pose for a photo
to other players born in the cradles of the
great composers.
Thirty-five years later, Abreu and the youngsters
of the Simón Bolívar Youth Symphony Orchestra have changed the course of history; they
climbed their own dream, reached the summit
of their challenge, and emerged with a series of
paradigms: 1) Never will a Venezuelan child have
to wait so many years to have his instrument and
become a musician only when he is an adult;
2) Never again will a Venezuelan musician feel
inadequate and at a disadvantage, either artistically or because of the teaching he has received,
when faced with the power of the Asians,
Europeans, or Americans; 3) Venezuelan players
will never hear again the phrase, “No vacancies,”
because Venezuela will have lots of symphony
orchestras; and, 4) Never more will being a musician in Venezuela be something for amateurs
with no opportunities in the job market.
14
Dudamel and Yo-Yo Ma in Caracas
Always young and fresh
How has the SJVSB sounded throughout these
thirty-five years to the point where it has found
its place in “the heaven” of international venues?
The answer is to be found in every concert and in
every one of the many comments it has elicited
from the music critics. For those of us who have
been privileged to follow its music for more
than three decades, the answer lies in that it has
become more and more of an orchestra, it has
grown in every sense without losing its ­energetic,
daring, and vivid personality, managing to
­balance a polished technique with renewed and
modern interpretations of the repertoire, and
offering moments of sound full of wisdom and
tonal structures charged with emotion.
Despite the maturity the System has achieved,
it has never lost its freshness and youthfulness. It
nourishes new players, generation after generation, both in the “mother orchestra,” Simón
Bolívar “A” and in Simón Bolívar “B,” created in
Mahler’s Resurrection in 2004, in the Ríos Reyna concert hall, marked a milestone in the history of the SJVSB
2001 under the Orchestral Academic Program,
which takes in the most outstanding players from
the new groups of graduates after ­subjecting
them to a series of rigorous auditions. The Simón
Bolívar Youth Symphony Orchestra “B” has been
under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, an exemplary heir of the Venezuelan virtuosi.
Empire Brass, Netherlands Blazer Ensemble, the
Sonus Brass Ensemble, the Spanish Brass Quintet, the Berlin Philharmonic String Quartet, the
Portland String Quartet, and Chick Corea and
his Trio.
Since the start of the 21st century, the SJVSB
“B,” guided by the experience of the “mother”
orchestra’s founding teachers, has successfully
completed major international and national
tours, changed our audiences at home, and
had a great impact abroad, filling theaters and
stadiums. To achieve this, it has been subjected
to a strict program of artistic training, taking
on musical works of great magnitude (such
as Mahler’s Resurrection with Rattle or the
première of Penderecki’s Seven Gates of Jerusalem
or Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Abbado),
and has undergone an intense plan of advanced
training on exchange programs with ensembles
of enormous international prestige, such as the
In February 1975, a few months after having
given its first concert, the SJVSB started its
first international auditions. From the start,
Abreu aimed for the best scenarios, the most
­demanding artistic venues, and the most
prestigious music festivals. The world travels
thus far of both this orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and the
National C
­ hildren’s Orchestra of Venezuela
can be broken down into roughly three stages:
the first, from 1975 to 1994; the second, from
1995 to 2004; and the third, from 2005 to a
promising future, if the agenda of invitations,
engagements, and contracts being coordinated
by F­ ESNOJIV (now Simón Bolívar Musical
Triumphal tour
15
Foundation) and managed by the international
artists’ agency Askonas Halt is anything to go by.
In that first stage of world tours, the main
aim of Abreu and his youngsters was to make
themselves known and to “sell” the project
of creating youth orchestras of a high artistic
level to the world. So, their takeoff was highly
original and caused an impact, particularly in
America (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa
Rica, Chile, Ecuador, the United States, Mexico,
and Uruguay), and they also demonstrated their
growing abilities in Europe and Asia, playing in
Spain, France, Holland, the United Kingdom,
and Japan.
For the SJVSB, this was a stage of artistic
“baptismal fire,” when they came into contact
with great soloists (many of whom came to
Venezuela, others who were guest soloists
during the tours) and fulfilling a disciplined
agenda of concerts in Venezuela, mainly at the
José Félix Ribas concert hall (their first home for
concerts and rehearsals) and at the Ríos Reyna
concert hall, both located in the Teresa Carreño
Cultural Complex. During this first stage, the
orchestra also made a profitable incursion into
the world record market. And all this resulted
in the creation of a firm, secure international
platform for the years that were to come.
Children who play like angels
With his clear intuition and perfected strategy,
in 1995, José Antonio Abreu knew that the
moment had come to show and confirm to
the world how the System had progressed and
developed and how, at the same time, music
had become a tool for saving many lives. So,
he decided to pack his bags with fresh sap: the
youngest musicians and also the adolescents
began to cross seas and mountains, erasing the
farthest borders with their sounds, ready to
seduce the most demanding audiences with
their joy and their three-colored jackets. Stages
never dreamed of were filled with mischievous
angels and adolescents bursting with energy, all
conspiring in Venezuela’s National Children’s
Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra.
Alternating the tours, these two orchestras were
heard in France, Spain, and the United States
(1995); Brazil and Chile (1996); Mexico and
again in Brazil (1997); France and Italy (1998
Eternally young
Santos López
Noon is the age furthest from death.
Youth is irreverent towards the inexorable. This rebelliousness is a fertile
invention, a sky with multicolored
stars. Youth lives in friendship. And
the sun is the glory of summer: when
burgeoning nature is full of vigor,
energy, and forms.
The delight of children in London caused by young
Venezuelan musicians
16
Rimbaud is the paradigm of the
young poet, insurrectionary and
rebellious. In a fragment (Twenty
Years Old) of his poem Youth, he
said: “Instructive voices exiled...
Physical candor bitterly quelled...
and 1999); Germany, Jamaica, and Brazil (2000);
Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina (2001), and once
again in Italy, Germany, and Austria (2002).
In spring, summer, autumn or winter, the vibrant
presence of these young Venezuelan musicians
did not go unnoticed in any of the cities and
theaters where they débuted: whether at the
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts (Washington D.C) or the UN’s headquarters in New York; at the Amazonas Opera
House, Manaus or the Maracanã Stadium in
Rio de Janeiro; in the Palacio de Bellas Artes,
Mexico; at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris; in
the legendary National Academy of St. Cecilia
or in the Vatican’s Clementine Chapel; or in
the great theaters that are home to the Berlin
Philharmonic and the Munich Philharmonic;
or in Latin American venues, such as the Teatro
Colón in Buenos Aires or the SODRE Cultural
Complex in Uruguay.
It could be said that the autumn of the year 2000,
when the National Children’s Orchestra did a
tour of more than six cities in Germany, marked
a milestone in the international history of our
orchestras. During Expo 2000, the World’s
Adagio. Ah! The endless egoism of
adolescence, Its studious optimism:
How the world this summer was
full of flowers!”… The poem ends
with a prophesy: “But you will set
yourself this labor: all harmonic and
architectural possibilities will surge
around your seat.” Rimbaud is talking
Colon Theater in Buenos Aires hosted the National Youth Orchestra in 2001. In 2011, in this theater
the orchestra had reached an unprecedented success: Audience stood up for 15 minutes with applauses
Fair held in Hannover, there was a Symposium
of Concerts dedicated to the World’s Youth
and Children and our Children’s Symphony
­Orchestra was the one to open the event.
For a spectacular finish, they appeared at
the Berliner Philharmonie for the first time.
This was how Carolina Wendel of the daily
­Westfalisahe, described that performance: “It was
an unforgettable experience. A sudden burst
of applause erupted in a yellow, blue and red
musical sea, and then the audience fell silent
symbolically of youth, the image of
the world in that season: the arch
of nature, its ascendency in form
and matter.
José Antonio Abreu has created a
brand that is upheld by the dream of
being eternally young: a symphony
orchestra forever flowering under the
summer sun with the vigor offered
up by the fire of the solstice.
Today, it is practically impossible for
society not to like whatever young
people do: sports, fashion, perfumes,
cars, adventure, the p­ harmaceutical
industry, medicine… Societies have
invested a lot of effort and technology in keeping us young. Being
eternally young is the ideal and the
dream. However, we know that summer has left spring behind and that
it will give way to autumn and then
to winter.
Every once in a while, our cultures
are shaken by that feverish youth that
evolves in its own juices and dances
to the rhythm of its own drum beats.
In their day, The Beatles represented
being young at heart the world over.
Today that role has been taken by a
young man like Gustavo Dudamel,
who, in John Lennon’s best style,
conducts his band of youngsters on
the best stages and before the largest
and most discerning audiences,
captivating them with his youth.
Shakespeare already said it in The
Tempest: “We are such stuff as dreams
are made on,” and that stuff common
to both is youth.
(Poet)
17
The Youth Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela at the home of the Berlin Philharmonic in 2002
in ­astonishment – a silence so complete you
could hear a pin drop- as the young conductor
Gustavo Dudamel made his way on stage and,
with firm steps, took his place before the attentive gaze of two hundred youngsters. As the
performance of the repertoire got under way,
the audience, who couldn’t believe their ears,
succumbed totally. A display of artistic beauty
created by violins leaping like dolphins, combined with the children’s masterly performance,
flooded the theater, astounding everyone there.”
A new energy travels the world
Another exceptional year was 2002, as the
National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela
undertook two long series of performances in
more than fifteen cities in Italy, Germany, and
Austria that marked its artistic career and were
18
to make it, some years later, the Europeans’ most
indulged orchestra, and also launched Gustavo
­Dudamel’s artistic career as the world of orchestral conducting’s young promise.
Even among the many triumphs garnered by
our SJVSB wherever it appeared, September
29, 2002, stood out because it was the day the
relationship of respect and mutual admiration between the famous English conductor
Simon Rattle, the conductor of the Berlin
­Philharmonic, and our orchestras was born.
That evening, there was an unprecedented
celebration in Germany’s most prestigious
concert hall and the most convincing testimony
was offered by Rattle himself: “Tchaikovsky’s
Fourth Symphony sounded incredible. This is one
of the most wonderful concerts that have been
held in this concert hall. Never have I seen here
such long standing ovations as there have been
today. This is one of the world’s greatest youth
orchestras, and Gustavo Dudamel is a director
of exceptional talent.”
On the pinnacle of success
The third round of international tours, starting in
2005, has been the most exciting and has showered our Simón Bolívar Venezuelan Youth Symphony Orchestra and our country with nationalistic glory. Our musicians have gone forth to
travel the world firmly convinced that this is no
longer a project or an unknown orchestra. They
have set forth full of self-confidence, joy, and a
tremendous sense of responsibility, because they
know that they are gathering in the harvest of a
seed sown thirty-five years ago. And they are the
most palpable proof of the System’s success.
A distinguished Asian critic, Chen Jie of the
China Daily, promoted the appearances of
SJVSB in 2008 with these words: “You will
witness a fascinating blend of daring souls, fiery
and passionate, of young hearts dedicated to an
adventure. (…) You can hear virtuosity of the
strings and woodwinds, the strength and polish
of the brass and the vibrant percussion. (…) As
more outstanding Venezuelan musicians hit the
international circuit, the world is taking notice
that a new musical energy, unique and original,
is traveling the world.”
The international tours of the last five years
(2005-2010) are proof that Venezuela has already earned a name in international symphonic
circles. “In the United States, Europe, and Asia,
in all the cities where we go,” tells J.A. Abreu, “we
can see how our music moves both specialists and young audiences and children to the
very depths of their souls; and how the endless
ovations, sometimes as long as 20 minutes, spill
over into the street when, after the concert, the
public are waiting to give a triumphal reception
to our young musicians.”
This fascinating third international tour of the
SJVSB’s (2005 to date) has included performances under the batons of Gustavo D
­ udamel,
Claudio Abbado, Simon Rattle, Diego
Matheuz, and Christian Vásquez at major festivals, congresses, and cultural events: Beethoven
Festival (Bonn, 2005 and 2007); Ibero-American Festival “Sevilla entre Culturas” (Spain, 2007);
Young music students in Chicago receiving the System’s medals from Abreu and Dudamel, in 2009
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Lucerne Spring Festival (Switzerland, seasons
2007, 2008, and 2010, the last two years as resident guest orchestra); International Edinburgh
Festival (Scotland, 2007); 48th Season of The
Proms (London, 2007); Universal Forum of
Cultures (Monterrey, Mexico, 2007); Berlin in
Lights Festival (New York, 2007); Casals Festival
(Puerto Rico, 2008); Helsinki Festival (Finland,
2008); Salzburg Festival (Austria, as resident
guest orchestra, 2008); and a number of events
during the 17th Cajastur Music Week, including
the bestowing of the Prince of Asturias Award
for the Arts (Spain, 2008).
Probably no other symphony orchestra in
America has given so many performances
in such a short artistic career as our SJVSB:
concerts in Chile, Argentina –here with the
pianist Martha Argerich- and Uruguay, in
2007; in practically all the cities in Germany in
2005, 2007, and 2008, obtaining ovations of 20
minutes or more; in Italy (2006 and 2009); in
Mexico and the United States (2007, 2008, and
2009); in Spain (2007, 2008, 2009); in Finland,
Austria, and Switzerland (2008, 2009, and
2010); in Portugal, Canada, France, England,
China, Korea, and Japan (2008 and 2009); in
Canada, Austria, Italy, France, United States,
England, Spain and Portugal (2010); and Brazil,
Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Austria,
England and Turkey (2011).
From passionate Beethoven
to catching Mambo
Technical versatility, musical ductility, and
vigor; there is no other explanation for what our
SJVSB does when it takes on an enormously
demanding program containing composers
from the symphonic repertoire and, minutes
later, during the encores, is capable of getting
the most serious and immutable audience up
off their seats to offer them its sparkling fiesta
with the same interpretive and technical rigor,
put ­together from lively, catchy mambos and
danzones by our Latin American composers.
In his article, “Emotion,” published in the German
daily Waz, in 2007, the critic Markus ­Bruderreck
Isabel Palacios, Maurice Hasson, Cecilia Núñez, William
Alvarado, Fedora Alemán, and Ramón Román
said of the SJVSB’s concert at the Essen
Philharmonic: “… What is it that so delights the
people who hear them? Is it the joy of playing
they immediately convey? Is it the bloom of
youth or is it the professionalism and musical
know-how that astonishes so…? Dudamel’s and
the SJVSB’s Beethoven, is marked by a carefree
pathos and an iron force and immensity to the
point where the listener shrinks in his seat…
And then, in a way that is so exciting and with
such temperamental pieces, they switch to the
bewitching rhythm of the Mambo… that is why
the Simón Bolívar is in a class on its own and
incomparable.”
The point is that the qualities of our SJVSB
are its technical skill and its high degree of
pro­fessionalism, which allow it to tackle an
extensive repertoire that goes from symphonic
classics, both Venezuelan and international,
to modern and experimental pieces, always
reserving a place in each and every one of their
concerts for our most prolific Latin American
and V
­ enezuelan composers: Mozart, Copland,
Ginastera, Bruckner, Dvorak, Vivaldi, Khachaturian, Bartok, Saint-Saëns, Shostakovich,
Mendelssohn, Mussorgsky, Schubert, Chopin,
Donizetti, Telemann, Handel, Gershwin,
Bizet, Puccini, Verdi, Mahler, Berlioz, Debussy,
Poulenc, Grieg, Holst, Purcell, Brahms, Bach,
Bernstein, Beethoven, Ravel, Liszt, Scarlatti, Rimski-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff, Barber,
Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Stravinsky,
Wagner, Schumann, Prokofiev, Villa-Lobos, De
Falla, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Penderecki, Joaquín
Rodrigo, Marlos Nobre, Piazzolla, Blas Emilio
Atehortúa, Inocente Carreño, Reinaldo Hahn,
Alfonso Vidal Tenreiro, Antonio Estévez,
Carlos Figueredo, Evencio Castellanos, Juan
Bautista Plaza, Antonio Lauro, Alfredo Del
Mónaco, Jorge Sarmiento, Julián Orbón, Silvestre Revueltas, Federico Ruíz, Paul Desenne,
Diana Arismendi, Juan Carlos Núñez, Arturo
Márquez, and many more.
The SJVSB has also been a platform for
launching the artistic careers of a long list of
­Venezuelan soloists it has accompanied over
a period of three decades: Alexis Cárdenas
(violin), Alicia Gabriela Martínez (piano),
Fedora Alemán (soprano), Aquiles Machado
(tenor), Carlos Duarte (piano), Cecilia Núñez
(soprano), Claudio Muskus (baritone), Morella Muñoz (mezzo-soprano), Karin Lechner
(piano), Sergio Daniel Tiempo (piano), David
Ascanio (piano), David Núñez (violin), Edith
Peña (piano), G
­ abriela Montero (piano), Idwer
Álvarez (tenor), Inés Feo La Cruz (mezzosoprano), Isabel Palacios (mezzo-soprano), Iván
García (bass), Sara Catarina (soprano), Iván Pérez
(violin), Jaime Martínez (oboe), Luis Julio Toro
(flute), Maurice Hasson (violin), Margot ParésReyna (soprano); Moisés Torrealba (mandolin),
William Alvarado (baritone), Clara Rodríguez
(piano), Elena Abend (piano), Judith Jaimes
(piano), Alirio Díaz (guitar), and José Francisco
del Castillo (violin); and also some of the orchestra’s main members who perform regularly as
soloists: Jesús Hernández (violin), William Molina (cello), Andrés Eloy Medina (oboe), Ramón
Román (violin), Valdemar Rodríguez (clarinet),
Víctor Rojas (flute), Carlos Villamizar (violin),
Frank Di Polo (violin), Jorge Montilla (clarinet),
Rainer Ossot (horn) Elvis Romero (English
horn), Christian Jiménez (cello), David Medina
(clarinet), Benjamín Gatuzz (violin), Carlos
Vegas (violin), Gonzalo Hidalgo (bassoon),
Francisco Flores (trumpet), José Gregorio Nieto
(cello), Gaudy Sánchez (trumpet), and Santiago
Garmendia (violin), to name but a few.
Aquiles Machado, Alexis Cárdenas, Gabriela Montero,
Carlos Duarte, Edith Peña, and Frank Di Polo
lin), Frank Fernández (piano), Joaquín Achúcaro
(piano), José van Dam (baritone), Eugene Fodor
(violin), Monique Duphil (piano), Paul Badura
Skoda (piano), Stefan Popov (cello), Paquito D’
Rivera (saxophone), Marcus Printup (trumpet),
Herlin Riley (drums), Steve Davis (trombone),
Sean Jones (trumpet), Vincent Garner (trombone), Henk van Twillert (saxophone), Joo-hiun
Shin (flute), Walter Blanding (saxophone,
clarinet, and tenor), Jadwiga Rappe (contralto),
Romuald Tesarowicz (bass), Emily Magee
(soprano), Andreas Scheibner (bass, baritone),
And, of course, there is a long list of international Lorin Maazel (violin), Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Itzhat
virtuosi whom the SJVSB has had the honor to Perlman (violin), Kirill Gerstein (piano), and
Wynton Marsalis (trumpet).
accompany, among them: Jean-Pierre Rampal
(flute), Placido Domingo (tenor), Luciano
Pavarotti (tenor), Mstislav Rostropovich (cello),
Alicia Larrocha (piano), Lazar Berman (piano),
Schlomo Mintz (violin), Ruggiero Ricci (violin),
Igor Oistrakh (violin), Vladimir Spivakov
(violin), Martha Argerich (piano), Henryk
Szeryng (violin), Pinchas Zukerman (violin),
Luis Rossi (clarinet), Maurice André (trumpet),
Rafael Puyana (harpsichord), Cho-Liang Lin
(violin), Ilya Kaler (violin), Montserrat Caballé
(soprano), Aprile Millo (soprano), François Le
Roux (baritone), Renata Scotto (soprano), June
Anderson (soprano), Jaime Laredo (violin), Juan
Diego Florez (tenor), Ruggiero Raimondi (vio-
Chick Corea, Pinchas Zukerman,
Dolora Zsajic, and Claudio Arrau
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Symphony Orchestra
superstar
22
n the pragmatic world of international
music, no businessman, record company or
­manager can afford to underestimate the
­effect that the media, advertising, and jour­nalists
and music critics have on the connection an
orchestra manages to achieve with its audiences.
And this ingredient has definitely not been lacking
in that perfect, delicious recipe for world success
created by the Simón Bolívar Venezuelan Youth
Orchestra, its conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, and
other ensembles belonging to the System.
However, becoming part of the small, strict star
system of the world of classical music does not
happen overnight or without having earned
it. The ovations to the talent of our young
Venezuelan musicians, tickets sold out months
before their concerts, and the agenda of engagements and performances that gets busier by the
year have also turned our SJVSB into a media
phenomenon, with very little investment in
advertising but a lot of strategy relying on word
of mouth and the multiplier effect of applause.
Here and there, in any of the world’s major
cultural venues -Paris, Milan, Lucerne, Berlin,
Vienna, New York, Montreal, Tokyo or Buenos
Aires-, the merits of our young musicians,
backed by an artistic-social feat, are real and
convincing. And anyone who has not heard of
this “new musical wave” is definitely out of touch.
Now everyone knows them. For some audiences
–in London or Vienna, for example-, mentioning
Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra is, the same as naming their
favorite artists, their stars on this earth, as though
they were rock or pop idols.
Here is a selection of press reviews and
articles that reflect historical moments in
the international career of our 21st century
­musician-ambassadors, who have created a
lasting matrix of opinion among those who have
finely tuned ears and the keys of their ­computers
ready to shoot off reviews and laudatory comments… incidentally, always treated with considerable suspicion by those who regularly have
in their hands the power to build up or destroy
personalities and artistic careers.
England 1989
“The quality of the Simón Bolívar Venezuelan
Youth Symphony Orchestra was a revelation.
The conductor, Eduardo Mata, obtained from
the musicians a full, rich, round sound of particular brilliance that is not common in the majority
of European orchestras.”
(David Nice, journalist, The Guardian)
Japan 1991
“… Rarely, in Japan, have we had the opportunity
to listen to a truly spontaneous explosion of pure
joy such as the one we witnessed at the end of
the performance by the Simón Bolívar Youth
Orchestra at Tokyo’s Bunkamura Orchard Hall.”
(Jason Roussos, Japan Times)
had on the children was greater than the effect
wrought by the movie The Lord of the Rings II,
which has just opened here in Dusseldorf. The kids
were so attentive that they forgot to talk. For one
hour, the orchestra played Latin American music
for the schoolchildren of Dusseldorf and Neuss. In
other words, it was a concert for children given by
children. The repertoire, consisting of works with
rhythmic drum rolls, rapid swishing of maracas,
and brilliant trumpets, managed to get the warm
South American temperament to transcend
continents and languages, enthralling everyone.
Dudamel and his musicians managed to amaze
the audience.” (Düsseldorfer Satdtpost)
“… No sooner had the performance started
when I realized that this was an orchestra with an
immense critical capacity. A sense of unity emanated from its music, which nevertheless, allowed
each personality to show itself. The members
of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra
interpret with total confidence and self-esteem.”
(Kojin Omura, music critic, Akahata Journal)
Brazil 1997
“Before an auditorium overflowing with spectators, among them hundreds of music students
and the entire National Brazil Symphony
Orchestra, the Children’s Symphony Orchestra
of Venezuela performed at the reopening of the
National Theater’s Villa-Lobos concert hall. They
started out with the Brazilian and Venezuelan
national anthems, and after each of the seven
pieces on the program, the audience broke into
applause, getting to their feet, ending with an
ecstatic ten-minute ovation. It was truly a total
revelation.” (Cultural Section, O Globo)
Germany 2000
“Since yesterday, there is more than one teacher
who would like to have the Youth Symphony
Orchestra of Venezuela in their classroom. The
reason is that the effect those 223 young musicians
The actor Michael Douglas celebrates with the youngsters of the National Youth Orchestra
after the concert
Germany 2001
“A yellow, blue and red sea covered the stage
of the Philharmonic. There were 223 young
­Venezuelans between the ages of eleven and
eighteen. Their twelve double-bass players started the concert with an outstanding
­pianissimo. Then the string section joined in with
their robust energy, while the brass crowned the
performance with fire. The young conductor,
Gustavo Dudamel, turns music into an authentic
event. The precision with which an orchestra of
this size performs Tchaikovsky is admirable, with
23
impressive timing and vibrant intensity. They began the Russian composer’s Fourth Symphony with
genuine power, and were immediately followed
by the excellent soloists. One of the highlights
was the perfect pizzicato and the impressive
tempo they achieved in the last movement. In
Rossini’s Overture, the conductor allowed the
orchestra to play alone and as it willed. This is a
young conductor with exceptional talent, vision
and authority. One wonders how he manages
to bring these youngsters so close to the true
symphonic essence of music. The temperament of the orchestra fully complements the
colorful music of Mexico, Brazil and Venezuela.
Complex rhythms and multiple metric changes
did not seem to pose any difficulty. Bernstein’s
music, at the end of the concert, sounded with
such brilliance and strength it was as if the young
musicians were actually living the drama of West
Side Story.” (Kölner Stadtanzeigar)
Argentina 2005
“When the baton of Gustavo Dudamel gave the
first signal to the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra, it gave the impression that he was standing
before an ensemble of uncommon orchestral
brilliance, with rapid reflexes and adjustment,
and especial power for playing the most varied
genres (…) Each section of the orchestra shows
an exemplary degree of discipline and that was
evident in Tchaikovsky’s majestic Slavonic March,
which Dudamel’s gestures and sinew took to its
maximum expression. Fabulous and unforgettable.” (Héctor Coda, music critic, La Nación)
United States 2006
“Waves of talent from Japan, Korea and China
have brought new blood to classical music since
the 1980s. A vigorous second wave arrived
from Finland and other Scandinavian countries
starting in the 1990s. Now, get set for a third
wave, from an unexpected source, Venezuela. It
might turn out to be the biggest wave yet given
its huge base: around 250,000 youngsters who
have received free instruments and music lessons
through a one-of-a-kind state-supported music
education system”. (Chris Kraul and Chris Pasles,
Los Angeles Times)
Spain 2007
“It is difficult to recall an orchestral ensemble
with such richness of sound and such flexibility. There is no section in this Simón Bolívar
Symphony Orchestra that does not stand out
on its own merits. The sound of the strings is
exceptionally rich, while the brass sounds with
outstanding definition and brilliance. The exceptionally brilliant initial fanfare was the prelude
to the most extraordinary sounds that we have
heard in Seville.” (Andrés Moreno Meginbar,
critic, Diario de Sevilla).
“(…) Applause was not enough. The public of
Seville paid tribute the Simón Bolívar Youth
Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela with their
most enthusiastic greeting: ‘they clapped to
the rhythm of bulerías’ shouting ‘Torero!’… They
started the concert with a moving interpretation
of Maurice Ravel’s La Valse, responding to an
almost imperceptible movement of Gustavo
Dudamel’s baton… The varied repertoire also
included Bela Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, the
William Tell Overture by the Italian composer
Gioacchino Rossini, and a repertoire of Latin
American works consisting of Suite No. 2 of El
sombrero de tres picos and Danza from La vida
breve, both by Manuel de Falla, El Malambo from
the ballet La Estancia by Alberto Ginastera,
Silvestre Revueltas’s Sensemayá, and Mambo by
Pérez Prado… Before starting the piece by Ginastera, the concert hall was plunged into darkness
while the musicians changed their formal dress
for jackets with Venezuela’s national colors.
When the lights went up again, the ­audience
cheered this nationalistic gesture for several
minutes. (…) As is traditional, the musicians
played the Mambo while dancing and waving
their instruments. They infected the audience
with their tremendous display of enthusiasm and
explosive energy. Nearing the end, Dudamel left
the orchestra without a baton and sat down in
the percussion row to play the bass drum, while
his fellow musicians showed their delighted at
this spontaneous prank (…).” (Olivia Liendo,
El Nacional, Venezuela)
England 2007
“(…) At the concert by the astonishing Simón
Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, it was the
performers who let rip in what must have been
the most joyful Proms performance ever.” (Paul
Gent, The Telegraph)
“… There are some great youth orchestras around
today, but none of them is as exciting to behold
as this (the Simón Bolívar Venezuelan Youth
Symphony Orchestra).” (Andrew Clements,
The Guardian)
“It wasn’t just the promenaders who were on their
feet at the climax of this sensational concert from
Venezuela’s hottest and most inspiring export:
the entire audience and orchestra were stomping to the furious beat of the Malambo from
Ginastera’s Estancia. By then, the Simón ­Bolívar
Youth Orchestra had shucked their sober
jackets, donned the sunny national colours, and
were spinning their instruments, doing Mexican
waves, and threatening to lead the audience in
a conga around the Albert Hall. It was a joyous
Three important moments for the
SJVSB: at Palau de la Música in
Valencia, Spain; at Carnegie Hall
in New York with Simon Rattle;
and at the Metropolitan Art Space
in Tokyo
and edifying spectacle (…). The program began
with Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony, and it was
probably the performance of the season so far.
The energy that comes off these young players is
astonishing. In the climax of the first movement, a
tremolando up the octave in the first violins almost
took my scalp off. But it wasn’t just the ­all-out
dynamism of the players that thrilled: it was their
insight, too. (…)The searching clarinet solos were
almost autobiographical in their solitude. And so
it was again with the Symphonic Dances from West
Side Story. One would have expected this orchestra to whack out the percussion and screaming
mariachi trumpets of the Mambo, but what came
as more of a revelation was the sweetness and tenderness of Bernstein’s ballads – and, in the carnival
at the concert’s climax, the sheer sensuousness
of the playing. Really, it was humbling. (Edward
Seckerson, The Independent)
England 2008
“When these virtuosic Venezuelan youngsters
play – especially the hyperactive music of their
own continent– the sense of the New World
remaking, refreshing and rescuing the Old is
overwhelming.” (Richard Morrison, music critic,
The Times)
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Switzerland 2008
“(…) The orchestra brought all its weight, its magnificent color, and its enormity into play, making
the walls of the great concert hall of the KKL, the
headquarters of the Lucerne Festival, tremble.”
(Fritz Schaub, editor, Neue Luzerner Zeitung)
“(…) To no orchestra or director have hearts
been so generously given as they were to the
Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela
and its conductor Gustavo Dudamel during the
Lucerne Festival.” (Sonntag Argauer Zeitung)
“Go home, tourist” reads a banner on one of the
rails of the bridge that divides the Swiss city of
Lucerne. But if applauses were words, one might
perfectly well conclude that, yesterday evening,
many Swiss said to the Venezuelan musicians:
‘Don’t go or at least come back, please.’ And it
was not only the applause inside the concert
hall (which was packed full), but the applause
they received when they left Lucerne Cultural
Center, in what seemed to be a kind of red carpet
bidding them farewell, while a video camera
recorded this unusual incident for posterity (…).”
(Marjorie Delgado Aguirre, El Nacional)
Canada 2009
Switzerland 2010
“One would expect these musicians to have
only Latin rhythms in their veins. But the magic
they brought to the piece by Tchaikovsky was
memorable. Even the quietest parts of the Fifth
Symphony soared.” (Toronto Star)
(…) Tchaikovsky means sure success for the
Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.
The version of the Italian conductor (Claudio
Abbado) of Symphony No. 6 was, quite simply,
staggering, going from an electrifying allegro
molto vivace to a moving intensity in the final
addagio lamentoso. The audience in Lucerne
remained silent for several seconds at the end of
the piece only to immediately get to their feet
in an interminable ovation. Before that, Abbado
had given a surprising interpretation –owing to
its sense of the dramatic and sensuality- of the
symphonic suite of the opera Lulu by Ablan
Berg with the Viennese soprano Anna Prohaska.
In the Prokofiev, played by an orchestra with
the energy of the SJVSB, the brilliance was
even overwhelming. Abaddo’s musical, social
and even emotional identification with Simón
Bolívar Youth Symphony Orchestra is such
that any technical deficiency took a back seat.
What remains is a sensation of authenticity, of
truth, of a reinvention of music, which gives the
concert a feeling that is refreshing, intimate, and
profoundly stimulating. (J. A. Vela Del Campo,
El País. Spain–Lucerne)
United States 2009
“You don’t usually here shouting like this from
the audience at an orchestra concert. You don’t
usually feel this kind of excitement at an orchestra concert. I can sit back and judge whether it’s
good or bad or getting a little out of hand as the
group continues its rise, but the phenomenon
is undeniable and pretty incredible. What the
orchestra is best at is visceral energy and rhythm;
its members connect to the music they’ve
learned by playing it as though it were all about
youth and vigor and fire…” (Anne Midgette, The
Washington Post)
“The orchestra now tours the world becoming
one of the most iconic orchestras in the world,
so it’s a great honor and a big emotion to receive
it in Houston.” (Jerome Gray, NBC)
27
The Mambo fills every stage with joy
Sheer Energy
Joshua Kosman
If you were to judge the Simón
Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela
solely from the exhilarating video clip
that’s been making the rounds on the
Internet - the one of the young players
and their music director, Gustavo
Dudamel, kicking the stuffing out
of Leonard Bernstein’s “Mambo” at
London’s Royal Albert Hall in August
2007 - you might easily conclude that
this is one of the most dynamic and
daring ensembles around.
And if you caught their remarkable
concert in Davies Symphony Hall
on Sunday night, you’d know you
were right. Appearing as part of the
San Francisco Symphony’s Great
Performers Series, Dudamel and his
orchestra unleashed an extraordinary
musical fireball, which they then
28
shaped into the form of music by
Shostakovich, Bernstein and more.
The level of musical sophistication and eloquence on display was
astonishing, but so too was the sheer
energy involved.
Crowded into Davies like so many
supercharged particles - the orchestra
tours with an unprecedented 180
musicians, of whom only 140 could
fit onto the stage - these players
seemed to be straining to cut loose.
And although the concert, which
ran more than 2 1/2 hours, included
plentiful stretches of lyrical and
translucent playing, its real glories
came when the performers mustered
a huge and rhythmically c­ ompelling
noise - in the aforementioned
Mambo, in the terrifyingly explosive
second movement of Shostakovich’s
Tenth Symphony, and in ferocious
excerpts from Alberto Ginastera’s
Estancia.
For observers of the music scene,
Sunday’s concert was a double introduction. On the one hand, there was
the orchestra itself, the pinnacle of
Venezuela’s practically unparalleled
government-sponsored system of
music education (…). On the other,
there was Dudamel, who became
music director of the orchestra at
17 and now, at 26, is probably the
most talked-about conductor in the
world. Two years from now, in a fasci­
natingly high-stakes gamble, he is set
to become music director of the Los
Angeles Philharmonic.
To some extent, these two facets
turned out to be one. To witness
these musicians in collaboration is
to understand just how closely their
respective sensibilities are bound up
with one another.
Dudamel’s approach to the music
- his taste for fiery tempos and
emphatic accents, the brash impetuousness of his phrasing - is mirrored
in the sound of the orchestra, with
its agile strings and focused, slightly
aggressive woodwinds and brass.
And it’s rare to see an orchestra and
conductor so rhythmically attuned,
as though Dudamel’s beat were only
a confirmation of what every member of the orchestra already knew in
his or her bones.
In interviews, Dudamel talks about
the conductor being a member of
the ensemble, but he’s not alone in
that kind of rhetoric. What’s rarer is
to see a conductor actually walk the
walk: Not once in the course of the
evening did Dudamel take a solo
bow. Every acknowledgment of the
audience’s tumultuous applause was
in the bosom of the orchestra.
(…) Conducting the entire program
from memory, Dudamel infused
every movement and every measure
with a feeling of urgency and clarity
- not a single moment seemed like
a throwaway. But at the same time,
he avoided the obvious danger of
overstressing things and losing a
sense of priorities.
In the Shostakovich, he gathered
up the potentially sprawling strands
of the expansive opening movement - a marathon that in the wrong
circumstances can swamp the rest
of the symphony - and sorted out
the most important elements from
the subsidiaries. The result was a
discourse whose shape and direction
never flagged, and in the subsequent
movements Dudamel deftly elicited
the music’s blend of dark humor and
blazing self-assertion.
from Latin America,” which turned
out to be a sampling of danceflavored pieces by Ginastera, Arturo
Márquez and Pedro Gutierrez.
The encores were truly that ­-reprises
from earlier in the evening of
­Bernstein’s Mambo and Ginastera’s
Malambo- but now done up with
exuberant dance moves and flashy
twirls of the instruments, by players
who had donned windbreakers in the
blue, red and yellow of Venezuela.
The mood was one of triumphant
pride, well-earned and widely shared.
(Chronicle Music Critic, California,
United States. 2007)
The Symphonic Dances from
­Bernstein’s “West Side Story,”
occupying most of the second half,
were done with wonderful fluency
and freedom as well as utter rhythmic
precision. The program concluded
with a selection billed only as “music
29
Four snapshots from London
Reynaldo Trombetta
I
The boy’s eyes open wide at the
­succession of fugues of Bartok’s
Concerto for Orchestra. We have
reached the fifth movement, and
eight-year-old Vincent Connelly
still can’t believe what he’s hearing,
even though he’s a musician too. He
arrived in London this morning to
enjoy Dudamel’s concert. He left
his double bass at home. Vincent
plays in the Big Noise Orchestra, the
project inspired by the System in a
poor neighborhood in Scotland. In
the seat next to him, his father is filled
with pride for the young Venezuelans
excelling themselves on the stage
of the Royal Festival Hall, during
their 2009 tour. After all, his son is
going –slowly but surely- along the
same path. At the exit, I greet him
(we met a year ago in Scotland) and
he comments: “I think about the
British kids, when they’re not on the
Internet, they’re drunk, and I have a
feeling that this music could help to
save them.”
II
During a talk on the banks of the
Thames in April 2009, I heard
something extraordinary. An
English musician who travels often
to Venezuela claimed that, thanks to
the System, violence has been curbed
in the barrios or shanty districts of
Caracas. The audience -foreign to
all that- breaks into applause. And
I understand how difficult it is for a
European to understand how things
are in Venezuela and the true social
impact the System is having. In
Europe, a poor person does not go
hungry or have his life threatened
30
when a stream bursts its banks; and
violence –when it happens– involves
an adolescent being stabbed in a
disco once every couple of months;
it is not the violence of 39 people
shot every day. Based on his personal
experience, it is impossible for an
English person to understand how
much courage a kid from Carapita
or Catia needs to have to exchange a
gun for a clarinet.
III
I bump into them as I leave the
concert. The encore over, three
English teenagers were shouting and
jumping up and down as though it
were a rock concert. Theirs shouts
were so loud that the youngsters
from the orchestra bombarded them
with tricolor jackets and caps. “It’s not
that we like classical music,” admits
one girl, wrapped in a Venezuelan
flag. “But this is something else, it’s
more intense,” explains another.
“Besides, it was Gustavo Dudamel!”
completes the third. Quite apart
from what the critics say, this youth
orchestra has stolen the hearts of the
British public. These teenage girls
don’t understand anything about
Shostakovich or Stravinsky. All they
know is that Dudamel is the guy who
sparked off an interest in the minds
of the English for the 2007 season of
The BBC Proms. And that is already
quite something in a country where
fame does not even last Warhol’s 15
minutes.
IV
The day after arriving in London, the
orchestra held a rehearsal that was
open to the public (although “open”
is figure of speech, as the concert hall
quickly filled up and, to keep order,
they had to close the doors). The
2,000 people who watched Dudamel
conducting on that occasion enjoyed
it as much or more than those who,
in the evening, would also fill the
Royal Festival Hall to overflowing.
Among the audience I recognized
several musicians from the highly distinguished Philharmonic Orchestra.
Some months previously, Dudamel
gave them a workshop on con­
ducting and now they were hoping
to continue to learn. In the evening,
after the concert, I saw Lang Lang
–one of the world’s most famous
pianists– rush up to Maestro Abreu
to propose a joint project. Musicians, cultural promoters, and critics
are clear that the future of music is
linked to Venezuela.
(Venezuelan journalist and photographer)
they admire is sitting quietly in a seat
waiting for them. In August 2008,
the conductor Daniel Barenboim
slipped quietly into the rehearsal.
On departing, he left a note on a
napkin, just one word: “Amazing.”
The SJVSB’s international tours are
a litany of fleeting experiences but
eternal consequences.
The repertoire that’s not rehearsed
Marjorie Delgado
Never before had they walked in
single file, in an almost perfectly
straight line, or with serious faces. On
the contrary, wherever the musicians
of the Simón Bolívar Venezuelan
Youth Symphony Orchestra go,
they give free rein to their engaging
self-confidence. Ask anyone who saw
how, in August 2008, at the Mozart
Theater in Salzburg, Austria, a full
concert hall stood up to dance the
popular song Caminito de Guarenas
interpreted in impish spirit by the
Atalaya Ensemble.
But on December 17, 2008, they
were subdued. They were stepping on
ground where, for a long time, there
was practically nothing, where existence had left proof of its fleetingness
in the bloodiest possible manner.
In Hiroshima, the musicians of the
SJVSB lived what was possibly one of
the episodes that has most touched
their emotions offstage, much more,
perhaps, than those many other times
when the public gathers outside the
theater, forming a kind of red carpet
to get their autographs, give them
flowers or applaud them as they walk
by trying to sum up what they feel
in a “Thank you”; much more than
when journalists from all over the
world jostle to get the best photo
or a statement, which they offer in
the most natural manner possible,
or when a solitary Venezuelan flag
waves among spectators who may
not even have a very clear idea of
where the country where the musicians they have just seen are from.
That day, in Hiroshima, they learned
a great lesson.
It has not always been easy. In Tokyo,
the pianist Martha Argerich lifted
her gaze, did a slow sweep of the
orchestra, and said to them: “Don’t
think that the Japanese are going
to stand up to applaud. They’re not
the kind of audience that does that.”
The Venezuelans bit their lips. They
did not pale with fright, but they did
blush at the warning. That evening,
they went on stage without vacillation and obeying just one rule: to be
themselves. When the first part came
to an end, a man stood up and applauded at length; then he set off for
the dressing room. It was the famous
Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa. For
some that was it, but, at the end of
the concert, they put the sobriety of
the Japanese to the test, who not only
stood up but wrestled to get one of
the musicians’ tricolor jackets.
During a concert at the Berliner
Philharmonie in September 2008,
Gustavo Dudamel did not know
what to do when he realized that
all the musicians had already gone
backstage and many of the spectators
were still applauding. Stay backstage
or come out again? There was no
protocol for that situation… In
a spontaneous gesture, he came
back with a few members of the
orchestra, who found themselves in
a situation for which they had never
rehearsed, just as they will never be
able to ­rehearse the emotions they
­experience on each stage.
(Venezuelan journalist)
How should they play in that city,
today rebuilt, after seeing the burnt
out tricycle, no longer merely an object but the metaphor of so many lost
lives? “With more force,” answered
one of the violinists, and perhaps
that phrase sums up the musicians’
attitude on and off the stages where
they have received long ovations even
from the harshest audiences.
Once inside the theater, changes in
the time zone and having to cope
with low temperatures don’t matter.
It matters more that, when least
they expect it, a musician whom
Paying tribute to those who fell in Hiroshima, 2008
31
Maestro Alfredo Rugeles with Monserrat Caballé
ne of the most distinctive attributes of
the Simón Bolívar Venezuelan Youth
­Symphony Orchestra from the start has been
its large number of players –normally between
150 and 200–, as well as its capacity to adopt
­different formats. Thanks to the National
System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras,
Venezuela has become the biggest “producer”
of musicians in the world, which means that
it can count on any number of professional
players and be strictly selective when it comes
to ­putting together an orchestral ensemble that
will cause an impact for the premières of new
works or important international engagements.
some ­musicians tried to describe to me what
was happening here in Venezuela with regard to
the number of child and adolescent musicians
who are being trained. And I couldn’t believe it
until I saw it with my own eyes, right from the
time I arrived… It was like an invasion of players
everywhere: lots of them at the Montalbán Children’s Center, many more at the Teresa ­Carreño
­Theater, a fair number at the San Agustín
Nucleus, another army at the Simón Bolívar
Conservatory, and, finally, this immense orchestra, in every sense the word, the Simón Bolívar
Symphony Orchestra. Having an orchestra of
this magnitude is every conductor’s dream.”
The point is that this is not just a question of
numbers; it has to do with the reaction caused
by watching a general rehearsal with 250
musicians and a choir of more than 250 voices,
for example. It is no secret that some of the
conductors who have been invited to conduct
the SJVSB feel some trepidation when it comes
to standing before that immense orchestra.
Since its early days, Abreu has allowed other
important Venezuelan batons to polish his
diamond. In the 1980s, the SJVSB began to
adapt itself to a variety of styles: from the rigor
of Maestro ­Gonzalo Castellanos Yumar they
went to the ­inspired baton of Inocente Carreño,
and then they had to respond to the demands of
the younger Venezuelan maestros, among them
Aldemaro Romero, Juan Carlos Núñez, Carlos
­Riazuelo, ­Alfredo Rugeles, Felipe Izcaray, Eduardo Marturet, Pablo Castellanos, Ulyses Ascanio,
Leonardo Panigada, and Rodolfo Saglimbeni.
For others, however, it is an extraordinarily
stimulating experience as Simon Rattle would
put it, for example, who on his first visit to
Venezuela in 2004 commented to us: “In Berlin,
32
The great
baton’s dream
Baptismal fire under our conductors
Inocente Carreño
“Without the efforts of such a special man as
José Antonio Abreu, we Venezuelans would
not have an orchestra of such a high level.
The SJVSB has been classified as one of the
­American Continent’s most outstanding
ensembles and, for that reason, it has earned the
right to appear on the world’s most prestigious
stages, always displaying its artistic quality and
living up to the musical movement it comes
from, which is none other than the revolutionary System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras
of Venezuela.”
Eduardo Marturet
“I made my début as a conductor in Venezuela
with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra,
so it’s the orchestra with which I’ve had the most
intense and permanent relationship. Its members
are my musical brothers and sisters and I hold
them in great esteem and admire them deeply
for having been the forgers of the System of
Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela.
What has most impressed me about this orchestra over the years is its unique ability to assume
an exemplary professional attitude. And if we’re
talking about its most strongly identifiable musical qualities, I’d have to say they are its versatility
of styles and the richness of its repertoire. Its
temperament lives up to its name: it’s an emotive,
passionate and unbeatable orchestra.”
Aldemaro Romero
“The SJVSB is fully entitled to compare itself
with any other orchestra of its rank in the world.
In fact, it frequently represents us abroad before
very demanding audiences and is always applauded for its excellence. It is also an ensemble
that is distinguished by its versatility, its ability to
perform the broadest and most varied musical repertoires. The individual competence of
its teachers, many of them soloists of exceptional merit, vouches for the natural talent that
young Venezuelan musicians from all parts of
the country have, all of which confirms the
widespread opinion that our country is the
­indisputable center of the development and
progress of music in our continent.”
Juan Carlos Núñez
“I think the main challenge I’ve faced since 1975,
when I joined the National Youth Orchestra
of Venezuela as guest conductor, was to get the
players to understand that western music has
a series of demanding rules and that classical
music is simply a matter of accepting the history
of universal music and its inexorable aesthetic
rules. I’ll always remember the immense love
and respect I received from those excellent
and memorable young founding members.
On the professional level, I have to admit that
I learned that, in art and creation, youth is so
tremendously generous and, thanks to that,
it has been possible for this great Venezuelan
musical experience to come to fruition. The
certainty that all this was and continues to be
real is something that will be impossible to erase
from our memories.”
Pablo Castellanos
The orchestra gradually began to gain impetus, considerable emotional strength, pro­
fessionalism, and experience. Section “A”, the
pioneers, the founding orchestra, has overwhelming energy, whereas Section “B”, totally
in keeping with its youth, is fresh and vigorous.
It has all the qualities one can find in any of the
great European orchestras. I can say that each
work I’ve performed with its musicians, from
Bach and Vivaldi to Mahler and Stravinsky, or
the Venezuelan and Latin American ­composers,
has been a wonderful experience. With this
orchestra, excellence knows no bounds… Even
though a concert may sound extraordinary, the
musicians themselves show you that it can always
be done better. This constant challenging is
priceless for a conductor.
Inocente Carreño, Alberto Grau, Antonio Estévez,
Rodolfo Saglimbeni, Pablo Castellanos, Leonardo
Panigada, and Eduardo Marturet
Alfredo Rugeles
With the international batons
“Since 1991, I’ve been privileged to carry out
projects of an exceptionally high artistic level
with the SVJSB in my role as its artistic director
and, naturally, to accompany it on successful
international tours. There is no doubt that its
evolution has been dramatic. The orchestra
I heard in 1981 has made unquestionable and
great progress. It has managed to consolidate
its position not only at home but abroad as
well. The recordings the orchestras made
under the baton of Eduardo Mata are proof of
that. The ensemble has achieved considerable
maturity and the outlook for its future is the
best. The orchestra’s style and artistic temperament is tremendously vital and energetic; the
SJVSB has blood in its veins, always seeks to
obtain good results, and is full of drive. Its forte,
musically speaking, is the Russian composers, in particular Prokofiev, Rimsky-Korsakov,
Shostakovich, and Tchaikovsky; it also sounds
very good with works from the post-romantic
repertoire –Mahler and Strauss-, not forgetting
the great classics such as Mozart and Beethoven.
However, we can’t leave out Latin American
music and some of its emblematic works, such
as Estévez’s Cantata Criolla. Its most solid row is
the strings, and of those its first violins and cellos
are the most outstanding.”
Distinguished international conductors of
­varying tastes and demands have raised their batons before the SVJSB, among them: Eduardo
Mata, Carlos Chávez, Enrique Demiecke, and
Eduardo Díazmuñoz (Mexico); Simon Rattle
and Benjamin Zander (England); Claudio
Abbado, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Silvio Barbato, and
Andrea Morricone (Italy); Daniel Barenboim
(Argentina–Israel); Lorin Maazel, Jaime Laredo,
and Carl St. Clair (United States); Placido
­Domingo, Theo Alcántara, Edmon Colomer,
and Manuel Galduf (Spain); Zubin Mehta
­(India); Krzysztof Penderecki, Jerzy Semkov, and
Stanislaw Wislocki (Poland); Mstilav Rostropovich ­(Russia); Shunsaku Tsutsumi (Japan);
Peter Maag (Switzerland); Sung Kwak (Korea);
Maximiano Valdés (Chile); Simón Blech (Germany); Esa Pekka-Salonen and Kalervo Kulmala
(Finland); Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Georg Mark,
and George Cleve (Austria); Federico García
Vigil (Uruguay); Jorge Sarmientos (Guatemala);
Helmuth Rilling and Jan Wagner (Germany);
Sergiu Comissiona (Rumania); Mario Benzecry
­(Argentina); Keri-Lynn Wilson (Canada); and
Isaac Karabtchevsky (Brazil).
Rodolfo Saglimbeni
“I began with the SJVSB playing trumpet
when the ensemble was still known as the Juan
José Landaeta National Youth Orchestra of
Venezuela. My relationship with the Simón
Bolívar Orchestra began after I completed my
studies in orchestral conducting in England, and
for years I have had the honor of conducting
it at many concerts, something that has taught
me a tremendous amount and given me lots of
experience. Many Venezuelan directors owe our
careers to the SJVSB and the System of Youth
and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela, which
is the very best pool of talent any country could
have for developing our profession. I’ve always
been and always will be very proud to have been
part of this group.”
The Mexican conductor and composer ­Eduardo
Mata “fell in love with and was married to” the
SJVSB, until his sudden death in 1995 and, let
the truth be said, he spent several years devoting
himself to guiding it along a path of clear artistic
evolution. No musician of the SJVSB is unaware
of his influence. “His arrival in Venezuela was
decisive for our orchestra’s pursuit of excellence.
When he heard us for the first time, he didn’t
Maestro Theo Alcántara
34
seem all that convinced. ­However, after several
rehearsals, he said to us: ‘Kids, I didn’t believe in
you and I offer you my apologies’,” recall Edgar
Saume and Frank Di Polo.
In honoring Mata’s contribution to the growth of
our SJVSB, Abreu comments: “Mata was, in his
day, a conductor of continental stature. He was
a man of amazing intellectual leadership when
it came to training the upcoming generation of
musicians. He understood music as an instrument at the service of a Latin American ideal, as a
path leading to an identity of our own, and he aspired to develop a continental school of thought
through music. That is why he chose the Simón
Bolívar Symphony Orchestra to head up
a vast movement aimed at the reconstruction and
rescue of the Latin American symphonic repertoire and at gaining it international recognition.
It is fair to say that Mata internationalized the
Simón Bolívar, reaffirmed in it a personality of its
own, and gave it a very important sense of mission
in the Latin American and Caribbean context.”
However, with the dawning of the 21st century,
Abreu knew that something was missing, that
“magic baton,” preferably with a Latin American
temperament, world charisma, and the same
freshness and free spirit as the SJVSB; an artist
who was in tune with and temperamentally on
the same wave length as its young players; a personality who would emerge from the System’s
own ranks. And Gustavo Dudamel appeared.
Eduardo Mata
“They exceeded all my expectations. Our Latin
American composers have acquired recognition thanks to the conviction with which the
SJVSB has interpreted them. Beethoven sounds
as though he belongs to us all… and our Latin
composers sound as though they had left us
their souls. May this experience encourage us to
carry on, to always keep this continental ideal in
mind.”
Zubin Mehta
“When I arrived in Caracas, and after my first rehearsal with you, I stated that the Simón Bolívar
Symphony Orchestra had given me the surprise
of my life. Now, as I say goodbye to the orchestra, I want to offer you my congratulations
and warmest regards for the excellent level and
highest professionalism that you have shown
you have. I ratify my hopes that Europe and the
United States will very soon be able to get to
know firsthand this group that so magnificently
represents the young people of Latin America,
and of which the government and people of
Venezuela can be proud.”
Carlos Chávez
“I was astonished to see and hear an orchestra
playing well and with absolute devotion, because
when playing it is essential to give oneself up to
it, to do it with devotion. The youngsters of the
Youth Orchestra of Venezuela knew what they
were doing.”
Above: Maestros Mario Benzecry
and Mehli Mehta.
Midle: Krzysztof Penderecki and
Mstilav Rostropovich.
Below: Maestro Primo Casale, the
conductor Akira Endo, and the
conductor and composer Marlos
Nobre.
35
The Mexican conductor Eduardo Mata
The sound of a continent
A full agenda of concerts and having
come to grips with an extensive
symphonic repertoire (particularly
Latin American works) for more
than thirty years tempted the Simón
Bolívar Venezuelan Youth Orchestra
to try its luck in the record market.
Between 1980 and 1981, the SJVSB
recorded three LPs. The first contains
Suite Margariteña and Obertura
No. 4 Galleguiana, both by Inocente
Carreño; Suite Taurepan by Rhazés
Hernández López, and Móviles by José
Luis Muñoz. It also includes works by
36
Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi and Milhaud
conducted by Inocente Carreño and
José Antonio Abreu. The second LP,
dedicated to the Venezuelan guitarist
Alirio Díaz, consists of works by
Antonio Lauro, Joaquín Rodríguez,
Telemann, Marcello, Bach and the
Venezuelan Simón Álvarez conducted
by Felipe Izcaray, Simón Álvarez, and
Abreu. The third features the mezzosoprano Morella Muñoz as soloist
interpreting works by Rossini and also
includes works by Carlos Chávez,
Rossini, and Tchaikovsky, under the
baton of José Antonio Abreu.
Between 1991 and 1997, Eduardo
Mata and the SJVSB worked on a
titanic project, which consisted of
compiling and interpreting works
from the Latin American repertoire
for a series of new CDs under the
US record label Dorian Recordings,
in which they were joined by the
conductors Maximiliano Valdés,
Enrique Diemeque and Keri-Lynn
Wilson. The works they recorded
were: Cantata criolla by Antonio
Estévez and Choros Nº 10 by Heitor
Villa-Lobos (CD 1991); Redes and
Sensamayá by Silvestre Revueltas,
Concerto Grosso by Julián Orbón,
Pampeana N°3 by Alberto Ginastera
(CD 1992); Tres versiones Sinfónicas
by Julián Orbón, Bachiana brasilera
Nº 2 by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Medio
día en el llano by Antonio Estévez,
and Sinfonía india by Carlos Chávez
(CD 1993); La vida breve by Manuel
de Falla (CD 1993); Latin American
ballets with works by Villa-Lobos,
Chávez, and Ginastera (CD 1994);
Amor brujo, Siete canciones populares
españolas, Homenajes, Danzas from
El sombrero de tres picos by Manuel de
Falla (CD 1994); Caramelos latinos
with pieces by Ginastera, Revueltas,
Moncayo, Carreño, and Plaza (CD
1995); S­ infonía Victoria Nº 4, Amazonas, Concerto Nº 2 for cello and orchestra
by Heitor Villa-Lobos (CD 1995);
and Danzón with works by Márquez,
Álvarez, Nober, Buxtehude-Chávez,
Revueltas, García Caturla,
and Fernández (CD 1997).
A third series of recordings
were made between 2005
and 2010. Under the baton
of Maestros Abbado and
Dudamel, four compact discs saw the
light of day thanks to the German record label Deutsche Grammophon:
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67,
and Symphony No. 7 in A, Op. 92, by
Beethoven, conducted by Gustavo
Dudamel (CD 2006), which was
nominated for a Grammy award
in 2007; Symphony No. 5 in C Sharp
minor by Mahler, also conducted
by Dudamel (CD 2007); a third
CD, Fiesta, received with tremendous applause, contains pieces by
several Latin American c­ omposers:
Revueltas, Carreño,
Estévez, Márquez,
Ginastera, Castellanos,
and Bernstein (CD
2008); and under the
baton of Abbado, they
recorded the CD that
contains only works by Beethoven,
among them the Concerto for Piano,
Violin, and Cello in C, Op.56 and Piano
Concerto (CD 2008).
Deutsche Grammophon also made a
documentary entitled “The Promise
of Music,” which presents the SJVSB
and with its conductor Gustavo
­Dudamel interpreting
pieces by Ginastera,
­Bernstein, Beethoven,
and Moncayo, together
with the System’s most
­outstanding personalities
and youth and children’s
orchestras (Germany. DVD 2008).
In 2010, Deutsche Grammophon
set up shop in Caracas for two weeks
and made the recordings for another
CD during concerts conducted
by Abbado and Dudamel with the
SJVSB at their new venue, the Simón
Bolívar Concert Hall at the Center
for Social Action through Music.
The repertoire of this new CD consists of works by Mahler, Stravinsky,
Revueltas, and other Latin American
composers.
This is how the critics
heard them
“The CD, which has
already captivated
music lovers in many
countries, not only airs the great
works of Estévez in a way that is
impeccable acoustically, but sets the
maestro alongside those of his peers
who have explored mass orchestras
and choirs: Carl Orff, Ginastera, and
Penderecki. The first person to have
been surprised by this interpretation
must have been Estévez himself.
While remaining absolutely true to
the composer, Mata manages to lend
a rhapsodic dimension, both archaic
and sophisticated, to the score’s every
detail. Those Venezuelan secrets of
the universe are embodied in the
resonant myth of Florentino and the
Devil with the splendor and thunder
of a revelation.” (José Balza,
El Nacional, Caracas. 1993)
among the gypsies of Granada. On
another plane, it is a sampling of the
­flourishing musical life of South
America. It was recorded in Caracas,
with Eduardo Mata conducting the
exquisite Simón Bolívar Symphony
Orchestra and a cast led by mezzosoprano Marta Senn.” (The Washington Post, Washington DC. 1994)
“Beethoven’s music clearly means
the world to these players, and they
embrace it as a shining symbol of
their own optimism, and hope for
a better future than most kids of
their generation are likely to know.
(…) The orchestra sounds solid in all
departments, and there are characterful flute and oboe solos. The sound is
clean if somewhat recessed, adding
little glamour to performances
strong enough musically not to
require any studio sweetening.
A sensational debut disc.” (Chicago
Tribune. 2006)
“On one level, this CD offers a
first-class production of the short,
­passionate and “flamencoesque”
opera of love, betrayal and death
37
Leaving emotions
in their wake
fter each concert, when the stage is in
darkness and the audience has made its way
out into the street, a thousand sensations are left
floating in the air and in the hearts of those who
have vibrated with our SJVSB. And the name
of Venezuela is on everyone’s lips as the present
and future fountain of world music, as Maestro
José Antonio Abreu well points out when he
says: “The Orchestra’s successes are the country’s
successes; that is why it bears the name of Simón
Bolívar, because it represents a continental deal.”
Below are some testimonies from personalities
who have been impressed by the talent and
technique of our young musicians.
these Venezuelan musicians; and, last of all, it’s
the clearest proof of the great work undertaken
for many years now, and with much struggle, by
Maestro José Antonio Abreu.”
1986
Enrique Iglesias
(President of the Inter-American
Development Bank)
“It was a moving and amazing performance by
the National Children’s Orchestra and I think
it’s been a demonstration of the vigor, creativity, and strength of the Venezuelan people,
expressed through their child musicians.”
René Koering
(Artistic Director, Montpellier Festival, France)
“The Simón Bolívar Symphony’s performance
was a festival of fire, joy and love. What we’re
seeing is amazing. The public won’t leave, in
spite of the rain and the wind. The French don’t
behave like this, not even the people of Montpellier. This concert will have repercussions in
the future and I’m sure that this orchestra will be
regularly invited to the most important musical
festivals of Europe.”
Arturo Uslar Pietri
(Venezuelan writer)
“This evening’s concert in Paris was an extraordinary performance by the Simón Bolívar Orchestra and it means a lot for these young people
who are gradually making a way for themselves
in the difficult European world of music. On the
other hand, it confirms the quality and talent of
38
Alegría Beracasa
(Sponsor and president of the Beracasa
Foundation)
“This is extraordinary. Having heard them in the
open air has confirmed that the Simón Bolívar
Symphony Orchestra is an ensemble that dares
to do anything and can produce top quality music under any conditions. After this first evening,
the next concerts will be even bigger successes.”
1998
Federico Mayor
(Director General of the UNESCO)
“We don’t need interpreters or translators here.
We’re all deeply moved and that’s why we’ve decided that these children must return to Europe
to bring their message of comfort, strength, and
joy, which is what this orchestra symbolizes. I
must congratulate Venezuela, a country based
on examples. One example is worth more than a
thousand sermons.”
2002
2006
Aldo Cecato
(Italian musical director)
“What I’ve heard and seen seems to me as unforgettable as it’s fantastic. The Youth Symphony
Orchestra is an orchestra of young people we
don’t have in Italy, a splendid example for us, a
lesson not only in music but also of the highest
level of education.”
Bruno Aprea
(Conductor and Orchestra Conducting Chair
at Saint Cecilia Conservatory)
“I feel truly moved when I hear this extraordinary,
exceptional orchestra that goes directly to the
heart of the music. These youngsters have not lost
the state of virginity that the classical musician
with traditional training no longer has and that
produces an impact that is truly mysterious. They
are splendid ambassadors of Venezuela.”
Ula Reuter
(Alternative Nobel Prize Laureate 2001)
“I was overcome with emotion throughout
the entire concert. All this has taken me totally
by surprise. They’re fantastic. This is the best
orchestra I’ve ever heard; the spiritual strength
they transmit is fantastic. These young musicians
have given a new meaning to music”.
Marta Argerich
2007
Jürg Reinshagen
(Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the
Lucerne Festival)
“I was absolutely ecstatic at the performance of
the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra. Seeing
those very young musicians, from the first row to
the last, playing for life was magnificent.”
Paul Müller
(Director of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra)
“It was marvelous, truly extraordinary. It’s the
first time I’ve heard this orchestra play and I, like
the rest of the audience, went crazy immediately
after the performance.”
2005
Marta Argerich
(International pianist)
“I’m totally moved. It’s been an unforgettable
experience. The Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra is on a par with the greatest orchestras,
even the Berlin Philharmonic… I’ve never heard
anything like it. It’s quite extraordinary how they
play and it’s a joy to listen to them. The musical result is something out of this world. Many
thanks for this gift of passion and life.”
Michael Ladenburger
(President of the Beethoven-Haus Society)
“It was a marvelous concert, special, a unique moment. Seeing two thousand people from Bonn
who came to listen to the Venezuelans is something that had never ever happened in Germany.”
Abreu accompanied by his disciples when he receives the Prince of Asturias Award
in Oviedo, Spain
39
The crowning moment
When a musical milestone is
about to happen, time triggers the
emotions and a powerful rush of
adrenaline. That Friday evening, July
23, 2004, the Ríos Reyna Concert
Hall was filled to capacity and the
audience was strangely impatient.
Back in the dressing rooms, the tension grew as the time to go on stage
drew near. The perfumes of the two
soloists –Kate Royal (soprano) and
Isabel Palacios (mezzo-soprano)–
wafted like fragrant tendrils among
the 300 voices of the choir; in private,
a conductor accustomed to grand
occasions, caressed his magic wand
in preparation for his best trick with
English composure. It was time. The
bell rang at 8:00 p.m., and there out
in front of the audience, filling up the
stage were the 250 young musicians
of the Simón Bolívar V
­ enezuelan
Youth Symphony Orchestra,
­impeccably attired in evening dress,
and, crammed together almost like
a backdrop of faces, the enormous
choir conducted by María Guinand.
A unique musical and artistic gift was
about to be revealed: Gustav Mahler’s
Resurrection. And at the precise moment when the door opened to let the
British conductor, Simon Rattle, on
stage, an endless stream of emotions
took possession of the youngsters of
the Simón Bolívar Venezuelan Youth
Symphony Orchestra. Fluttering in
their memories were every indication,
each piece of advice, and all the
demands Rattle had made on them
during a week of rehearsals.
Inspired to the maximum, they
­started the sound “banquet”
40
o­ verflowing with nuances and
heavenly passages and a depth only
achieved by veteran players of the
world’s most prestigious orchestras.
Gustav Mahler’s Resurrection
Symphony, Rattle’s favorite musical
work, found a rich combination in
Caracas: on the one hand the skill
and considerable experience of a conductor who works each movement,
each piece, each row of instruments
with delicate precision to achieve a
clear, precise musical discourse; and
on the other, an orchestra composed
of young musicians capable of reviving a dense work, narrating with a
brilliant performance the triumph of
the return to life with which Mahler
closes one of his greatest creations.
A burst of applause, a standing
ovation that lasted for more than
fifteen minutes, the like of which
has hardly ever been heard before in
our country, and being called back
for seven bows confirmed to Rattle
and our SJVSB that this was the
starting point of a new chapter for
the System. Then the conductor of
the Berlin Philharmonic knew that
he had not exaggerated when he told
the Venezuelan media that “what is
happening here in Venezuela is a true
resurrection of symphonic music.”
For Abreu, his boys and girls, and
his great undertaking, the System of
Youth and Children’s Orchestras of
Venezuela, that evening was the crowning moment of thirty years of work.
We all know what happened after
that… success upon success in all parts
of the world and the satisfaction and
the pride of a country that, at last, had
found a cultural emblem to identify it.
Nicholas Kenyon
(Director of The Proms organized by the BBC)
“On behalf of the BBC Proms, I would like to
thank you for giving us one of the most memorable evenings in our entire history. It’s a privilege
to have you here. Your execution was something
wonderful. You have, quite simply, made a deep
impression on the audience. This work has really
inspired us.”
John Eliot Gardiner
(British conductor)
“The energy that comes from the conductor
and the orchestra is fantastic. It gives one hope
for living in this world. It’s fascinating and I loved
it. I never imagined that music could produce
something like that.”
Marshal Marcus
(Musical Director of the Royal Festival Hall)
“This is something unique. The energy of these
musicians cannot be compared to that of
other ensembles. This has possibly been one of
the most exciting Proms I’ve seen in the past
25 years. It’s clear that Dudamel is part of the
orchestra and that he hands over the conducting
to each of its parts, with the result that everyone
becomes a conductor. It’s unique, fantastic.”
Jonathan Mills
(Director of the Edinburgh International
Festival)
“This is a great evening in a very special year for
Edinburgh, because our festival is celebrating its
60th anniversary. And it’s a great honor for us
to celebrate it with the presence of the Simón
Bolívar Venezuelan Youth Symphony Orchestra. They have literally raised the roof of the
magnificent Usher Hall Theater. There is great
excitement in the air.”
2008
Esa-Pekka Salonen
(Finnish composer and conductor)
“This is a marvelous coincidence… And more
so, for me to stand before the Simón Bolívar
­Venezuelan Youth Symphony Orchestra for the
first time to conduct my own work. Listening to
the orchestra and feeling that there is so much
life in the composition is something I never
imagined.”
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
(Austrian conductor)
“It was an unforgettable experience. It’s incredible The SJVSB at the headquarters of the OAS, Washington
how all the members of the orchestra manage to
join together and achieve such a high level of conEuropean audiences already consider them part
centration. They play each of the notes without
of the family. We hope to be able to count on
losing the smallest detail of the indications.”
the presence of these young musicians on many
more occasions.”
Markus Hinterhäuser
(Concert Director of the Salzburg Festival)
“It’s something really important and we are proud Fan Tao
(Principle Conductor of the National
and honored to have the Simón Bolívar NaBroadcasting and Film Symphony
tional Youth Orchestra of Venezuela here. This
undertaking includes an enormous project; I feel Orchestra of China)
“It’s the first time I’ve seen something like this
we have to learn from and be respectful towards
happen here. The audience paid attention
them because they are a great example for us.”
throughout and, for the first time, they gave
a standing ovation. That never happens with
Michael Haefliger
the Chinese.”
(Artistic and Executive Director of the
Lucerne Festival)
“It was a great interpretation where they infected Chen Ping
(President of China’s National Centre for
the audience with their joy. The Swiss and
the Performing Arts)
“Impeccable. The extraordinarily high level with
which they interpret works, that passion, that
joy… an unbeatable delivery. They surpassed all
expectations. This is a perfect reason for continuing to think of future performances by the
Venezuelan musicians at our cultural complex.”
41
Sung Kawak
(Music director)
“This has been the most exciting concert I have
ever seen in this theater. I’ve performed many
concerts in this hall with different orchestras, but today the audience’s reception was
­unprecedented. I feel Venezuelan and consider
myself part of the family; I’ve given my heart
to this project, from start finish. The work that
Maestro Abreu has done is a miracle.”
Seikyo Kim
(Music director)
“This orchestra knew how to reach the hearts
of the Japanese in a way not often seen in this
country.”
International Forum Hall, Tokyo
Power in Lucerne
Power
in Lucerne
Lucerne, a city accustomed to grand
musical events, a venue considered
the acid test for new figures emerging
on the symphonic music scene,
as well as for consolidating the
reputations of those who are already
known, waited expectantly for the
four performances by the Simón
Bolívar Venezuelan Youth Orchestra,
which had been invited to the Spring
Festival as the resident orchestra
(which means taking on the greater
part of the repertoire and the program’s star performances). And our
orchestra got itself ready to triumph
under four batons, no less: Claudio
Abbado, Gustavo Dudamel, Diego
Matheuz, and Christian Vásquez.
42
The occasion, from March 18
through 21, 2010, turned out to be a
veritable banquette for the critics on
the one hand, and a two-edged sword
for the Venezuelan musicians and the
System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela, on the other.
It was a perfect opportunity for the
public and the organizers to experience firsthand the “artistic miracles”
produced by this orchestra network
and three Venezuelan conductors:
Dudamel, already a superstar, and his
no less talented fellow countrymen
Matheuz and Vásquez, also totally
trained by Abreu.
The engagement at the Lucerne
Festival started with the concert
conducted by Abbado, who has
worked very closely with the System
since 2004, taking up residence in
Venezuela from time to time to put
the more advanced and higher status
orchestras through their paces. The
interpretations of the Scythian Suite,
Op. 20, by Sergei Prokofiev, the Suite
from the opera “Lulu” by Alberg
Berg (with the participation of the
English soprano Anna Prohaska),
and Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique were
enthusiastically received by the
nearly two thousand people filling
the concert hall. The critics described
the performance by Abbado and our
SJVSB as “a divine exercise in feeling
and beauty.”
A spectacular trio
The extraordinary interest in the
trio of Venezuelan conductors and
the presence of our SJVSB could be
measured by the sale of the tickets
(1,840 seats), sold out two months before the event, which was considered
quite a feat by the Lucerne Festival’s
organizers. But the clearest proof of
this fervent interest was the burst of
applause that greeted Dudamel as
soon as the audience saw him enter to
take his place on the podium; a tribute from the audience that Gustavo
thanked, as always, with his radiant
smile. Dudamel swiftly raised his baton to offer the second concert with
a gratifying and ambitious program:
the symphonic poem Francesca da
2009
of the Youth and Children’s Orchestras of
­Venezuela, which are an inspiration to the world.”
Neale Pearl
(President of the Washington Performing
Arts Society, WPAS)
“It is a huge honor for us to be able to present
this orchestra. We’ve been anxious to do this for
a long time, and now it’s finally possible. We too
are focusing on undertaking educational and
social activities, and what better example that
the Venezuelan System.”
Deborah Borda
(President of the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Association)
“I’ve heard them in Caracas, Europe, and Los
Angeles. It’s a special emotion every time. What
concerts like this do is to spread the message
Rimini, Opus 32 by Tchaikovsky and
Richard Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony,
which captivated music lovers and the
general public alike.
And, as is already customary, the
fiesta of the encores would not have
been complete without the popular
music from our American Continent
(Revueltas, Bernstein, and others),
whose infectious rhythms made the
audience lose its composure and,
in the words of the reporters of the
Swiss press, “become totally and
absolutely delirious to the sound of
mambos and other tropical rhythms,
while the musicians and their conductor enjoyed themselves playing and
dancing with their instruments.”
Then it was the turn of the third concert for the young baton, Christian
Vásquez, whose name is on everyone’s
lips in the international circuit as a
result of his successful performances
with Radio France’s Philharmonic
Orchestra in 2008 and the Israel
Symphony Orchestra in January
2010. Vásquez’s had it far from easy,
Bemhard Kerres
(Executive Director of the Konzerthaus,
Vienna)
“This is something I’d never experienced before.
The reaction of the audience was unbelievable.
What makes this orchestra different from the
thousands I’ve listened to in my lifetime is not
only the energy it transmits, but they way they
give their all in each interpretation.”
Mario Vargas Llosa
(Peruvian writer)
“It’s simply a magnificent orchestra. I admire it.”
as the two previous concerts (with
Abbado and Dudamel) received the
unstinting praise of the critics.
But Vásquez measured up and more
than met the challenge: in Lucerne
he shone in his own right thanks
to his well balanced choreography,
his carefully administered doses of
energy, and his perfect communication with the SJVSB. The sparkling
William Tell Overture by Rossini, the
Danzas from Ginastera’s ballet La
Estancia, Santa Cruz de Pacairigua, by
the V
­ enezuelan Evencio Castellanos,
and, to close, Danzón by Arturo
Márquez revealed a truly bright
promise in orchestral conducting.
To close, the Lucerne Festival ceded
the podium to the conductor Diego
Matheuz, who arrived surrounded
by an aura of positive comments as
a result of his performance in Italy,
alongside his “guide” in Europe,
Maestro Abbado. Received by the
audience with a long ovation, the
conductor, who, like Dudamel, is
also from Lara, vigorously conducted
Symphony No. 10 by Shostakovich
and demonstrated his maturity in
the Concerto for violin and orchestra
by Beethoven, interpreted by the
­German soloist Kolja Blachner.
It was an intense week and a golden
opportunity during which our
SJVSB excelled itself and once again
held its triumphal flag on high, giving
performances that marked another
milestone in its artistic career.
43
Around the world with the Simón Bolívar
Venezuelan Youth Symphony Orchestra
A gust of vitality and freshness has blown through a fair number of the world’s prestigious music venues in the
past 35 years. As the 21st century advances, the admiration awakened by the SJVSB and the National Youth and
Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela grows in crescendo. Unlike many ensembles of its kind, it has a very busy
agenda of international concert engagements and invitations.
1975
Mexico and Colombia
Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
(Mexico)
III Festival Internacional de Tunja
(Colombia)
This was the SJVSB’s first international
tour. They traveled in the company of
the Aragua Philharmonic Choir and
the Venezuelan pianist David Ascanio
was the soloist. The conductors were
Maestro Juan Carlos Núñez (Mexico)
and José Antonio Abreu (Colombia).
1992
1976
UK, Colombia, Ecuador and
Mexico
Aberdeen Festival, His Majesty’s Theatre
(Scotland)
1980
1982
Teatro Colón, Bogotá, y Teatro
de Popayán (Colombia).
Teatro Real de la Opera, Madrid; Teatro
de la Maestranza, Sevilla; Palau de la
Música, Barcelona; and Teatro de Las
Palmas, Canarias (Spain)
Colombia
Teatro Colón, Bogotá (Colombia)
National Theater, San José (Costa Rica)
Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, Quito
(Ecuador)
Teatro de la Universidad de San Juan
(Puerto Rico)
Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
(Mexico)
In Aberdeen, the SVJSB took part in the
Youth Orchestras Festival under the baton
of Maestro J. A. Abreu. Maestro Carlos
Chávez (†) was in charge of conducting in
Mexico.
1995
1996
Spain
France, Spain, and U.S.A.
Brasil and Chile
Teatro de la Maestranza, Sevilla; Teatro
Real de la Opera, Madrid (Spain)
Gran Salón de la UNESCO, Paris (France)
Teatro Amazonas, Manaos (Brazil)
Teatro Real de la Opera, Madrid, and San
Sebastián (Spain)
Gran Salón, Hotel Hyatt, Santiago,
during the 6th Ibero-American
Summit of Heads and State and
Government (Chile)
UNO Headquarters, New York, and
Kennedy Center, Washington (United
States)
The National Youth and Children’s
Orchestras took it in turns to perform
the concerts.
Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay
2001
2002
Berliner Philharmonie; Tonhalle,
Düsseldorf; Wandel Concert Hall,
Mergentheim; Harmonie Concert Hall,
Heilbronn; Philharmonic Concert Hall,
Munich; and in Hannover, Munster, and
Magdebur (Germany)
Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Teatro degli Arcimboldi, Milan;
Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia,
Rome; Teatro Comunale in Fiuggi;
Verdi Concert Hall, Florence; St.
Mark’s Basilica and St. Mark’s Square,
Venice (Italy)
Municipal Theater, Viña del Mar, and
Mapocho Cultural Center, Santiago (Chile)
SODRE Theater, Montevideo (Uruguay)
NORTH
AMERICA
Only the National Youth Orchestra
of Venezuela went on this tour.
Germany, Jamaica, and Brazil
2000
Spain, Costa Rica, and Puerto Rico
Italy, Germany, and Austria
VENEZUELA
Cologne Philharmonic Concert Hall;
Tonhalle, Düsseldorf; Berliner
Philharmonie; Kreuzkirche (Church of
the Cross), Dresden; Gewandhaus,
Leipzig; Munich Philharmonic Concert
Hall (Germany)
Kingston Theater, Kingston (Jamaica)
Itamaraty Palace and Recife Convention
Center, Pernambuco (Brazil)
The National Youth and National
Children’s Orchestras, both conducted by
Dudamel, took it in turns to perform. In
Pernambuco, they accompanied the
President of the Republic of Venezuela,
Hugo Chávez Frías.
SOUTH
AMERICA
Konzerthaus, Vienna, and Salzburg
Congress, Salzburg (Austria)
The National Youth Orchestra was
conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.
2008
Spain, Puerto Rico, Finland, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, China, Korea, and Japan
Auditorium, Miguel Delibes Cultural
Center, Valladolid; Auditorium, Zaragoza,
Aragón, and National Auditorium of
Spain, Madrid (Spain)
of the Mozarteum Theater, and GroBes
Festspielhaus, Salzburg (Austria)
Fine Arts Center and the Theater of the
University of Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico)
Berliner Philharmonie, Berlin; Alte Oper,
Frankfurt; Friedrich-Ebert-Halle,
Ludwigshafen, and Baden-Baden Theater,
Baden-Baden (Germany)
Finland Hall, Helsinki (Finland)
Lucerne Cultural Center (Switzerland)
Felsenreitschule Concert Hall, Great Hall
National Center for the Performing Arts
and the National Theater, Beijing (China)
Concert Hall at the Arts Center and
Seongnam Arts Center, Seoul (Korea)
Metropolitan Art Space and the
International Forum Hall, Tokyo;
Kosei-Nekin Kaikan, Hiroshima (Japan)
In Puerto Rico and Spain, Gustavo
Dudamel and Diego Matheuz took it in
2011
Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Austria, UK, and Turkey
Tour South America and Europe on the occasion of the Bicentennial Celebration of the Independence of Venezuela
44
turns to conduct the SJVSB.
In Austria, the Venezuelan symphony
orchestra was invited as a resident orchestra
for the Salzburg Festival.
1985
1986
1989
1991
Teatro Colón, Bogotá (Colombia)
Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Concertgebouw, Amsterdam (Holland)
Ecuadorian Culture Center, Quito and
Guayaquil (Ecuador)
Solís Theater, Montevideo (Uruguay)
Royal Festival Hall, London (England)
UNESCO Concert Hall and Great
Amphitheater of La Sorbonne (France)
UNESCO Concert Hall, Paris (France)
On this tour, the SJVSB was conducted
by the Mexican conductor, Maestro
Eduardo Mata (†).
Netzahualcoyolt Theater, Federal District,
and Manuel Doblado Theater, Guanajuato
(Mexico)
Colombia, Ecuador, and Brazil
Municipal Theater, Rio de Janeiro;
Villa-Lobos Concert Hall, Brasilia; Sao
Paulo; and Bello Horizonte (Brazil)
EUROPE
ASIA
Argentina, Uruguay, and France
1998
1999
France and Italy
Italy
Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City (Mexico)
UNESCO Concert Hall, Paris (France)
Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro;
Villa-Lobos Concert Hall at the
National Theater and Taguatinga Sports
Center, Brasilia; and Catedral da Sé, São
Paulo (Brazil)
Giuseppe Verdi Concert Hall, Milan
Conservatory; Teatro di San Carlo, Naples;
Teatro Verdi, Florence; the Cathedral in
Anagni during the Fiuggi Festival; Santa
Cecilia Conservatory, Rome; Clementine
Chapel, the Vatican (Italy)
Taormina Theater, Naples, and the
Theater in Fiuggi.
The National Youth Orchestra of
Venezuela and its National Children’s
Orchestra went on both these tours.
Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and
Germany
Municipal Theater, Viña del Mar; Mapocho
Cultural Center; and Santiago Cathedral
(Chile)
At the Vatican, they performed before Pope
John Paul II.
2006
Italy
Teatro Massimo, Palermo, and Accademia
Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rome
The SJVSB was conducted by Maestro
Claudio Abbado and Gustavo Dudamel.
SODRE Theater, Montevideo (Uruguay)
Münster Theater, Bonn; Essen Philharmonic
Concert Hall; Bremen Die Glocke, Hamburg;
and Berliner Philharmonie (Germany)
The Simón Bolívar Venezuelan Youth
Orchestra was led by Dudamel. They took
part in the Martha Argerich Music Festival in
Argentina and the Beethoven Music Festival
in Germany.
2009
Canada, Austria, Italy, France, USA, England, Spain, and Portugal
Four Seasons Performing Arts Centre,
Toronto (Canada)
South Bank Centre and Clore Ballroom,
London (England)
Vienna Konzerthaus (Austria)
National Auditorium of Music, Madrid;
Palau de la Música, Valencia; Kursaal
Auditorium, San Sebastián (Spain)
Salle Pleyel, Paris (France)
Jones Hall, Houston; Kennedy Center,
Washington, and Symphony Center,
Chicago (United States)
Bunkamura Orchard Hall, Tokyo; Kobe
Municipal Cultural Hall, Kobe; Century Hall
in the Nagoya Congress Center, Nagoya; and
Symphony Hall, Osaka (Japan)
1997
Teatro Argentino de La Plata; Luna Park
Stadium; Teatro Colón and El Coliseo,
Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Teatro alla Scala, Milan (Italy)
Mexico and Japan
Mexico and Brazil
2005
AFRICA
Holland, England, and France
Coliseau dos Recreios, Lisbon (Portugal)
All the SJVSB’s concerts were conducted
by Dudamel.
2010
In Fiuggi, the National Children’s
Orchestra of Venezuela performed under
the baton of Maestro Guiseppe Sinopoli
and made a recording for the RAI. The
National Youth and National Children’s
Orchestras took it in turns to perform.
2007
Spain, Switzerland, UK, Germany,
Mexico, U.S.A, and Cuba
Teatro de la Maestranza, Seville, and the
“Príncipe Felipe” Congress Hall-Auditorium,
Oviedo (Spain)
Kultur Und Kongress Zentrum, Lucerne
Festival (Switzerland)
The Proms (48ª season), Royal Albert Hall,
London (England)
Usher Hall, Edinburgh (Scotland)
Essen Philharmonic Concert Hall; Schleswig
Holstein, Lübeck; Gewandhaus, Leipzig;
Semperoper, Dresden; and Beethoven Festival
(Germany)
Elizondo Theater, Monterrey; Palacio Bellas
Artes, D.F. (Mexico)
Davies Hall, San Francisco; Walt Disney Hall, Los
Angeles, and Carnegie Hall, New York (U.S.A)
Amadeo Roldán Theater, Havana (Cuba)
Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Poland, Greece, and Spain
Concert Hall, Lucerne (Switzerland)
Concert Hall, Gothenburg;
Konserthus, Stockholm (Sweden)
Oslo Konserthus, Oslo (Norway)
Mariinsky Theater, Saint Petersburg;
Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, Moscow
(Russia)
Grand Theater – National Opera,
Warsaw (Poland)
Athens Concert Hall and Herod Atticus,
Athens (Greece)
The Royal House, La Alhambra – Palace
of Charles V, Granada (Spain)
45
Chapter
II
The forger
of dreams and realities
I will never be able to say “mission accomplished.”
Mine is a lifelong commitment, so for me
there can be no mission accomplished.
My mission is a process that has no end...
until God wills otherwise.
José Antonio Abreu
A stellar life
t would be possible to write an extensive biography of this Venezuelan, already a legend
among the exemplary men in our contemporary history; and it would also be possible to add
many more dates and numerous titles, awards,
and positions held. But above and beyond any
listing of achievements, there is one piece of
evidence that is overwhelming: the life of José
Antonio Abreu, a stellar journey to earth of a
privileged human being with a perfectly laid
out itinerary, strictly adhered to, and constantly
attaining new heights.
Thanks to his visionary mission, an ancestral
wisdom, and an internal passion that fuels his
will to work and his commitment, this man,
small of stature, fair-skinned, and of an amiable and decided disposition, has managed to
crystallize one of the most transcendental and
important cultural, artistic, and social programs
that Venezuela and Latin America have seen
in the 21st century. He has undertaken an
unending futuristic crusade to save thousands of
­Venezuelan children from spiritual and material
poverty and, with his model of coexistence,
48
incontrovertibly reflected in his orchestras, he
offers the world a key for peace: tolerate, include, and a­ cknowledge others in order to build
a world of progress and excellence.
There are no better data than those just
mentioned for compiling the résumé of J.A.A.,
a child born on May 7, 1939, –marked by
tenacious Taurus- in the town of Valera, Trujillo
state (Venezuela), and who, being the firstborn
of Ailie Anselmi and Melpómene Abreu,
absorbed from his parents and grandparents
the humanistic school of thought and a taste
for the arts. It was not by chance that he started
his musical studies at the age of nine with his
dear teacher, the pianist Doralisa de Medina, in
Barquisimeto, Lara state, at that time c­ onsidered
the music capital of Venezuela (a situation
that his Youth and Children’s Orchestras have
changed, because, today, all the country’s towns
are centers of music).
He started to live in Caracas in 1957. He
joined the José Ángel Lamas Higher School
of Music, where he became a disciple of great
­ enezuelan maestros such as Vicente Emilio
V
Sojo, with whom he studied composition;
Moisés Moleiro, his piano teacher; and Evencio
­Castellanos, who gave him organ and harpsichord lessons. In 1964, he received the titles
of Acting Professor and Master Composer.
Later he studied orchestral conducting under
Maestro Gonzalo Castellanos Yumar and began
to be invited to conduct Venezuela’s ­
main orchestras.
Despite these first opportunities as a musician,
his far from conformist but certainly highly
entrepreneurial spirit prompted him to conceive of a ­challenge: in 1975 he founded the
Juan José ­Landaeta National Youth Orchestra
of ­Venezuela, later to become known as the
Simón Bolívar Symphony Youth Orchestra of
­Venezuela, from whence the today successful
and world renowned Simón Bolívar Symphony
Orchestra, under the young baton of Gustavo
Dudamel, emerged. That year, Abreu took on the
task that was to become his life’s most brilliant
challenge: the Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation, of which he is the soul and guiding light.
the country and to thousands of Venezuelan
children and youngsters not only his managerial baton, but also his efforts as a strategist and
his untiring drive in the search for funding and
the support of institutions that have permitted
the development of Simón Bolívar Musical
Foundation over three and a half decades.
Thanks to his desire to become an all-round
leader, as he progressed along his musical path,
at the same time he was building an important career in planning and economics (he is
a graduate of Universidad Católica Andrés Bello
and has a Ph.D. in Petroleum Economics from
the University of Pennsylvania) as Planning
Director of CORDIPLAN and Advisor to the
National E
­ conomic Council. Between 1988
and 1994, having more than earned it and with
solid knowledge of the country’s cultural and
artistic milieu, he assumed the posts of Minister
of State for Culture and President of the National Cultural Council (CONAC), where his
innovation and dedication won him the respect
and admiration of all Venezuelan intellectuals
and creators.
The rest of his résumé is recent history. Since
1975, José Antonio Abreu has dedicated to
Maestro Abreu on a walk through Florence with members of the National Children’s Orchestra of Venezuela in 1988
49
José Antonio Abreu,
at the high point of his career
hirty-five years have elapsed since the name
of José Antonio Abreu, happily, began to
invade the lives of some Venezuelans. They
were those few but enthusiastic makers of
art, convicted philanthropists, and also young
musicians who became passionate believers
in his truly revolutionary proposal, which,
if successful, would throw out the window
everything imposed, thus far, in the country’s
conservatories and orchestras, at its concerts,
and on its stages. So the last two decades of the
20th century ran their course and that name
became the indispensible driving force behind
Venezuelan culture and its guiding light, and
today, upon completion of the first ten years of
the 21st century, this figure and his personality
have become a gift and a blessing for millions of
fellow countrymen and hope for children and
young people the world over.
As a Venezuelan, I am delighted to have had the
privilege of sharing and also of being a witness
during my three decades as a journalist to how
this Venezuelan has worked –at times extremely
hard and taking considerable risks, at others
swimming against the tide, but always with
courage and tenacity and satisfactory results-;
someone who insisted on keeping a low profile
with the media, always giving more credit to
50
his “boys and girls,” his teachers, and his fellow
workers, subordinates and managers, pushing
them into the limelight, and promoting collective achievements and the achievements of his
orchestras rather than his own.
That is the José Antonio Abreu who comes
across in this long interview, which became a
mosaic of subjects that have been developed
at different times and in different places. One
I remember in particular, for example, was a
meeting we had in the gardens of a hotel in
Montpelier, France, during a tour organized
by the Beracasa Foundation, accompanied by
Alegría Beracasa, a close friend and sponsor;
another, at the end of a memorable concert
with our Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra
and the marvelous flautist Jean Pierre Rampal
at UNESCO’s salon in Paris, or strolling along
the streets of Tokyo as we waited while his
­youngsters submitted their instruments to the
inspection of expert Japanese luthiers, or an extremely interesting and relaxed chat while waiting for a plane that would take us on the first leg
of a tour of Spain; and another, on the occasion
of the presentation of the GLOBArt Awards,
in Austria, when I was invited to be present at a
meeting he had with the managers and directors
of the Vienna Philharmonic, during which I was
able to observe Abreu’s tremendous negotiating
skills where there was no place for the phrase,
“that can’t be done.”
My memory takes me back to the time of
tensions, when, on more than one occasion,
I interviewed him on the spur of the moment,
in the corridors of the Chamber of Deputies’
Finance Committee, while he was waiting to be
received in order to get more subsidies for the
cultural sector, fulfilling his mission as Minister
of Culture; or in his beloved Sala José Félix Ribas,
while he lent a keen ear to a rehearsal under
the respected baton of Maestro Eduardo Mata
and, on other occasions, of the then adolescent
­Gustavo Dudamel; finally, and most often,
throughout my career covering the news, we
held them in his austere office in Parque Central,
usually after six in the evening, when there were a
few minutes free on his daily agenda.
In this updated collection of conversations, his
simplicity and amiability, his great respect for
our profession and the value he placed on what
we, as journalists, could transmit that would
be beneficial for his orchestras and musicians,
remained unchanged. And I have to say this,
always, even in the most difficult moments,
I found a man full of national pride and of
unqualified love for Venezuela. I had before me
a José Antonio Abreu who was happy to have
had the health to see his miracle come true: the
miracle of helping children and young people,
fathers, mothers and entire families and raising
them up to the pinnacle of their salvation.
Maestro Abreu’s maternal grandparents: Duilia Garbatti and Antonio Anselmi
Berti “Don Tonino,” immigrants from the island of Elba, Italy
and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela - but
also the Venezuelan who constantly struggles
to challenge his own successes and those of his
disciples; in learning what his childhood dreams
were, for example.
What was your childhood like and who influenced you to take the path of music?
A few years ago I was in Monte Carmelo, in
­Trujillo, where my mother was born, the ancestral home of my family, the Anselmi Garbatti,
and where I have many childhood memories.
A gift from his forebears
They were Italian immigrants?
Yes, they came from the island of Elba in Italy.
My grandfather, Mama’s father, whom I never
knew because he died a year before I was born,
was Antonio Anselmi Berti -everybody called
him Don Tonino- and his wife was Duilia Garbatti. They were married there on Elba, off the
Port of Livorno, an important city with an opera
house where my grandmother went regularly.
She had a musical soul and was an accomplished
musician. On the boat they came over on, they
brought instruments for a band to play the
music that accompanied religious processions,
fiestas, and popular ceremonies.
I was interested in finding out more about José
Antonio Abreu than we know from having
watch him work unwaveringly for more than
thirty-five years, in really getting to know not
only the man who has managed this great
achievement -the National System of Youth
So, what’s inherited isn’t stolen, as they say.
One of their sons or grandsons was bound
to be a musician, and it happened to be you.
What instrument did your grandfather play?
I’m not sure if he actually played an instrument,
but I know he knew an awful lot about bands.
51
costumes, curtains, and scenery. He’d made it all;
and he’d decorated the house with plaster busts
of Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio. I was very
impressed when I saw that hallway with banners
of Garibaldi that he’d inherited from his father
and when I discovered the very fine table linen
my grandmother had and the collection of marvelous books, many of them with dedications by
the authors, that they had kept.
Trujillo state’s first band founded by Antonio Anselmi Berti
I know the orchestrations of pieces from the
universal symphony repertoire he admirably
composed for the band by heart. I still have his
arrangements of Verdi and Mascagni to this day.
Mama gave them to me as a gift.
So, your grandfather founded a band
in Trujillo.
Yes, those same instruments were shared out
and a band was formed with forty-six kids from
the town, which he directed and which, today, is
the Monte Carmelo Philharmonic Band. It was
a youth orchestra, but without bowed instruments. For years my grandfather took the band
on tour to all the Andean villages.
What sort of impression did that world of
Monte Carmelo make on you when you
­arrived at your grandparents’ house?
I remember it all as though it were yesterday. I
was six and lived with my parents and brothers
and sisters in Barquisimeto. One of my ­brothers
got whooping cough and my mother took me
to stay at her parents’ house while he was in
quarantine. The first thing that impressed me
was a stage in the back yard that my grandfather Tonino had put together out of planks
to perform the works of Shakespeare and the
Castilian classics. There I found trunks with
52
So this was really your first contact with art,
with music. What was going on, culturally
speaking, in that far-flung village in Trujillo?
It was a farming village, but highly cultured. The
church of Our Lady of Carmen had illustrious
parish priests who came from the Mérida Seminary, one of whom was Monsignor Quintero.
Gregorian chant was taught at the Mérida
Seminary, and the organist of the little church of
Monte Carmelo had studied there. And there,
in that village and with that chapel maestro,
began my love of music and liturgical chant.
That time in Monte Carmelo, when you
were six years old and living with your
­grandmother, more than likely whetted your
appetite for many things, and in many different ways.
In every possible way. My grandmother had
all of Ricordi’s original librettos, for example.
She knew Verdi’s and Puccini’s operas by heart
and she used to sit down with me and translate
the original Italian of those works into Spanish. We spent many hours together, she singing
and me memorizing. That’s where I got my
love of s­ tudying too, from my Aunt Alide, my
mother’s elder sister, who was the headmistress
of the ­village school. She was my first teacher
and, thanks to her, I learned to love Venezuela,
because in those country schools they really
encouraged us to learn about the history of our
country. In those days, throughout primary
school, weekly cultural soirées were organized
where our vocation for poetry and poetry reading, singing, music and theater were awakened.
In other words, an effort was made to awaken
children’s artistic side and there was a balance
between teaching arithmetic or rational knowledge and stimulating creative sensitivity.
This, then, was truly a fortunate journey and
one that was fundamental and decisive for you.
By the time I left that village, at the age of seven,
to return to Barquisimeto, the musical life, the
habit of reading, and a passion for opera and
plays were already in my blood. So I returned to
Barquisimeto determined to study music, and
both my father, Melpómene Abreu Méndez, and my mother, Ailie Anselmi Garbatti,
continued to encourage that vocation. Papa
played the guitar very well and also the requinto,
another sort of guitar with four steel strings, and
my mother sang beautifully. I lived in a musical
environment. That was my good fortune.
Barquisimeto:
music, music everywhere
When did you decide to start learning to play
a musical instrument?
When I was nine. We had an excellent piano
teacher in Barquisimeto called Doralisa de
Medina. I asked Papa to enroll me in her school.
So, musically speaking, I was off to a flying start.
She was intuitive, a great pianist, a disciple of extraordinary French teachers; and she conceived
of music as happening in a cheerful atmosphere
conducive to play where the instrument was
part of a world that was incorporated into choirs
and other artistic disciplines. Apart from that,
she was the sort of teacher who never imposed
academic obstacles. That way the child advanced
at his or her own pace; and that’s why she had a
lot of pupils.
José Antonio Abreu (the one with glasses) with his brothers
and sisters, Jesús, Enrique, Dora, and Beatriz. Below: his
parents, Melpómene Abreu and Ailie Anselmi de Abreu
At that stage of your life, who most influenced
your character, your father or your mother?
Both of them, each in their own way. Papa
taught me to cultivate a man’s basic values and
the basic values of life, work, and good behavior
as well as the virtues of honesty and punctuality.
He was a strict man, but he was also affectionate
and loving with his children and showed a dedication towards us worthy of emulation. Mama
was very sensitive and her greatest pleasure was
playing the piano. In Barquisimeto she built up
a community at our house, because where we
lived, ours was the only house with a piano.
His first passion, the piano
Abreu (far left) when he was a member of the Lara Philharmonic Orchestra
53
With one of his disciples, Gregory Carreño
Those were the five years between 1945 and
1950. What was happening musically and
culturally at that time in Barquisimeto?
At that time the Lara State Music Academy
was in Barquisimeto. It was directed by Raúl
Napoleón Sánchez Duque, who had played first
flute in the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra.
And also at about that time a group of very
talented foreign musicians arrived, among
them the violinist Olaf Ilzins, with whom I
began to study violin. I was twelve then and was
a member of the music academy’s orchestra.
Around the same time, I began to cultivate the
music of the Venezuelan composers, under the
guidance of Maestro Antonio Carrillo, a friend
of the family and an accomplished mandolinist
who had his own excellent quintet. I also had
the opportunity to play with the Lara Philharmonic Orchestra, which was widely respected
at that time, directed by Maestro Plácido Casas.
I was in an environment totally surrounded by
music: I played and studied our national music
with Maestro Carrillo; I practiced the classics
with Doralisa de Medina; and at the Music
Academy we played the music of the universal
composers… Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Beethoven.
There was also a great dance school belonging
to Taormina Guevara, a Venezuelan who had
just arrived from Russia. At that time, the Juárez
Theater was about to be reopened to celebrate
the four-hundredth anniversary of Barquisimeto, and to mark the occasion they put on a grand
gala performance with the Taormina Guevara
Ballet and the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra.
54
During his first trips abroad at the end of 1960
In other words, you’d already acquired a taste
for orchestral playing and for being intensely
involved in music?
That’s right. I remember I used to play alongside
Pastora Guanipa, a wonderful violinist, far superior to me, and I found playing with her to be
a great help in learning to read from the music
stand. And that was when I first became aware
of what becoming a musician was all about and
how important orchestral playing was.
Were you able to cope with your school work
and your music activities as well?
Perfectly, and with great enthusiasm. I was
always looking for more things to do - I loved
the life I was leading. I did my primary education at Colegio La Salle and then went on to
the Grupo Escolar Costa Rica, where there were
Abreu conducting one of the first concerts with the Youth Orchestra, the precursor of all the System’s orchestras
excellent math teachers and where that intimate
relationship between mathematics and the art
of music, despite their apparent incompatibility
and ­duality, actually came together in perfect
harmony, which I enjoyed.
1957: the leap to Caracas
When did you decide to move to Caracas
and why?
Towards the end of 1957 I decided to come
to Caracas because I wanted to continue my
music studies with Maestro Vicente Emilio
Sojo. Maestro Ángel Sauce took me to the
José Angle Lamas School and there I began my
music studies on a more advanced level.
How did you support yourself? Because you
couldn’t live off music in those days, could you?
Excuse me, but the musicians who played in the
country’s bands and orchestras lived off their
music; not such a lucrative profession as being a
doctor, of course, but you got by. I understood
that I had to carve out an economic position for
myself, and that’s why I decided to embark on
a university career while at the same time continuing with my music studies. I didn’t live alone,
because I had plenty of family in Caracas, both
on my mother’s and my father’s side and that was
a help at the beginning. I enrolled at C
­ olegio San
Ignacio and finished high school there. At the
Advanced Music School I continued with my
studies in piano, clavichord, organ, and composition; and later on I took orchestration classes
and orchestra conducting. I finished my studies
55
During the awarding of the Music Prizes (1979), accompanied by, among others, Maestros Antonio Lauro, Manuel Felipe Ramón y Rivera, and Antonio Estévez
and received a diploma in teaching piano, keyboard and organ, and later my diploma in composition. By then, I was already at U
­ niversidad
Católica Andrés Bello, and I’d also got my first job
at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Economic Policy Division. While I was still in my
second year at university, I managed to get a job
as a teaching assistant. After graduating, I started
to work at the Central Bank of Venezuela in the
National Accounts Department. I completed
my music studies and in 1961 graduated in
economics and began to exercise my profession,
mainly in the area of company organization.
At the same time I was guest conductor of the
Venezuela Symphony Orchestra and regularly
gave clavichord and piano recitals.
You moved between two worlds.
Yes. Music was the food for my spiritual world
and the profession of economist provided me
with the means to support myself and my family.
There’s an aspect of your life that few of us
know about: your foray into the country’s
political scene. How did you come to get
involved in politics and why?
My interest began while I was at university, ­Universidad Católica Andrés Bello. Politics
­attracted me for two reasons. The first, my
life experience, my convictions with regard to
social action, and the work I’d done in the poor
56
neighborhoods of Catia with Father José María
Vélaz, who was just then founding “Fe y Alegría”
(“Faith and Happiness”); that was an experience
that brought me close to the social situation in
my country, which was something I couldn’t
ignore. The other reason was the ideological
formation my own career had given me, since
economic thought is inextricably linked to
political thought, and because the c­ onflicting
economic concepts of the day had a lot to
do with political models, which meant it was
impossible to remove oneself from the country’s
social situation in those days. So, then and there,
I began to become politically aware, but
not militant.
When did you become politically active?
I didn’t feel represented by the political parties
of the day until Arturo Uslar Pietri arrived
on the scene. I identified with the movement
started by this writer, who went on to launch
his presidential candidacy in 1961, and I ended
up being elected as alternate deputy and even
spent five years as chairman of the Economic
Subcommittee of the Chamber of Deputies’
Finance Committee. I was active in parliament
for five years until about 1965, and that gave me
a very good idea of the workings of State and all
its structures.
Did you ever see yourself active in politics?
As a politician no, much less in the way a career in
politics is understood in Venezuela ... never! I’ve
never wanted to split my personality into, say, the
economist, the politician, and the musician. A
human being is an indissoluble unit. I did what I
wanted to do: carve out a career in the service of
my country, because it was obvious that my future lay with dedicating myself totally to a calling
to serve through education. I knew that my path
was university teaching and for nineteen years I
held seven university chairs, all of which brought
me into contact with young people.
Maestro Abreu, we recognize your considerable knowledge and skill in navigating the
­different paths of economic management with
the State, at all levels, as well as with multinational institutions and companies. Did those
negotiating skills of yours come from all that
experience as an economist, your knowledge
of the State, or were you born with them?
The former, naturally. I was an economic
advisor. Later I joined CORDIPLAN as a
planner and went on to become Director of
General Planning and Advisor to the National
Economic Council, which was equivalent to
a vice ministry. There we began work on the
structure of the National Plan. That was a very
important e­ xperience because it brought me
into contact with a number of very high-level
economic advisors in Latin America. From
the age of sixteen to thirty-five I worked for
the State, twenty years. That allowed me to
get to know a new continental dimension of
economic development through contact with
international organizations, the Latin American
Free Trade Association (LAFTA), for example.
I contributed to creating the mechanism
whereby Venezuela became a partner of ALAC
­(Latin-American Commerce Association); I
was present at the creation of the Andean Pact
and the economic integration of the continent.
All this was training that, eventually, was put
totally at the service of the orchestras and the
entire organizational structure of what became
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation.
Not even during his convalescence did Abreu abandon his rehearsal routine
The true path
We’ve come to the 1970s. Tell me about
that time.
In 1973 I had health problems. I had to undergo
major abdominal surgery. After the surgery,
came a long period of convalescence, a whole
year. During all that time I attended postgraduate
courses in the United States. I took advantage
of my time there to make contact with the
artistic experiences of that country, which in turn
­allowed me to understand the evolution of music
in other nations, the work dynamic of orchestras
and choirs, and, above all, I found out about the
state of music education in the United States.
This served as an extremely important complement to my professional criteria regarding music.
What happened when you returned
to Venezuela in 1974?
I was about to turn thirty-five. It was then that
I decided to focus all that vocation to serve,
57
At the System’s 35th Anniversary (2010), Maestro Abreu was decorated with the orchestras’ insignia by the musicians
of the Teresa Carreño Youth Symphonic Orchestra
which I had assumed in full awareness, on a
project where I could combine all my organizational, managerial, musical, and teaching
experience. I already had all the necessary tools
to build a great institution, a grand enterprise.
In 1974 and 1975, the country only had two
orchestras: the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra Society and the Zulia Symphony Orchestra. These were the years when many cultural
institutions were born in Venezuela, the
Contemporary Art Museum and Fundarte,
for example; INCIBA became CONAC as
part of the State’s cultural policy; and important artists who had specialized abroad such
as the choreographer Vicente Nebrada and
58
the ­ballet dancer Zhandra Rodríguez, were
coming back to the country, among other
things. A lot was going on culturally. Did this
have any influence on the launching of your
project?
Yes, the cultural climate was favorable for
undertaking a project that was essentially
structural in nature. It had to be structural, you
see; it couldn’t be, say, for only an opera season
or, for example, the creation of a new piano
­professorship, no. It was a project for a new
style of music education in Venezuela, which
consisted, specifically, of a new proposal. Also,
there were a large number of young people who
were already trained as instrumentalists but
had no hope of developing professionally and
work-wise with the very few existing musical
ensembles and orchestras. There was a shortage
of jobs. The Venezuela Symphony had ­created
the Experimental Orchestra to give more
young people training in playing in an orchestra.
Maestro Ángel Sauce had become the director
of the Juan José Landaeta Conservatory and he
wanted to encourage orchestral conducting.
It was the moment to give every one of our
Venezuelan cities the possibility of having their
own symphony and youth orchestras.
To some extent, that motto incorporates the
personality and temperament of the National
System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras
of Venezuela. It also reflects the most difficult
stages in the continued existence of the structure you dreamed up.
Exactly. First of all, it was a challenge to train the
teachers, professors and conductors we needed
to extend the System throughout the country.
That has taken us thirty-five years. That has been
our basic challenge.
There must have been resistance in musical
and cultural circles to this new model of music education that you wanted to implement.
Any structural change provokes some kind of
reaction, and that’s good, that’s positive, because
it’s precisely against that resistance that a project
measures its effectiveness. A project can’t prove
itself without opposition. So that resistance gave
us an historical opportunity to prove our existence, to validate it. We welcomed the resistance
because we needed it to confront ourselves.
The ideal Venezuela
When the National Youth Orchestra of
Venezuela was born on February 12, 1975, the
motto was “Play and Fight.” Those two verbs
suggest a fighting spirit. Why?
Right from the start, when we came up against
the first signs of resistance, we understood that
we couldn’t just play, that we couldn’t turn away
from the fight that this implied. Why? To prove
to all those who didn’t agree with our project
that we were right. There were obstacles to
overcome. We had to put up a tremendous fight
during those first years to make all aspects of
that music education reform that culminated
in the System known. Then, we had to make
its bounties known –and not only the artistic
benefits, but the social and community ones as
well-, and, of course, make people aware of the
need for State agencies and state-owned and
private companies to provide permanent and
stable support in order to build a project that
would be sustainable over time.
There is one word that is common to all the
testimonies by the founders of the National
Youth Orchestra: faith. They say, “José Antonio possessed a faith that was like an enormous
monument ... We used to think that the dream
was only in his head…” Did you sense that
skepticism? And how did that make you feel?
I felt fine. I knew it was simply a matter of time;
time to prove that we were on the right track.
I didn’t care if there were momentary doubts ...
I welcomed them. Because if you have doubts at
the beginning and then you believe, your belief is
twice as strong. I never worried about that.
I was ­always absolutely sure that we were on
firm ground.
59
José Antonio Abreu proud of his pupil, Gustavo Dudamel, during the tour of Korea, 2008
Your project was nationalistic right from the
start. It was the materialization of a country
that was possible, another potential ­Venezuela.
The ideals of democracy, justice, social inclusion, rescuing children and young people
through art, fostering people’s sensitivity, work
and education as a path to collective and personal self-fulfillment are just some of the values
of that musical country you have so ­successfully
created. Do you feel that this country of orchestras is filtering through to that other country
where we spend our daily lives?
The System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras
is the ideal Venezuela. From the beginning I saw
the orchestras as the most beautiful expression
of a united country. I saw a vibrant Venezuela,
full of the will and energy to achieve what it
wanted. I saw a Venezuela proud of its musicians
who triumph and shine on a par with the ­highest
world standards. There can be no doubt that the
spreading of the Orchestras in the communities, in every state and in the families is already
happening, is something palpable and real, and
it is gradually transforming Venezuelan society.
In every town, in every municipality where we
have set up orchestras, the community has got
60
organized and has taken on the responsibility
for its ensembles and for every child who walks
the streets with his or her instrument. And
what’s important here is that, if the other art
forms were to adopt the same scheme, then,
undoubtedly, art would become a fundamental,
strategic, unique and revolutionary means of
transforming the entire country.
What has been the Achilles’ heel of this great
social and cultural undertaking?
The Achilles’ heel of any long-term project is the
short term. This project, by its very nature, had
to be conceived over the long term. Its Achilles’
heel is what happens right now; that ineradicable ghost on the long-term horizon is uncer­
tainty, never predictable and always dangerous.
The people who work alongside you always
feel that, even before you’ve finished one
thing, you’re already working on another program, another concert, another project.
That’s right, so I am.
61
How do you manage to convey your enthusiasm to your collaborators without overwhelming them?
That inexhaustible energy isn’t mine; it’s the
undying light that shines throughout the life of
the project. This is a project intended to last for
centuries. It’s historical; it emits its own energy
that becomes incarnate in the main players, who
are the children and the young people. They’re
the ones who tirelessly receive that energy, who
exude it, who transmit it and prolong it over
time. Two days after Simon Rattle arrived in
Caracas, the Simón Bolívar Orchestra was sated
with its wonderful interpretation of Estévez’s
La cantata criolla; the Carabobo Orchestra had
its sights set on holding a reunion to celebrate
its tenth anniversary; the Amazonas Orchestra
was waiting for its percussion instruments to
arrive; and the Anzoátegui Symphony was
concentrating on its national and international
tours. Every orchestra and every one of the
ensembles, choirs, and chamber ensembles had
their ­challenges, their moments, their dreams.
Paying tribute to those who fell in Hiroshima, 2008
Imagine, after bidding farewell to Simon
Rattle and on the way back from the airport to
­Caracas, I felt as if I was back to zero, as though I
was starting on something else and behind with
my homework.
What you’ve said prompts another question:
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by this enormous, multiplying platform you’ve created that
has more than 300,000 children and young
people actively taking part and more than 250
orchestras dotted around the country?
I might feel overwhelmed today, after working
so intensely all day. But Pascal said: the greatest
thing God created was the next day. And I agree
with that. Besides, at the same time, an army of
music managers specializing in each area of the
Program has been formed, many of whom are
musicians and teachers and many of whom still
play in the first orchestras that were founded
in the System. We have formed a contingent
of teachers who are constantly taking seminars
with top-notch international masters.
Wouldn’t you prefer to go back to conducting
orchestras or to creating music, say?
I don’t have time for that. I conducted during the
first five years of the System because there weren’t
many conductors to do it. But now my responsibility is to ensure that the program is made known.
The visit of the conductor of the Berlin
Philharmonic, Sir Simon Rattle, practically
coincided with the 30th Anniversary of the
National System of Youth and Children’s
Orchestras of Venezuela. And now the world
success of our Simón Bolívar Orchestra and
of young Maestro Gustavo Dudamel has
­coincided with its 35th anniversary. Where
does the System go from here?
Towards giving an ever larger number of
children and young people the same opportunity as those who, today, are active members of
the National System of Youth and Children’s
Orchestras of Venezuela; towards overcoming
the material and spiritual poverty of the world’s
children using music as the tool; towards all
the country’s children having free access to art.
Imagine every neighborhood in Caracas and
in any town in our country with sport facilities,
a choir, and an orchestra - it would be magnificent! Imagine all the children and young
people in this country, in Latin America and the
Caribbean, in the world having in learning art
and music a means for supporting themselves!
Imagine this program being adopted as a great
historical flag for the third world and for the first
world too! Towards the end of the 18th century,
Europe took a leap with the industrial revolution that created and catapulted forward the
great powers of the modern world. Now it’s our
turn to ignite a great humanistic and creative
revolution through art in Latin America and the
Caribbean, in the entire world. We can make
that great change. Here are our experience and
our will to achieve peace through music.
What’s needed for this formula you came up
with to take root in the rest of the world and for
it to continue to grow steadily in Venezuela?
What’s needed is for states to adopt it as an
intrinsic part of their education systems. The
day our primary schools include teaching the
arts to every single student, from two-year-olds
to university students, as part of their basic
curriculum, that day our country will become a
different country. For that to happen we have to
train more teachers, teachers who are committed to this ideal. That would be the next big step:
incorporating the Orchestra System into formal
education; making the teaching of art and
music in schools compulsory.
During the award of the Q Prize in 2008, accompanied by Quincy Jones and Dudamel
63
How do you see tomorrow’s Venezuela?
Venezuela has to become one great teaching
enterprise. The country will find its path if it
has a wise, advanced, and profound education
system that is aware of its principles, its content,
and its purposes.
Learn and study everything
Let’s talk about your musical preferences.
What carries more weight for you in music:
calculation, intellect or feeling?
Music comes to me as a whole and awakens in
me feelings, dreams, nostalgias, illusions, and
­energies that drive me to action and commitment. It’s a dynamo, a basic energy I need today
and have needed ever since I was a boy to live
life to the full. Without music, life would be
a desert; it would be unbearable.
Whenever you’ve felt bad, when you’ve been
going through hard times in your life, what
has music meant to you?
Music transforms adversity into hope. It transforms challenges into action. It lets me take that
leap from dreams to their realization, to making
them come true.
What about your favorite composers? Who
do you feel most affinity with?
All of them. Over the years I’ve learned from
them all. It also depends rather on the moment
I’m living and which part of the day it is, even
the specific hour of my daily schedule. If I’m
very tense, for example, at the end of the day,
tired and burdened down with so much work,
naturally, there’s a certain kind of music that
appeals to me more than another. It’s the same
when I wake up. The symphonic language of
Anton Bruckner, say, is ideal when I have plenty
of time; when I’m not pressed for time. When
I’m ready for bed, I love Wagner and the music
of Ravel and Debussy as well. First thing in the
morning, I like baroque: Bach to wake up, to get
started. Vivaldi’s music is a life force. I can listen
to Mozart at any time of the day. When I’m just
starting on a new book or getting up-to-date
with my literary reading, for example,
I like contemporary music, more daring music,
something more cutting-edge.
How do you feel about rock and pop music?
It’s not exactly a style of music I would meditate
on, naturally. I don’t listen to rock music. I simply
hear it in the environment where it’s being played,
at young people’s parties. Mind you, I don’t need
to listen to rock music to connect to youngsters,
since I do that constantly during their learning
processes, their schooling, and symphonic choir
practice. To tell the truth, my contact with that
kind of music is minimal. But it’s exactly the opposite with Venezuelan folk music, which I love
and thoroughly enjoy, not only Venezuelan, but
Latin American popular music and the music of
Voices raised in admiration
Maestro Abreu is a unique being, as his idea is being implemented
in many parts of the world. Venezuelans should be extremely proud
of him, of his orchestras, and of fruits of the System such as Gustavo
Dudamel, one of the world’s great conductors. I’ll never tire of praising
the System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela, and that is
why I take this admiration everywhere.
Placido Domingo
(Tenor and Conductor)
Abreu has given life to a music
System where youngsters can be safe
from the perils of the streets, crime,
and drugs. It offers them the opportunity to engage in cultural activities
free of charge, and that means, in the
ultimate analysis, that they will have
the opportunity to build a better life
for themselves.
Claudio Abbado
(Conductor)
64
With Placido Domingo
With Claudio Abbado
all peoples too. I love the UNESCO collection
of the world’s great folk music. I consider it a
treasure and listen to it often. And when I travel,
I like to rummage around old record shops that
still have those recordings of famous popular
artists of the 20th century.
What about contemporary music?
I love it. Music is always a delight to me. It’s a
challenge. A new language is a challenge. I take
time to study it. I investigate the scales of notation used to write the work. That’s something I
thoroughly enjoy. And I like to read the treatises
that often appear in magazines specializing in
contemporary scales, the new effects that are
obtained, the progressive enrichment of the
world of sound through electronics. I find that
a fascinating world, as I do the world of contemporary physics.
What are your culinary tastes and what kind
of literature do you prefer?
As for food, what I enjoy most are traditional
Venezuelan dishes, and as for international cuisine, my favorite is Italian. And I read everything.
I have to because of the amount of information
I have to deal with in order to carry out my
duties and do my job… I don’t only read about
music and art. In the evenings, I study to keep
abreast of trends in economics, planning, trade,
and international relations, as I have to attend
congresses and seminars and give papers both in
Behind the impeccable interpretations, there’s a demanding and lovely maestro
Venezuela and abroad… Besides, there are highly
educated people among our young musicians,
people with degrees and specialization courses,
and I have to communicate with them on the
same intellectual level and also broaden my
knowledge with them.
Maestro Abreu has dedicated his life to changing the lives of generations of
young people through music and the System. Thanks to his influence, more and
more young people all over the world are achieving a change. Working with
these young musicians is a privilege and a great pleasure and makes one put ones
feet on the ground.
Simon Rattle
(Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic)
With Simon Rattle
Maestro Abreu has tremendous dignity and style. He is a great visionary.
I only hope that others will be able
to repeat that experience and imitate
what he has created with the System
of Orchestras. Being in Venezuela
and sharing the joy of this work of
Maestro Abreu’s was one of the
greatest honors in my entire life.
Wynton Marsalis
(Trumpet player and jazz
musician)
From left to right, with Henrik
Szeryng, Rafael Puyana, Margot
Fonteyn, and Jean-Pierre Rampal
65
During an encounter with Pope John Paul II in 1996
With faith in his blood
You’re a religious man, a practicing Catholic,
a Christian.
I see myself as a humble messenger of Christ’s
doctrine. For me, the doctrine of Christ, the
ideal that Christ represents, is reason enough
for living, for seeking one’s destiny, for being and
acting. The purpose of any philosophy should be
precisely to provide man with an orientation, to
give him a reason for living. So for me philosophy is a fascinating world because, through
philosophy, I find Christ’s message time and
again, reinterpreted and infinitely revitalized by
contemporary thought.
What’s taboo for you, Maestro? Has anything
ever been taboo for you in your life?
I don’t know. I would never dare to force,
­penetrate or judge what fate has in store.
When times are hard, really hard in your life,
to whom or to what do you cling?
To God. There is nobody else. He’s my only true
refuge and strength.
Have you ever been tempted, when things get
difficult, to undergo psychoanalysis?
Never, absolutely not.
66
Why not?
Because I have faith in prayer, in any form of
prayer, not just spoken prayer. Work is a prayer.
Dedicating oneself to a task with faith and all
one’s might and ability is the same as praying.
One’s relationship with God must be unending
and uninterrupted if it is to be a genuine service;
anything else would mean fragmenting that
service to God, regulating it. Submitting one’s
service to God to the anarchical irregularity of
an aimless existence makes no sense at all. One’s
dedication has to be total and proper, and that
means embracing one’s service to God, totally
integrating oneself with God, with life in all its
aspects. But that doesn’t mean becoming selfabsorbed, a solipsist, someone who is isolated
from the community; quite the contrary.
Why did you never get married and have a
family of your own?
I’ve always seen myself as a teacher. I felt responsible for my students, and that responsibility
has involved a total and absolute dedication
that has filled me and taken all my energy and
my life. That is precisely the raison d’être of the
priesthood. Therefore, life should be like being
in the priesthood, whatever your social status
or walk in life; and Jesus Christ is a part of our
essence, of all of us. Wearing a cassock or any
other outward sign of lifelong dedication to me
is secondary. The essential factor is the spirit of
total devotion that is parallel to life as a priest ...
and I am honored to simply be a priest, a humble
servant of Jesus Christ.
Do you feel like an apostle of God?
I don’t aspire to that, but rather to be an ideal,
noble and peerless servant of God. And the
greatest pleasure in life is to live it as a musician,
because the world of music is so close to the
essence of God. So, serving God by practicing
an art form that reflects Him in such a fundamental, beautiful and indescribable way is my
life’s joy.
At the ceremony for bestowing the Prince
of Asturias Award in 2008
With Yo-Yo Ma, in Caracas, 2009
Have you ever felt you’ve failed at any time in
your life?
Obviously, our innate human weaknesses,
imperfections and errors are ever-present; the
times one fails are too many to count.
What do you do when something doesn’t
work out for you or when you make a mistake?
First I admit to myself that I’ve made a mistake
and then I renew my commitment to constantly
improve, improve, improve.
What do you most dislike or find you can’t
tolerate in others?
Insincerity and lack of authenticity. When a
person, through his words and his work, reflects
falseness or hides behind a mask, I think he’s
­hiding his true self, that he’s unwilling to assume
his responsibilities. That I find pathetic.
With Rigoberta Menchú, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Do you feel you’ve already accomplished your
mission in life?
I’ll never be able to say, “mission accomplished”.
I’m sure of that. I have a lifelong commitment,
so for me there can be no mission accomplished. My mission is a process that has no end
... until God wills otherwise.
How do you envisage your future?
My future is in God’s hands. I honestly don’t fret
about it.
Not even death?
Absolutely not.
67
Recognition of an exemplary life
2011
2010
Commander of the Lion Order of
Finland
Award given by the President of the
Republic of Finland.
Austrian Cross of Arts and Sciences,
Firt Class
Award given by Austrian Government.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Award given by the Art and Sciences
Foundation
in Istanbul, Turkey.
Erasmus Prize 2010 (Holland)
Awarded by the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation for his
dedication to the pedagogical, occupational, and ethical
rescue of children and young people. Amsterdam.
2009
Honorary Latin Grammy (USA)
Awarded by the Board of Directors of the Latin Academy of
Recording Arts and Sciences. Las Vegas.
Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honor (France).
Awarded by the Government of the Republic of France,
Salle Pleyel. Paris.
Polar Music Prize, “the Nobel Prize of Music” (Sweden)
Awarded by the record company Polar Records for giving the world
an unprecedented vision of classical music as a way to save children
and young people. Stockholm.
Doctorate (Honoris Causa), Universidad de Los Andes
(Venezuela)
Doctorate (Honoris Causa), Universidad Simón Bolívar
(Venezuela)
Doctorate (Honoris Causa),
Universidad Central
de Venezuela
Frederick Stock Award
(USA)
The Chicago Symphony
Orchestra’s Institute for
Learning, Access, and
Training created this award
solely to honor J.A.A.
Chicago.
Frankfurt Music Prize (Germany)
Awarded by the Frankfurt City Council at the Frankfurt Music Fair.
TED Prize (USA)
Awarded by the Technology, Entertainment, and Design Conference.
California.
68
2008
Yehudi Menuhin Prize
(Spain)
Awarded by Queen Sofia of
Spain at El Prado Museum.
Madrid.
Honorary Membership of the Royal Philharmonic
Society (United Kingdom)
The first Latin American to receive this distinction
and only the 123rd recipient since the election of
Carl Maria von Weber in 1823.
Glenn
Gould Prize
(Canada)
“For his contribution to creating a
cultural renaissance in
Venezuela and making a
marked impact on an
entire generation of youth
through music." Toronto.
Honorary Member of The
Beethoven-haus Society (Germany)
Doctorate in Medicine (Honoris
Causa), Universidad de Carabobo
(Venezuela)
Puccini International Prize (Italy)
Order of The Rising Sun, Grand
Cordon ( Japan)
Awarded by Emperor Akihito “for
being an example of vision,
commitment, and work for hundreds
of young people.” Abreu is the first
Venezuelan to receive this honor.
Tokyo.
Prince of Asturias Award (Spain)
Bestowed by the Prince and Princess of
Asturias “for combining, in a single
project, maximum artistic quality and
a profound ethical conviction for
improving the social situation of
thousands of children and young people,”
Teatro Campoamor, Oviedo. Asturias.
Awards
and Accolades
2001
The Right Livelihood Award (Sweden)
Alternative Nobel Prize awarded by the Right Livelihood
Foundation. Stockholm.
2007
Don Juan de Borbón Music
Award (Spain)
For his contribution to excellence
in music and peace in the world,
awarded by the Prince of Asturias,
Felipe de Borbón. Alcazár de
Segovia, Asturias. Simón Bolívar Gold Medalde of UNESCO (France)
Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity, Grand
Official (Italy)
Granted by presidential decree. Caracas
1999
Gold Insignia of The City
of Caracas (Venezuela)
An award for excellence
bestowed by the Mayor’s
Office of the City of
Caracas.
2006
Globart Award (Austria)
Bestowed by the GLOBArt Academy,
Connecting Worlds of Arts and Sciences.
Vienna.
Honorary Citizenship
(Italy)
Granted by the Regional
Government of the City
of Montevago.
Agrigento.
1998
Unicef–dalla Parte Dei Bambini
Prize (Italy)
Awarded by the president of the
Accademia Nazionale di Santa
Cecilia, Bruno Cagli. Rome.
Artist for Peace (France)
Designated by UNESCO.
Paris.
Italia N’el Mondo Award
(Italy)
Bestowed by the Presidency
of the Republic of Italy.
2005
Cross of the Order Of Merit
of the Federal Republic of
Germany, First Class
Awarded by German diplomatic
authorities in Caracas.
1996
Inter-american Gabriela
Mistral Prize for Culture,
in the Field of Music Arts
and Sciences (USA)
Awarded by the Organization
of American States (OAS).
Washington.
2004
Peace Prize for Arts and
Culture (USA)
Awarded by World Culture
Open at the World Cultures
Encounter. New York.
1991
Member of The
Inter-american Music
Council, Cidem (USA)
Honored by the
Organization of American
States (OAS).
Washington.
Grand Officer of the
Gabriela Mistral Order
(Chile)
Grand Officer of the
National Order of
Merit (France)
Doctorate in Education
(Honoris Causa), Universidad Católica Andrés Bello
(Venezuela)
1985
Commander of
the National
Order of Merit
(Colombia)
2003
Doctorate (Honoris Causa), Universidad Experminental Francisco
de Miranda (Venezuela)
2002
Music and Life
Prize (Italy)
Bestowed by the
Music Coordination Office.
Rimini.
Social Entrepreneur
(Switzerland)
Award from the Schwab
Foundation for Social
Entrepreneurship.
Geneva.
Doctor of Music (Honoris
Causa) (USA)
Awarded by the New
England Conservatory of
Music. Boston.
1979
National Award for Music
(Venezuela)
National Council of
Culture (CONAC).
1966
National Award for Music
(Venezuela)
National Institute of
Culture and Fine Arts
(INCIBA), Caracas.
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Chapter
III
The pioneers
of this miracle
Because there is not room enough
in a single mind or in a single heart
for such an inventory of passions
and satisfactions.
Chefi Borzacchini
Since 1975, the mosaic of youthful faces has conveyed but one rallying cry: “play and fight”
The Youth Symphony Orchestra of
Venezuela at its international debut
in Mexico City, 1975
35 years on
A choral chronicle:
etting everyone together was no easy task.
Not because they have drifted away, but
because today most of them are busy men
and women with many occupations and have
families besides. However, thanks to the fact
that a large number of them are still involved in
the music world as teachers, conductors, and
managers of the System of Youth and Children’s
Orchestras of Venezuela, we managed to write
down this story, which began 35 years ago, in
their own words, because there is not room
enough in a single mind or in a single heart for
such an inventory of passions and satisfactions.
On an August night in 2004, at the home of
the “father” of this great cultural undertaking,
these youngsters of yore shared memories and
opened boxes full of photos to recall what they
looked like way back then. They made fun of
72
themselves as they relived memories brought
back by pictures and videos taken long ago, and,
as though piecing together a huge quilt, one by
one they told of their personal adventure in the
original orchestra. All through the night and
until daybreak, each member of this founding
group contributed a piece of the jigsaw to reveal
the dream that began on Youth Day, February
12, 1975. This chronicle, narrated in the first
person and simultaneously with more than one
voice, tells of the emotions of a moment in time,
of a celebration, and also of the ups and downs
encountered by these Venezuelans along the
way as pioneers of this miracle.
We are proud to offer this chapter in honor of
those who, at that time, joined their illusions to
Master Abreu’s dream. Some of them, among
them the much loved violinist and founder of
the System, Carlos Villamizar, are no longer with
us. But the heavens resound with the ovations
they received on their first international tours,
back in the 1980s, and the applause won today
by our young members of the Simón Bolívar
Symphony Orchestra.
The pilgrimage
We went from pillar to post. First they lent us
a garage at Liliana Moreno’s house in Prados
del Este. Then we had another rehearsal, the
second, at the Juan José Landaeta Conservatory,
located in Campo Alegre, thanks to the fact
that ­Maestro Ángel Sauce liked Abreu’s idea.
But the orchestra began to grow, week after
week; we were no longer just the eight or ten of
us who turned up at the first meetings because
several musicians had arrived from other parts
of the country. So, carting our instruments on
our backs, we had to go to the Sindú factory
warehouse in Boleíta Sur. That warehouse proved
to be magical for us. We all pitched to clean it up
and then, amidst bits of old iron and machinery,
we managed to hold our rehearsals. Meanwhile
José Antonio was looking for new premises.
After that, we went to a penthouse in Parque
Central, belonging to Fundarte, and we even had
to rehearse in Don Bosco Church, in Altamira.
Finally, we ended up in the José Félix Ribas Hall
at Teatro Teresa ­Carreño. Even though it had been
assigned to us as the orchestra’s headquarters,
one day they tried to get us out of there, but they
weren’t able to… We even inaugurated it with
a grand concert. That evening, Abreu pinned
on our badges and said, “You are the founding
members of the Venezuelan System of Youth
and Children’s Orchestras. You are the pioneers
of a great undertaking.” (Carlos Villamizar †,
Florentino Mendoza, and Gregory Carreño)
First rehearsals at Fundarte’s headquarters, Parque Central, Caracas
The rehearsals
The weekly rehearsals started when we’d all gotten out of university. They would begin at around
8 o’clock and finish at midnight. On ­Saturdays,
once the rehearsal started, there was no fixed
time for it to end. The most amazing thing was
that nobody left or asked what time things
were going to finish. But one thing was for sure,
rehearsals with José Antonio were ­grueling. He
used to do what’s called “music stand by music
stand,” getting everyone to play their parts one by
one. In other words, each rehearsal could hold a
surprise and a terrible challenge. And woe betide
you if you weren’t prepared because he’d make
you play the most difficult passages, one by one,
at any time, when you least expected it. (David
Ascanio and Beatriz Abreu)
The pleasure of the get-togethers
After the rehearsals came the good part: the
bombardment of knowledge and information
about art, music, literature, philosophy, and life.
That was quite simply wonderful. It was like
getting into one of those conversations you
don’t want ever to end. We always wanted to
73
hear more. That time was so pleasurable that
the rehearsals would end and the conversations,
always fed by José Antonio’s wisdom, went on
for another hour and a half or two hours. So, the
training the orchestra received was not merely
musical and technical, it was also a free-ranging
education where we talked about a wide range
of subjects that enriched the general culture of
many of us. (David Ascanio)
The first concert
It was in honor of the workers, and for that
reason we gave it on April 30. José Antonio
had worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and had his contacts there. But apart from that,
he set to, as only he knows how, to get as many
people as possible to support the concert. We
had high expectations about what was going to
happen that night. It was very hot in that part of
the Foreign Ministry and the lights shone right
in our eyes. We were dressed in our ordinary
clothes. We were just kids and perhaps we didn’t
realize the importance of it all. I remember I
was personally very, very scared, because I was
one of the soloists in Vivaldi’s Concerto Grosso
for violins, cello, and strings. The other pieces we
played were Mozart’s Serenata Notturna, Bach’s
Concerto in D Minor for two violins, strings, and
basso continuo, Mozart’s Overture to The Magic
Flute, and ­Händel’s Solemn Fanfare for brass
and timpani, and we closed with Venezuela’s
National Anthem by Landaeta. There were a
lot of people because the invitation had been
well received. José Antonio conducted and he
was deeply moved. At the end of the concert,
everyone congratulated us, our families, the
public, and government representatives who
were present, among them the foreign minister.
We were literally shouting with happiness, partly
because we had made our debut in grand style
and also because they hadn’t been deceiving us.
It was then we knew that this was for real, that all
the business about the scholarships, the chances
of work, our careers as musicians; all that was
possible, it was all true. That evening we found
the handhold we needed and we had searched
for so hard. (Domingo Sánchez Bor)
74
The first concert of the newly-formed orchestra at the
Casa Amarilla, the headquarters of Venezuela’s Foreign
Affairs Ministry, April 30, 1975
50 music stands for 11 apostles
In his eagerness to quickly put an orchestra
together –tell the System’s pioneers–, José
­Antonio Abreu had managed to get a
donation of 50 music stands, which about a
hundred kids were eventually to share. But
at that first rehearsal, on February 12, 1975,
only 11 young souls turned up with their
instruments. Counting the Maestro, who
conducted the orchestra and whose idea it was, these
were the 12 apostles of the new musical era that began
to resonate in Venezuela.
What did Abreu think and say at that moment, when
he saw so many music stands empty? Rather ask, What
did he think faced with that lack of faith and capacity to
take risks of so many Venezuelan musicians out there
with talent but limited horizons? Well, nothing. They
tell how this made him promise himself that he would
multiply those music stands by the thousand and that,
one day, millions of children and young people would
turn up at the rehearsals and would become members
of the best orchestras in the world.
Unstoppable and undaunted, that day José Antonio
Abreu simply focused his attention on one of the 11
apostles, the youngest, who, paying no attention to the
others, took his instrument out of its case and sat in his
seat ready to start playing. Then, Abreu raised the baton
of his grand undertaking and has not lowered it since.
75
The Youth Orchestra’s first music program
José Antonio Abreu directing his first pupils
The debutants
I’ve kept the program of our first concert as if
it were a treasure. The soloists that first night
were Frank Di Polo, Carlos Riazuelo, Pablo
Herrera and myself (all violins) and Domingo
Sánchez Bor (cello). In the row of violins,
apart from those I just named, were Alejandro
Ramírez, Osane Ibañez, Nil Nicolau, Ricardo
Urea, ­Edgar Aponte, Allyson Montoya, Lucero
Cáceres, Cecily Hernández, Francisco Marchán,
Claudio González, Jorge Carrillo, Carlos Piccinini, Bernald Pérez Acuña, Ulyses Ascanio,
Luis Miguel González, Santiago Aguirre, José
Lugo, Eliana Moreno, Jesús Hernández, Gerardo Ramírez, Andrés Duque, Isaura Delgado,
José Flores, and Alfonso Rodríguez. The violas
were: Joén Vásquez, Eleazar Vera, Julio Gestal,
Oswaldo Guevara, Fernando Da Silva, Waldemar De Lima, and Vicente Castellet. Trumpets
were: José Villarid, Narciso González, Enzo
­Serpentino, and Felipe Morey. With the flutes:
Néstor Pérez, Luis Ochoa, Antonio Montilla,
Edgar Moreno, and José Vásquez. On percussion: Edgar Saume, Francisco Rivero, Simón Álvarez and Alejandro Blanco Uribe, and playing
the cymbals, José Weissman. The oboes were
Lope Valles and Isabel Hernández. Playing bassoon we had Filiberto Núñez, Miguel Zamora
and Ramón Barrios. The cellos were played by
Hector Vásquez, Domingo Sánchez Bor, Juan
76
Ríos, Sofia Mühlbauer, Kathryn Schutmaat,
Andrés Herrera, Florentino Mendoza, Amalia
Cáceres, Jesús Vásquez, Luisa Bustamente and
Omaira Naranjo. The double-bass line was:
René Álvarez and Ricardo Blanco Uribe. On
the horns we had: Rey Cantor, José Liévano,
Moisés Puche, Jack Van de Valle and Alessandro
Zara. On the trombones: José Oro, Jaime Páez,
Marlig Bosque and Félix Rodríguez, with Vicente Rodríguez on the tuba. In the clarinet row
we had: Pedro Naranjo, Eduardo Salazar and
Leonel Méndez. On the organ, Beatriz Abreu.
We were accompanied by the following choirs:
the Venezuela Choir, La Electricidad de Caracas
Choir, Aragua Philharmonic Choir, Carabobo
Philharmonic Choir, and the Landaeta Conservatory Children’s Choir. (Carlos Villamizar †)
Friendship and fun
Something that always characterized us was
the friendship and the fun. If ever there was an
example of comradeship, I would say this is it. I
remember that when newcomers arrived from
the provinces or from Caracas, the Maestro
would welcome them, introduce them to all of
us by name and we would give them a round
of applause. That made them feel immediately
welcome and included, like important members
of the orchestra. The Maestro knew us well,
and just as he devoted himself to the musical
preparation of each and every one of us, so he
taught us something vitally important in life:
to cheerfully apply ourselves to a rehearsal
and to start off a concert with enthusiasm and
­openness of mind and spirit. (David Ascanio
and Edgar Saume)
The first seminar
After José Antonio announced the trip to
Mexico, we didn’t have a moment’s rest. We went
to Trujillo, where we had the first Music Training
Seminar. We were shut away for a month before
leaving for Mexico because the place was on the
top of a mountain; we were isolated up there
rehearsing for the trip to Mexico. Maestro Carlos
Núñez was there too, preparing the orchestra. We
rehearsed every day, starting at nine in the morning
and I remember it would be midnight and we’d
still be playing. It was crazy! (Gregory Carreño)
gave representing Venezuela. We met Maestro
Carlos Chávez, who conducted the orchestra a
year later. After that we went to Bolivia, Ecuador
and Colombia. Then we went to Aberdeen and
after that to Venice. (Gregory Carreño)
Safety and security
Being a musician is a serious business; no swear
words or arbitrary orders allowed. The kids
couldn’t go wandering around airports; they
had to go in double file. Even though they made
jokes at my expense, calling me Agent 86 and
all sorts of nicknames, they understood that
the discipline we demanded of them was for
their own safety. The musicians didn’t see me as
their boss; they always treated me with respect
and understood that my job was to carry out
Maestro Abreu’s instructions. (Juan
Pedro Uzcátegui)
The logistics of the first tours
For our first trip to Mexico we all boarded
a Hercules aircraft. The big problem was
getting enough money together for the fuel,
ten ­thousand bolivars. Abreu struggled to get
donations for the traveling expenses and fuel
costs, and bit by bit we collected enough to
cover everything. That first trip was a wonderful
experience, even though the flight wasn’t that
comfortable, and there was a great feeling of camaraderie. I took care of the first authorizations
from the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Our first
passport, Number 1586, was a collective one
for 107 people issued by the Foreign Ministry’s
Cultural Relations and Foreign Information
Office. On subsequent trips, if we went with the
choirs, the number rose to 200 people and we
had to ask for two Hercules. In those early days
it was quite difficult to organize the tours. Now
the kids have more facilities, which is the way
it should be because the musical profession is
worthy of respect. (Juan Pedro Uzcátegui)
A souvenir of the first trip in a Hercules belonging to the Venezuelan Air Force
The first foreign tour
We went to Mexico in August 1975, shortly after
the orchestra was born. It was the first concert we
77
about it; but we found it hard going! Apart
from that, following the baton of someone
like José A
­ ntonio required maturity and all
of us youngsters had to work hard on that; it
wasn’t something simple like when you say “let’s
organize a barbecue!” That musical fabric of
the repertoire was always well planned in José
Antonio’s mind, and he knew he could count on
the human resources he had available. He knew
that we’d all learned to say: “We shall overcome,”
whether it was Tchaikovsky, Bach or Mozart …
(Carlos Villamizar † and Frank Di Polo)
Teamwork
Looking like rockers
Pictures of the System’s pioneers
rehearsing
When we used to go on tour the kids looked
like a rock group … very fresh, very young, and
very unaffected. They were real characters with
their long hair and looking like rock musicians.
Travelling with them was a lot of fun. They were
youngsters with a lot of talent, tremendous
team spirit, and loads of optimism. They definitely saw the orchestra as a way to becoming
­better ­musicians; they were convinced of that.
­(Antonio Huizi)
José Antonio’s baton
We had many conductors and when we went
on tour we had seminars in Nice, Vienna or Italy
with different conductors. But truly the most
innovative of all, the one who really made the
orchestra sound different was and still is José
Antonio. The way José Antonio conducted,
his timing and his phrasing were a constant
challenge and very difficult to better, musically
speaking. (Frank Di Polo)
The repertoire
José Antonio always chose our repertoire. It
was usually complex and quite difficult … pieces
of cake for the kids nowadays – they laugh
78
At the beginning we did everything, even
Professor Abreu lugged the bags around. We
all pitched in to set up the music stands and,
if necessary, to take care of the administrative
details. I was studying fourth year of Theory and
Sight-reading at the time; when they called me,
I had no idea they were going to put me in
charge of coordinating the tours. We used to
organize a tour in just one week and all the
musicians had to learn and take on new responsibilities: set up music stands, take care of their
instruments, coordinate flights, carry bags …
I was the orchestra’s tour coordinator for more
than 20 years. (Juan Pedro Uzcátegui)
Taking photos for the record
What seemed to me so special about this
orchestra was that there were none of the
formalities of a symphony orchestra; everything
was very natural, and that was thanks to the
kids themselves; they had a sense of belonging.
Their naturalness was what made me feel a part
of them. I wasn’t a musician but they accepted
me as one of them; they involved me and I got
involved. José Antonio saw the need to have
a record and a testimony of what was going
on, through my photographic work. I took a
photographic record of those first five years,
and they were undoubtedly the most strenuous and the toughest. Today, I’m proud to have
those photographs, to keep them, because they
represent the beginning of a dream come true.
(Antonio Huizi)
Any place was good enough to rehearse. The Aula Magna at the UCV
was one of the scenarios to hear the debut of what was to become a
great Venezuelan orchestra: the Simón Bolívar Symphonic Orchestra
79
Dreaming a forest
When our imagination is on fire with a positive idea, that attracts other
ideas and a bunch of ideas, an ideal is formed. The coming together
of existences, beings, of different characters adds up to something
different and more elevated: the collective. This principle of nature
was the same one that Maestro José Antonio Abreu followed: the first
tree, the initiator that gave birth to the forest. The voices that now offer
testimony of those days, the voices that were there at that historic time
fill with pride when they see the greenness and flowering of their efforts.
All those voices, in unison, were marked by the beauty and energy
of the music.
80
Beatriz Abreu (Piano, organ)
After 1968, Ana Cecilia – my
younger sister – and I moved from
Barquisimeto to Trujillo. José
Antonio was in Caracas already
and he called me from time to time
to take part in some marvelous
concerts they were organizing in the
old home of the Caracas Atheneum.
In 1972 we created an eight-member
chamber orchestra in Trujillo, quite
sui generis, and sometimes we invited
José Antonio to come and conduct.
Starting in 1974, those seven musicians, eight with me, came to Caracas
every two weeks to form part of
that group that José Antonio had
set his heart on: a National Youth
Orchestra. By the end of 1974, the
visits were weekly; the State Govern-
ment helped us with our traveling expenses and we stayed Friday through
Sunday rehearsing with other kids
who came in from Aragua, Zulia,
Mérida and Carabobo states. The
first big rehearsal was on February
12, 1975, at the Juan José Landaeta
Conservatory; after that there were
many more until the concert at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs on April
30, which we considered our official
debut. The orchestra was made up
almost entirely of people from the
provinces, so the whole movement
took on a national character from
the outset.
The beginnings of this now great
program were hard, very hard,
partly because no one believed in
it; you could count the people who
­supported us on the fingers of one
hand. Many thought that José Antonio was out of his mind and they
said so p­ ublicly. The few of us who
did believe had to pitch in and help.
There was nothing at the beginning,
not even human resources with the
know-how for organizing tours and
concerts and making arrangements
abroad, all that sort of thing. We
dropped everything else for this
project and we won it all. When I
look back today and think about the
past and then about how things are
now, it really seems like a miracle; we
were God’s instruments for getting
this project under way. I could not
possibly be in a more wonderful
institution or one where I would
feel more useful than the System of
Youth and Children’s Orchestras of
Venezuela.
Ulyses Ascanio (Violin)
My brother David met José Antonio
Abreu at the 1974 Mozart Festival. I
was seventeen at the time and playing
electric guitar with a rock group.
I was a rocker and had formed a
group with some neighbors; it was
called Artificial Life. I’d abandoned
the violin because mine had broken
and I seized on this to quit. I used to
study at the Luis Manuel Olivares
School with Mario García and José
Francisco del Castillo, but I left
when I was fourteen. I was in the first
concert but not in the first group of
eleven kids, I arrived for the fourth
or fifth rehearsal. Then David told
me, “There’s this amazing man, José
Antonio, who’s going to found the
Youth Orchestra.” I didn’t really
believe in all that but, so what, I had
my violin fixed and turned up at Don
Bosco Church, that’s where we were
rehearsing, and I didn’t know anybody at all because I was completely
out of touch with academic music.
David came and introduced me to
José Antonio, this skinny guy, and
he sees me arriving like that with the
violin, right then his energy grabbed
me, and he asked me: “Do you play
the violin?” and I said: “Yes,” and then
he said: “You’re now one of the first
violins, sit down over there!” and I
was terrified because I hadn’t played
for years. But right then he caught me
up in his energy and started talking
about traveling and about this and
that ... I’d been studying engineering
for a year, because I graduated from
high school when I was sixteen, and I
got into this dilemma about whether
I should stay on at university or
not. José Antonio was as incredibly
euphoric as ever. That was thirty years
ago. I’m a founder; I’ve been with the
Simón Bolívar Orchestra from the
word go and I’ve been giving classes
for twenty-five years. Now I direct
the Caracas Children’s Orchestra,
which began for me the same way as
when I started with the Youth. José
Antonio said to me one day: “We’re
going to put you in the Children’s,
just for a week,” because I had a load
of commitments; a lot of students
in the Simón Bolívar Symphony
Orchestra, the Caracas Chamber
Ensemble... Well anyway, that week
has now stretched to a year and three
months. The force of the children just
took hold of me; they are continuity,
the future, and tangible proof of how
all this has evolved.
since my area within this movement
has been teaching at the Simón
Bolívar Conservatory and at the
University Institute for Music
Studies (IUDEM) too. I’ve spent
half my life with the System. I met
José Antonio Abreu at Fernando
Guerrero’s house before the Youth
Orchestra was created. José Antonio
was at the piano, improvising fugues
à la Bach. I was fifteen and was
dumbstruck by this extraordinary
character. We struck up a pupilteacher relationship and he taught
me to recognize and study the basics
of music, the search for excellence,
to see the big and small pictures,
and the relationship music has with
other arts. I would listen to extraordinary conversations in which, for
instance, a painting by Leonardo
da Vinci was analyzed, with José
Antonio comparing it to a Mozart
symphony. Then he called me to join
the Youth Orchestra and asked me
to accompany him. My relationship
as a founding member continued;
I was a soloist and was often called
on to give guest performances.
Between 1975 and 1976 I was at all
the rehearsals. It was fantastic. Each
rehearsal was an exact seed of what
the System of Children’s and Youth
Orchestras was to become. Now,
thirty-five years later, those seeds
have been sown all over the country.
Today, apart from feeling that I’m
part of something that is set on a
course, I think of all the wonderful
things the movement has given us. I
know now that what I was doing was
something unique in the world.
Alejandro Blanco Uribe
(Percussion)
I joined the System as a ­percussionist,
but then I immediately started
to work as José Antonio Abreu’s
­assistant. I got involved in coor­
dinating the production of events
and concerts. I knew how to get
along with the members of the
orchestra and, of course, I knew their
needs well because I was a musician.
I learned so much; not only about
music, but also about life in general,
thanks to Maestro Abreu. I think I
can say that I raised my level as an
executive and I also got used to not
being afraid of challenges, no matter
how big. I also became an expert in
logistics and organization. So those
first years of the System were an
extraordinary experience for me. It’s
true that the cultural environment at
that time favored the creation of the
project. Carlos Andrés Pérez, who
was then President of Venezuela,
believed in the movement. That
was important. I remember that the
Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho Foundation scholarships were an important
means of support for the orchestra’s
musicians. One thing that really benefited the National Youth Orchestra
at the beginning was that it traveled
abroad on tours. Initially, we traveled
on a shoestring, but there’s no doubt
at all that those trips strengthened
us a group and provided us with a
wealth of experience.
David Ascanio (Pianist, soloist)
I was the first soloist of the Youth
Orchestra, together with Maestro
Frank Di Polo and Carlos Riazuelo,
although I later served as teacher,
81
Richard Blanco Uribe
(Double Bass)
I joined System when I was twentythree and my experience was in
popular music. I took part in the
inaugural concert of the Simón
Bolívar National Youth Orchestra.
It was held in the Casa Amarilla one
April 20th. I remember as if it were
yesterday that we wore new shoes
and uniforms. It was really wonderful
because this was happening for the
first time in Venezuela. The people
who went to the performance that
day immediately realized what José
Antonio was planting. Through the
orchestra I not only learned about
music but human values such as
sharing, discipline, order, friendship, community, and respect for
the rules. To experience all that at
such a tender age is fundamental
for a young boy. So that is what the
National Youth did for me: it gave
me tools to live happily in society.
To have belonged to that orchestra
during those first years has been
the finest and most constructive
experience of my whole life. The
System has put thousands of young
Venezuelans on the right track and
given them a future. Apart from that,
the movement achieved something
unique in the cultural history of the
world: it proved that a country like
Venezuela, with its rather special
socio-economic conditions, was
capable of attaining any goal it set
82
itself. I believe it also awoke in us the
awareness that things can be done.
I left the Youth many years ago, but
there are still men and women who
are carrying on this worthy fight. I
am a man fulfilled, thanks to music.
that I was a founding member of the
orchestra and of ­having been able to
help Maestro Abreu.
Marlyn Bosque (Trombone)
studying violin in Maracay, Aragua
state. I recall that the first years were
ones of tremendous sacrifices. We
also rehearsed in different places,
which resulted in musicians traipsing
all over Caracas. In 1978 I took the
position of Concertino and managed
to complement my career with
History of Music and Orchestral
Conducting, convinced that these
would be important for allowing
me to develop my responsibility as
an orchestra soloist the best I could.
I remember that during rehearsals
the Maestro would say to us, when
he saw we were tired, that we had
to make our bodies suffer; and that
gave us the strength to continue
despite our exhaustion. We all knew
what time we had to start those first
rehearsals, but never what time we
would leave. By way of an anecdote,
I’ll never forget that once, in the
­middle of a performance during
a Latin American tour, there was
a power cut in the theater and, to
everyone’s surprise, the orchestra
concluded its performance from
memory and completely in the dark.
To my way of thinking, the System
When I joined the orchestra, I think
I was one of the very few women
who were studying brass, maybe the
only one at the time. I was attending
two schools: José Angel Lamas
School and the Landaeta Conservatory. They called me because I
belonged to the orchestra of the National Institute for Culture and Fine
Arts (INCIBA) and the Caracas
Martial Band, and they told me that I
was going to start with the Youth Orchestra. The orchestra is my whole
life because not only did it allow me
to form myself as a musician and as a
professional, but I also married one
of its members. After that I drifted
away somewhat from the Orchestra
System because I went to work for
the National Council for Culture
(CONAC) for twenty years. When
I came back I found the technical
level of the young people and children was so high that I was amazed.
Now I work for FundaMusical
Simón Bolívar, in Nuclei Management with Eduardo Méndez, doing
administrative work and music
coordination. I am proud of the fact
Jesús Hernández (Concertino)
I was invited to join the National
Youth Orchestra project by José
Antonio Abreu. At that time I was
of Youth and Children’s Orchestras gave the country a chance to
­appreciate music as a profession
and, to tell the truth, I feel deeply
honored at the way the System has
developed. I believe that the international extension of this project is
boundless.
Florentino Mendoza (Cello)
In 1975 I had been back from
Europe for almost a year and had absolutely no prospects as a musician,
since the only symphony orchestra
in Venezuela was practically barred
to Venezuelan musicians. This
frustrated me no end because I could
never have imagined that musical
circles in my own country could be
so limited and mediocre. Then I met
Hector Vásquez, an old friend and
excellent cellist, and began to study
with him. One day he mentioned
that there was a Venezuelan musician
called José Antonio Abreu who
wanted to start a project for a youth
orchestra. I thought it was just
another orchestra, you know, début
and farewell at the same time. Then
I realized what the project was all
about, that it was even more than just
music, it was a social and national
plan. I have worked on many levels:
playing, teaching, and managing. I
believe that, if I were born again, I
would choose to do the same: to be a
musician and a founding member of
this great undertaking, enjoy music,
live it, and understand the message
of coexistence and the teachings it
contains. Today, as manager of the
Chacao Youth and Children’s Orchestra, I have the pleasure of s­ eeing
the children grow, watch them as
they become adolescents and then
adults, guided always by music … just
like José Antonio raised us. That’s
why the System will never end; it’s
an eternal program and Venezuela is
just a step away from becoming the
world’s Mecca for music education
and activities involving music.
José Quevedo (Bassoon)
First I performed and then I taught
clarinet, and for me it’s enormously
satisfying to know that we’re useful
and have done something for the
country over these last thirty-five
years. When we began, we were all
friends and classmates from the
different music schools. We got to
know one another; we would get
together. I went to several rehearsals
and began as a clarinetist. Later, the
orchestra grew, but we had no one
to play the bassoon. Then Pro­
fessor Filiberto Núñez offered me
the chance to learn it and in three
months I got ready and took up the
bassoon … and I’m playing it to this
day! Now we have to make room for
the young people because the System has many talented youngsters.
At the moment I’m giving classes at
different nuclei all over the country,
teaching ­bassoon and clarinet. I’m
always ready to give my all to this
movement, because it’s really been
like a home, a family to us.
Eduardo Salazar (Clarinet)
When I arrived I was a member of
the June 24th Band in Carabobo, the
best music group in that state. I was
the band’s lead clarinet. I remember
that I was attending an event at the
Cathedral and I received a message
through choirmaster Federico
Núñez, who said: “Maestro Abreu
is over at my house and wants to talk
to you.” I went over with a colleague
who later died, who was also around
at the beginning, Luis Alberto
Ochoa, a flautist. Maestro Abreu
invited me to join the ensemble. I
was lead clarinetist at the Simón
Bolívar Youth Symphony Orchestra
(SJVSB) until 1989, but since then
I have had other responsibilities.
When I left the orchestra, three
clarinetists whom I’d been coaching
carried on: Edgar Pronio, Orlando
Pimentel, and Oscar González.
Now I head up the Carabobo Youth
Symphony Orchestra, today made
up of groups from Puerto Cabello
and Valencia. I also conduct the
Lisandro Ramírez School Children’s
Orchestra. What the Orchestra
System represents in my life, I think,
is learning about discipline, responsibility and commitment. There’s one
story I remember: we had a concert
in Vienna and the train with the
instruments hadn’t arrived in time.
Maestro Abreu was down with the
’flu and had a very high temperature.
Finally, we managed to play with
­borrowed instruments we collected
at different villages along the way,
but we played! Now I have the experience of my son, the new generation
-same name as me-, who’s in the row
of first violins of the SJVSB “B.” He’s
twenty-one and he says that he’s
spent his adolescence and youth at
rehearsals, workshops, concerts, seminars, a long list of happenings, some
more important than others. And
that’s exactly what happened to me
over these past thirty-five years. Now
he’s going through the same thing
– so, thanks to this method, adolescence is no longer an awkward age.
There’s no denying the magical way
Maestro Abreu establishes a system
of learning, his artistry in implementing this method of teaching, because
he builds such extraordinary things.
I believe that my own generation,
which now teaches on a regular basis,
has learnt to teach everything, from
the easiest to the most difficult.
Edgar Saume (Percussion)
I was already a professional in the
field of popular music when all
this was born. Joining the National
Youth meant an opportunity to get
involved in symphonic music. It was
also like opening a new and important door for developing my music
career. I am the orchestra’s founding
timpanist and that’s where I’ve been
for the past thirty-five years. Of
course, I’ve been able to do an infinite number of other things, like giving classes, studying conducting and
composing, and traveling around
the world. I remember that the first
rehearsals were a bit disorganized.
We percussionists didn’t have our
own instruments, so we used some
of Alejandro Blanco Uribe’s huge
copper saucepans as kettledrums.
The start of the orchestral movement was very exciting. Right from
the word go, the orchestra began to
do international tours, travel around
Venezuela, and encourage the work
that was being done in teaching.
What, in the beginning, was a group
of kids getting together –under José
Antonio Abreu’s guidance– grew
exponentially. The movement
started as a wave that grew -and continues to grow and grow- until one
day it suddenly came to represent a
major factor in enriching our lives
as individuals and as a society. The
orchestra taught us that he who gives
receives. One of my greatest satisfactions is my students, who today are
many, in all parts of Latin America.
I feel as though I’m a member of
83
something truly great, a movement
that has changed Venezuela forever.
by playing Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. I think the System has raised
the musical level of Venezuelans, day
by day, and has taught us that, above
all else, music is giving love.
Andrés Sucre (Trumpet)
Back then when the System was
born, there were no opportunities
in Venezuela, orchestra-wise. All we
had was the Venezuela Symphony
Orchestra, the Maracaibo Symphony Orchestra and Universidad de
Los Andes’ String Orchestra. One
night I was studying at the Juan José
Landaeta Conservatory, at my Theory and Sight-reading class, when
Maestro Abreu told me there was
someone from the Foreign M
­ inistry
who wanted to put together an
orchestra and that we would have a
chance to play in it. I was eighteen.
That Saturday everyone took along
their instruments. I was playing
clarinet then, but wanted to play
oboe. José Antonio Abreu asked me
if I played any other instruments. I
said I played the guitar, the bugle,
and trumpet. He confessed that he
needed a trumpet, and that was how
I came to study that instrument.
The best anecdote I can remember
is something that happened at a
seminar held in Los Caracas (a beach
resort about an hour’s ride from
Caracas) in 1977 and that was attended by guests from abroad as well
as a large number of Venezuelans.
Organizing the meals, for which I
was responsible together with other
colleagues, was a nightmare. The
kitchen at Los Caracas collapsed
the first night. It was 10:30 p.m. and
nobody had eaten. Bit by bit we
managed to deal with the problem
and, within the space of one hour
forty-five minutes, we got about two
thousand people served. We ended
84
Lope Valles (Oboist)
I arrived for the orchestra’s second
rehearsal because only eight
youngsters who played stringed
instruments turned up for the first
one. When I heard about this new
orchestra, I didn’t think it was for
real because they’d always made
us so many promises, so I was a
bit skeptical. But I went because
Maestro Abreu had invited me
along with my teacher. We began to
believe when we found ourselves in
the UK, on that trip when we went
to the Aberdeen Festival in Scotland.
After that I spent eight years with
the Simón Bolívar Symphony
Orchestra, and since I was a communications major, Abreu asked me
to help out with disseminating and
promoting the System’s activities,
which is what I did until 1983. Then
I took on managerial duties, because
a new generation of musicians was
coming up behind us. The System
was growing rapidly and there was a
need to build a lot of platforms, in all
senses of the word, both managerial
and administrative. Abreu said to
me: “Lope, I need you here because
you know what an orchestra is on
the inside and all that’s needed when
setting up an orchestra structure.”
So first I spent some years as the
System’s internal comptroller and
then they sent me out to set up the
regional nuclei. I lived in Cumaná for
four years while setting up the Sucre
nucleus together with all the region’s
orchestras. When I’d finished my job
there, they sent me to the other end
of the country, to Táchira, to do the
same, and I returned to Caracas four
years later. Now I provide support
in the National Teaching Department and I am more surprised as
time goes by, as if each day were my
first day at work, at the dynamics of
this other Venezuela represented by
the System of Youth and Children’s
Orchestras. No sooner does one
concert -as musically huge and
organizationally complex as the
Simon Rattle concert- ends, than we
start all over again the very next day,
because there are three generations
pressuring, asking, demanding, and
wanting to get ahead as quickly as
possible: there are the kids who want
to join the symphony orchestras,
others who want to get into their local youth orchestras, and thousands
of children who dream of belonging
to the children’s orchestras. I feel it
every day when I’m outside Caracas;
it never stops. One of my greatest
satisfactions in life, one that keeps
me hard at it, is seeing how these
children create their own futures,
always moving forward… Yesterday,
I saw them when they joined the
orchestras, tiny kids; tomorrow I’ll
see them triumphant in Berlin, like
Edicson Ruiz, for example.
Carlos Villamizar (Violin)
One day I heard that a music group
was being formed at the Juan José
Landaeta Conservatory, with José
Antonio Abreu in charge. Some
friends and I went over there because
there was going to be a meeting, but
none of us really knew what it was
all about. That’s how the orchestra
started. There were about eight of
us. I remember how Maestro Abreu
told us of his plan that day: he said
we were to play and to practice as an
orchestra. The main thing, then, was
to play, to be there and share it all. A
future national movement was never
mentioned. Everything happened
in the simplest manner, but with
everyone putting all their heart into
it. Over the next three months, more
and more young musicians joined
up. The word was out. I sat in the
row of second violins. There was no
competition then for places, I mean,
you just turned up and took the
one the Maestro suggested. Later I
moved to the first violins but, just
like the river always takes you back
to your roots, I returned to the row
of second violins. I somehow felt
I was more useful there: it had to
do with the love of music. The first
tours came, then our contact with
the Mexican Maestro Carlos Chávez
and a whole series of marvelous experiences that were to mark my life.
I feel really proud to be part of the
most important artistic and cultural
achievement in Venezuela and Latin
America to have happened in the
second half of the 20th century.
On an August evening in 2004, founding musicians and collaborators celebrated the System’s 30th anniversary at the home of Maestro José Antonio Abreu
85
Frank Di Polo:
We gave our all
ext to José Antonio Abreu, Frank Di Polo
is one of the oldest founders of the Simón
Bolívar Youth Symphony Orchestra and the
National System of Youth and Children’s
Orchestras of Venezuela. Besides being the first
president of Sociedad Civil Orquesta Nacional
Juvenil de Venezuela “Juan José Landaeta” (Juan
José Youth Orchestra Association, a non-profit
organization), he created the Traveling Viola
School, through which he has sown passion
for this instrument among children and young
people throughout the country. As though that
were not enough, he has been responsible, along
with other pioneers of the System, for setting
up and founding youth orchestras throughout
Latin America and the Caribbean. Di Polo –the
son of the renowned signer Fedora Alemán– has
also had passion to spare to keep an inventory
–using his camera and video equipment– of the
history of this grand undertaking.
How did you meet José Antonio Abreu?
I heard José Antonio Abreu’s name when I was
15, when I gave my first concert. We met later.
It was at the Universidad Central de V
­ enezuela’s
Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Pedro
Antonio Ríos Reyna, where I was playing the
orchestra’s only viola. One day José Antonio
came to conduct the orchestra; we became
friends and started to play together there and
86
to plan a series of concerts, looking for people
everywhere. Shortly after getting to know José
Antonio, I won a Fulbright scholarship and
went to the United States until I was 21, when
Ríos Reyna called me to play first viola in the
­Venezuela Symphony Orchestra.
When did you decide to leave the Venezuela
Symphony Orchestra and why?
I was with the VSO for six years, when there
were only ten Venezuelans and 86 foreigners.
I remember the case of a friend, a bassoonist.
He was about to graduate from Santa C
­ apilla
School and he asked one of his teachers, a
Czechoslovakian musician, if he could get him
a place in the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra,
and the teacher told him: “For you to be able to
join the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra, one
of the musicians would have to die or commit
suicide.” The young man finished his studies
and on the day he graduated, in front of Vicente
Emilio Sojo, José Antonio, and his friends,
myself included, he took his instrument, doused
it with kerosene, and set light to it. That’s why,
when José Antonio met these eight youngsters
for the first time, pioneers of what was to become the Juan José Landaeta Youth ­Orchestra,
he said to me: “Frank, help me with these
youngsters. We’re going to form a small group.”
So I dropped everything, even my position with
the Cleveland Orchestra, which I’d won in an
audition. We started to rehearse in 1974. I was
always the oldest. I was 30 at the time, and they
appointed me president of the Sociedad Civil
Orquesta Juvenil “Juan José Landaeta”.
Do you remember who those eight founding
members were?
Yes, of course: Ulyses Ascanio, Sofía Mühlbauer,
Carlos Villamizar, Jesús Alfonso, Edgar Aponte,
Florentino Mendoza, Carlos Lovera, and
Lucero Cáceres.
During the process of expanding and multiplying the orchestras, what was happening
inside the organization structurally, on a
day-to-day basis?
José Antonio moved on two fronts: the political
front, constantly making contacts and seeking
contributions, both funding and infrastructure,
for the orchestras; and, at the same time, he was
laying the foundations of the music platform. All
of us who started out with the orchestra learned
to be managers right from the start. We became
models for the next generations: we played, gave
concerts, traveled to the provinces to give classes,
we held seminars… That’s why the common denominator of all the National Youth Orchestras
has been, right from the start and is still today,
the capacity for giving, for giving everyone an
opportunity to have a musical career.
Now, thirty-five years later, did you ever imagine that this music and orchestral education
model would be copied by so many countries?
The acceptance and publicity that the System
has achieved abroad comes as no surprise to
us because our “music formula” has ­permeated
many countries for more than 20 years. We
have founded orchestras from Mexico to
Patagonia. We have the Andean Development
Corporation’s project, under which we have
conducted the highest orchestra in the world,
at an altitude of 4,200 feet above sea level, in the
mountains of Bolivia. We have sown orchestras
­throughout Latin America -in Guatemala, El
Salvador, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, ­Uruguay,
and Paraguay- and in several islands in the
­Caribbean. Whenever we go on tours abroad,
the governments of the countries we visit show interest in our
project and their presidents ask us
what is needed in order to have a
youth orchestra like ours. So, we
draw up a complete plan for them
to set up the structure for their
own orchestras. That the System is
being exported is indisputable.
Has there been a change in the
spirit of commitment and dedication, in challenges and ambitions, with which the System was Frank Di Polo with his wife Beatriz Abreu de Di Polo
born… That spirit that Abreu
summed up in the motto
“Play and Fight”?
Thirty-five years have gone by and the spirit with
which we started this project has not changed.
We have given our all, we have given what we
are, we have given the most beautiful thing
anyone can give, our willingness to work to sow
and our joy at making music to the highest level
of excellence and professionalism. Just recently,
I was talking to Professor Ulyses Ascanio about
the training of the youngsters and children who
are in our orchestras today, and I said to him
that the level of these youngsters is higher than
ours. The reason is that now they can receive a
first-class education, very quickly, from the age
of four, with the best teachers, and with seminars
and special schools. They have everything.
We’ve given them everything to enable them
to succeed.
Have you had time to stop and take stock, to
think about what was done right and what
was not?
There’s something that has happened to all of
us who boarded this ship: we started to row,
and we’re still rowing; we’ve never had time to
stop. Maybe, at a big concert, you look, sigh, are
moved, and that’s it. A minute later, once the
applause has died down, you know what it is you
have to do to improve the performance next
time. That’s a wheel that has been turning since
José Antonio gave it its first push, even before
1975, and it will never stop turning.
Frank Di Polo’s other great passion:
photography and preserving the
System’s memory in pictures
87
Chapter
IV
The System:
a model of peace and
progress for mankind
Music is not something decorative, it is something
that speaks of the deepest-rooted human condition;
it tells us who we are. The System is not only
a question of art but, deep down, a social initiative.
It has saved many lives, and will continue to save them.
Sir Simon Rattle
Children and adolescents swiftly acquire the skills to become great interpreters.
Children’s Orchestra, Barquisimeto Nucleus, Lara state
The orchestra-school:
a seven-star philosophy
ight now, just as the first decade of the 21st
century has drawn to a close, no one is
­unaware that a new musical energy is making
itself felt around the world. The System of
Youth and Children’s Orchestra of Venezuela’s
best calling card is, undoubtedly, its original ensemble: the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra. But, when one sees such young musicians
offer the best interpretations of the symphonic
and popular repertoires of all époques, moving
to tears and winning ovations, taking moments
of happiness to many corners of the world, and
finding their way into the hearts of the most varied and discerning audiences, a number of questions come to mind: What is the secret of this
new and bold way of making music to the highest level of excellence? What is the formula that
allows them to go forth and take the world by
storm with such self-assurance and composure
90
at such an early age? And what is the s­ trategy or
machinery for turning so many ordinary kids,
a fair number of them of humble origins, into
talented musicians, leading examples being
Gustavo Dudamel, Edicson Ruiz, Diego
Matheuz, and Francisco Flores?
There are no secrets or formulas or strategies.
It is simply the virtuoso National System of
Youth and Children’s Orchestras of V
­ enezuela
that, like a bountiful river, offers a wealth of
pointers for forming happy, well rounded
individuals free from any complexes of spiritual
or intellectual poverty.
It would be true to say that the System is a body
of philosophy consisting of seven premises
conceived of by the wise, down-to-earth mind
of Maestro José Antonio Abreu. It is from these
premises that the numerous bounties of the
program stem, applied to three spheres: the personal and the individual, the family, and the social
and the community. And whenever a country, a
­society, a community, an organization or an institution decides to implement the System, a change
is set in motion, over the short, medium, and
long terms, that is so palpable and substantial as
the change that has been wrought in the 300,000
children, adolescents, and young people who have
benefitted from the System in Venezuela.
The implementation of the System and its
premises –more of which in the following
chapters- has been achieved in Venezuela over a
period of 35 uninterrupted years thanks to the
backing of a novel, flexible management structure that has been adapted to the characteristics
of each community and region.
1. Enjoyment and learning
as everyone’s right
Art has ceased to be a monopoly of the elites
and has been consolidated as a social right of
our peoples. As a consequence, the artistic
education of children, adolescents, and young
people has become a symbol of a social revolution without exclusions or stigmas of any kind.
Democratization of the art of music and
making it available to the masses –the fact that
this is essentially a priority social program for
­training the up-and-coming generations– have
been ­established as an instrument for social
­development.
91
2. Training, rehabilitation,
and social inclusion
Because it is both technical and artistic, orchestra and choral work necessarily implies training,
education, and the imparting of knowledge and
tools that increase their abilities and skills for
the job.
As part of this premise, the System also contemplates a special nationwide program for children,
adolescents, and young people with special
needs –the deaf and dumb, the blind, those with
Down’s syndrome, and youngsters with other
difficulties- as a form of treatment and rehabilitation –including music therapy-, so that they
gradually heal and become a part of society just
like anyone else.
The System also takes in children who have
been abandoned, are at risk or who have scant
economic and social opportunities, as well as
youngsters who have not been given the tools
to learn a trade, and offers them job training in
building and repairing musical instruments, for
example, the idea being to consolidate a national
network of micro businesses that manufacture
instruments for the domestic and Latin
American markets.
3. Integrating and caring for the
individual, the family,
and the community
In the personal sphere, what is important is the
spiritual, moral, intellectual, and emotional
development of the children, adolescents, and
youngsters involved in the music program.
Thanks to his participation in an orchestra
or choir, the child acquires a noble identity
and becomes a model for his family and for
his community; he does better at his regular
studies because he is required to be disciplined,
constant, and punctual, and that helps him enormously with his schoolwork. In other words, he
develops self-esteem and self-confidence, which
makes him a well rounded person.
92
In the family sphere, the child becomes a model
for his mother and father. When he d­ iscovers
that he is important to his family, he starts
to seek new ways to get ahead and also has
aspirations that his family will improve socially
and economically. Belonging to an orchestra
results in a child being able to play and practice
the instrument at home while his father works
and, in many cases, his mother does housework.
There is no doubt that the entire family gets
involved in the atmosphere of work and study
generated by the child; and then they all joyfully
and proudly take part in the orchestras’ concerts
and activities.
In the community sphere, the orchestras
emerge as new spaces for creating culture.
Squares, theaters, schools, churches, and parks
have been literally taken over by the creative
boom of Venezuela’s youth and children’s
orchestras. Today, every region of the country,
every town, every community feels that their
orchestras are a living musical heritage that
belongs to everyone.
4. Material poverty vanquished
by spiritual wealth
Many of the children, adolescents, and young
people who are members of the System come
from excluded and vulnerable social strata of
the Venezuelan population. Being involved in
the orchestra movement gives them a chance to
achieve new goals, projects, and dreams.
The spiritual wealth that music and playing a
musical instrument affords them saves these
children of the orchestras from moral poverty
and social complexes and provides them with
the psychological and intellectual tools with
which to overcome material poverty.
5. Music as a part of the daily life of
towns and villages
The System promotes a type of training that
is guided by ethical principles, in which the
student plays an active role by listening, doing,
playing, and cooperating. So, music and what
it implies in the development of the indi-
vidual, the family, and the community become
­entrenched in the daily life of towns and villages
quite naturally and spontaneously.
Music is not excluded from the individual’s
essence and his daily round, but nourishes and
is nourished by that everydayness, awakening
his aesthetic sense and inducing the cultivation,
without artificial posturings, of harmony and
beauty in different spaces: nature, the city, and
the individual himself. So, people learn to find
art not only in museums and concerts but also
in their different environments, in other people,
and in their daily round.
6. Overcoming false musical
paradigms
The orchestras belonging to the System include
both academic and popular music in their
repertoires. The universal language of music
is integrated into the culture of our people
through its concerts naturally, spontaneously,
and without prejudice.
93
Music becomes part of the daily lives of thousands of Venezuelan youngsters, steering them clear of the risks of drugs, violence, and wrongdoing.
94
The intrinsic values of different musical
­aes­thetics are combined in an orchestra
repertoire designed to cater to the academic
development of the direct beneficiaries and
the enjoyment of the indirect beneficiaries.
The orchestras’ resources are used to produce a
musical discourse that does not limit itself to the
schemes of W
­ estern academic music. When it
comes to music, all genres –classical, academic,
popular, folk, elitist, avant-garde, traditional,
experimental, and erudite- are perceived and put
across by the System.
7. Paths for meritocracy and the
country’s progress
The System promotes meritocracy, understood
as a means of personal advancement based
on ­effort, constancy, and discipline. It also
­contributes to social development and has
achievements that have made Venezuela as a
synonym of success, excellence, and future.
The System contributes to promoting a
­successful image of Venezuelan musicians by
giving participants the opportunity to develop
a professional career that is socially acceptable
and enjoys a certain status; and, at the same
time, it has yielded an ever increasing number
of emblems of triumph and world recognition,
such as Maestro José Antonio Abreu, Gustavo
Dudamel, and many other musicians who have
come from within the System.
At Los Chorros Center, every afternoon, children from low-income families find a place to
overcome adversity and become youngsters with an all-round education.
95
The bounties of the System
The orchestra and the choir are
more than artistic structures; they
are schools for the social and
personal development of children
and adolescents; they are fertile
ground for cultivating aptitudes,
attitudes, and ethical, aesthetic,
and spiritual values.
1 Happy men and women
Being cared for, having the support
of their family, being able to count
on friends in the orchestra,
becoming the talented musician in
their community, owning an
instrument, studying, traveling, and
being an artist… that’s happiness.
Gustavo Adolfo
Dudamel Ramírez
Musical Director
of the Simón Bolívar
Symphony Orchestra.
96
2 Self-esteem and emotional
security
Making music helps to build an
inner world; being taken into
account, feeling appreciated and
needed in the orchestra group,
facing up to challenges, and
winning applause strengthens
one’s sense of self-value.
3 Developing an aesthetic sense
The beautiful sounds of the
symphonic works, the delicateness
of the instruments, the architectural elegance of the theaters, and the
sober and immaculate wardrobe
worn for the concerts teach an
appreciation of beauty.
8 Coexistence, solidarity,
and tolerance
In classes and at rehearsals, they
share moments of tension and
happiness, tell one another about
what’s happening in their personal
lives, and learn not to be nosy. In
the orchestra, they learn to correct
their own and others’ mistakes
with tolerance.
9 Setting goals and developing a
sense of purpose
“I want to be a conductor,” “I want
to be a soloist,” “I dream about
getting to the Berlin Philharmonic.” And every year, they have to
meet fresh demands the System
places on them in terms of musical
performance in order to keep their
place in the orchestra.
4 A scenario for socialization
The orchestra is a group, a society
with leaders (the conductor) and
citizens (the musicians). There
they share the music stand,
perform as a team, and achieve
harmonious sounds. The collective
takes precedence over the
individual.
5 Learning and concentration
They have to pay attention when
the conductor raises his baton,
spend hours at orchestra rehearsals
and practicing individually, read
the music scores accurately, and
memorize the repertoire. It all
comes down to paying attention.
6 Challenge-proof discipline
They learn to obey the rules: no
talking when the conductor is
explaining something; being on
time; keeping to the schedule; and
turning up at rehearsals and
concerts. They have to know how
to behave when on tour and
during appearances.
7 Competitiveness
They develop a positive spirit
of competitiveness: getting into
the first row of violins, being the
concertino, belonging to the SJVSB.
Without that spirit, neither
Gustavo Dudamel nor Edicson
Ruíz would have won
international contests.
10 Perseverance and tenacity
11 A vision of the future and the
job market
“Play and Fight” is the System’s
They acquire the tools to perform,
motto, because they have to persist
knowledge, and skills. From the
with their orchestra rehearsals and
time they are very young, they are
practice over and over until the
preparing themselves to exercise a
piece sounds perfect. They know
well-paid profession as a musician,
that constant daily work brings
soloist, composer, arranger, luthier
success.
or a manager at FundaMusical
Simón Bolívar, to mention just a
few possibilities.
12 Excellence and leadership
As professionals, they are aware
that excellence is their load star.
The phrase “I want to be the best”
makes them leaders in everything
they do. In the System, merit and
rigor are rewarded.
13 Nationalism
When they wear their tricolor
jackets and the ovations echo
around the world, they are filled
with nationalist pride. All the
System’s musicians know that
Venezuela is in the forefront of the
international music scene.
97
Igor Lanz:
we form well rounded individuals for society
aestro Igor Lanz could well be described
as one of Venezuela’s most effective cultural
managers ever. A pioneer of the National System
of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of ­Venezuela,
with his excellent managerial skills and his
profound conviction that this music movement
would generate great artistic and humanistic
benefits, he has been a key factor in ­getting this
machinery dreamed up by José Antonio Abreu
to function and operate successfully.
I met Igor Lanz at the start of my career as
a journalist at the daily newspaper El Nacional
and, in the three decades since then, I have not
encountered a cultural doer and manager who is
more zealous or devoted than he; always attentive to everything, from the slightest detail to the
big picture, and ready to deal day by day with any
­obstacle that could impair or impede the work
of the orchestras and, most particularly, of the
musicians. From 1998 and until 2008, Lanz had
­FESNOJIV (State Foundation for the National
System of Youth, Children’s and Infants’ Orchestras of Venezuela, today Simón Bolívar Musical
Foundation) under his “managerial baton” as its
Executive Director. However, he has accompanied
José Antonio Abreu in designing this program and
setting up the first concerts since the 1970s.
98
A native of Caracas and a graduate in Orchestral and Choral Composition with a master’s
in ­Orchestral Conducting from the Guildhall
School of Music and Drama in London, Lanz
explains the System’s philosophy, its pedagogical essence, and the benefits it has brought the
country and world culture in general.
How did the National System of Youth
and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela
come about and how would you describe
this program?
A group of music students, led by José Antonio
Abreu, had recognized the importance of live
music practice for the development of any performer. So, what the National Youth Orchestra
proposed, from the beginning, was to include
orchestral practice in conservatory music education as a fundamental and routine element in a
musician’s training. That was the philosophy with
which what everyone knows today as the System
was born, the soul and cornerstone of the entire
music structure we’ve thought up, because it
represents the program itself, it contains the steps
and the mechanics for training musicians and
forming orchestras and music movements of
a very high standard.
So this meant reforming traditional
music education.
Exactly. That tradition of studying an instrument
at a conservatory for an hour-and-a-half a week,
then practicing at home all alone is isolating and
frustrating. Taking part in activities with an orchestra, on the other hand, provides opportunities for sharing interests, experiences, values, and
techniques and generates healthy competition.
All of this allows the musician to develop more
broadly. I remember that more than seventy
percent of the youngsters who started at the
music school dropped out in the first year precisely because the only thing they learned during
that time was music theory. Children ask their
mothers to take them to music school because
they want to have contact with the world of
music, with the instrument they like and with the
tones, with the happiness and peace music ­offers
them. The essence of the National System of
Youth and Children’s Orchestra of Venezuela is
to put the instruments into the children’s hands;
they make them sound and then they learn more
quickly how to write music, what a staff is, how to
read music and how they have to play it.
When was the System first talked about?
The creation of the National Youth Orchestra
was like a fertilized embryo that first divided into
two and then into four and then immediately
multiplied. That was how the System was born,
right from the time that the daily orchestra practice I mentioned was established. I should mention that, from the very beginning, José Antonio
Abreu founded orchestra centers in other key
states in Venezuela, in Aragua, Lara, Zulia and
Mérida, for example; in other words, in regions
where there was already a fair amount of musical activity. Let’s not forget that, ­traditionally,
there are bands in almost all the country’s cities,
It takes many hours of study and dedication, from when
they are tiny tots, to get ahead in the world of symphony
music.
99
and that helped when it came to setting up the
centers. Besides, all the bands had renowned
teachers who supported us, José Rafael Puche,
for example, who started with the Maracaibo
Band and who was my trumpet professor at the
Higher School of Music. I mention him because
we took advantage of the best music teachers
and personalities who lived in the provinces,
especially leading musicians, to explain and promote the System’s philosophy and its essence.
Thirty-five years on, and above and beyond
what the original idea was, what, in your
opinion, has been this program’s major social
contribution and what are the virtues that
make a number of countries want to copy it?
The contributions are many, but as a Venezuelan,
I have to say that, among the most significant,
is, undoubtedly the inclusion, participation and
fulfillment through music of any Venezuelan,
particularly those who have neither social nor
economic opportunities. We have shown that
art has an extremely important social function:
it offers them a chance to transform their lives
and the lives of their families, regardless of their
social stratum; and, by the same token, it manages to effectively rescue many abandoned and
physically disabled and drug-addicted youngsters
Words of praise
from converts
Sir Simon Rattle
(Conductor, Berlin Philharmonic
Orchestra)
“With the System, Maestro Abreu
has devoted his life to changing the
lives of many generations of young
people. Thanks to this program,
more and more young people all
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over the world can and will be able
to benefit from the power of music
to achieve a change in their lives.
Deep down, this is a social program,
and I know that it has saved many
lives and will continue to save many
more. Another aspect is that it offers
people another way of communicating with one another, another way
of understanding the world, another
form of happiness, and another way
of coexisting. The rest of the world
will come to study this program and
many countries will want to copy it.”
for educating and of such powerful spiritual richness as Venezuela.
What has happened in this South
American country is unique and
un­precedented in the international
world of music. (…) If there were a
System like this, a program of such
scope, in all the countries of the
world, we wouldn’t have wars or
talk of extreme poverty, because
above and beyond the music, this is
a profound and revolutionary social
movement.”
tunity to break out of the vicious
circle of poverty helped by learning
music. The System has started to be
imitated internationally, because one
can’t help but be pleasantly touched
by the spiritual way in which these
youngsters play their instruments
and make music. That’s why we
decided to undertake and achieve a
change in our environment through
a similar project in Scotland.”
Gustav Djupsjöbacka
(Rector, Sibelius Academy, Finland)
Richard Holloway
Krzysztof Penderecki
(Chairman of the Scottish
(Polish composer)
Arts Council)
“Never have I found a country where
music is an instrument and a tool
“This is a radical social program
in which children get the oppor-
“It is very important for us to learn
from the tremendous energy and
heart the Venezuelan musicians
belonging to the System of Youth
and Children’s Orchestras put into
by getting them to play in an orchestra. And
thirdly, the System has made it possible to rescue
many abandoned and physically disabled and
­drug-addicted youngsters through orchestral
practice. And the rest of the world knows that
and wants to copy it because our results, in terms
of both quantity and quality, are conclusive:
more than 300,000 children, adolescents, and
young people fighting and performing stellar
roles of musical excellence, and their names are
on everyone’s lips: Gustavo Dudamel, Edicson
Ruíz, Francisco Flores, and Diego Matheuz, to
name just four.
The System has also made much yearned-for
cultural decentralization in Venezuela possible
and supported integration in Latin America.
Yes, from every viewpoint. Our having planted
orchestras all over the country has allowed us to
democratize access to culture and music in all
parts of Venezuela. Now, every town, every municipality wants to have its orchestra. ­Moreover,
right from the start we were determined to
share our experience with the countries of Latin
America. In Mexico, for example, the youth
orchestra movement is called Proyecto Venezuela
and nowadays has more than thirty orchestra
groups, and the same is happening throughout
Latin America and the Caribbean.
music when they play. Through this
relationship we hope to nurture our
music and orchestra teaching so as to
provide our Finnish musicians with
that energy, taking what we need
from this phenomenal program,
and at the same time share with
­Venezuelan players those of our academic tools they might find useful.”
How competitive are the System’s musicians?
There is a marvelous and highly positive competitive spirit, because the orchestra is a clear
example of democracy as exercised in a society,
in other words, meritocracy is respected first and
foremost. That means that everyone respects
the first violinist, the concertino, but also respects
his own individual work within the orchestra,
­without losing sight of the fact that you have
to study, learn, and play with more heart and
dedication if you want to sit in the front row.
Our enterprise has set itself the task of forming
individuals who play an instrument exceptionally
well, but within a collective context.
What percentage of adolescents and children
drop out of the orchestras?
You can’t talk about dropping out; whoever
drops out of a project does so because he feels
frustrated. What’s important about the System
is that whoever joins has many professional,
musical, artistic, and managerial paths he can
follow. Anyone who is unable to join or remain
in the orchestras will, nevertheless, always have
­knowledge that will allow him to be a more complete, integrated, and happy individual.
The System evolved based on a
simple premise: that in the world’s
poorest shanties, where the threats
of drugs, crime, and despair abound,
the situation can be changed and life
can be elevated if children can be
drawn to an orchestra and to music.”
Werner Pelinka
(Conductor and Maestro)
(Deputy Director of the Conservatory
“The success of the delightful System
of Youth and Children’s Orchestras
goes beyond professional success
and surpasses human understanding.
It is, quite simply, something celestial; it is a true miracle, unique in the
world… It is amazing how the System
generates change and it is incredible
to see the human quality of each musician that comes out of this musical
of the City of Vienna)
(Critic, The Observer Magazine,
“This entire project is fascinating.
The enthusiasm in the faces of the
children who are part of the System
and its orchestras is just incredible. It
is very important that the Viennese
public and musicians see what can
be done through this program. It is
also a great lesson for our European
“This is more than the story of a
prodigious conductor, José Antonio
Abreu; he and his orchestras are
merely the tip of a unique project;
they are the summit of a program
that is deeply rooted in Venezuela.
miracle: the generosity, humility,
comradeship, and vocation of each
youngster. This entire great work is
due to the efforts of a man touched
by God, of an amazing human being:
Maestro Abreu… Working with him
is a privilege.”
Sung Kwak
Ed Vulliamy
England)
orchestras on how other types of
contributions, apart from music, can
be made to society. The educational,
social, and musical work of the System is a combination that would also
produce excellent results in Vienna.”
101
At the Santa Marta favela, in Rio de Janeiro, Maestro Abreu and Dudamel
congratulate the young men and women of the Brazilian System
A musical echo
heard way down in Patagonia
he eyes and ears of the entire world are
definitely on Venezuela. The ovations after each
concert and international tour of the Simón
Bolívar Venezuelan Youth Symphony Orchestra
leave a flood of requests, missives, appointments,
and invitations in their wake. Maestro Abreu’s
agenda is overflowing and the managers and
executives of the Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation find it hard put to cope with so many
requests and proposals: new concerts in the
world’s most important theaters and at major
international festivals; businessmen interested in
taking the orchestra to all corners of the earth,
where tickets are sold out in the first few days;
important conductors and composers dreaming
of having their works played at their debuts by
these young musicians; and ministers of culture,
education, and social development, directors of
conservatories, and rectors of universities with
102
proposals of agreements and exchanges that will
allow them to repeat the successes of today’s
musical Venezuela in their own countries.
The reason is that this Venezuelan e­ xperience
has had an extremely powerful cultural and
social impact –not to mention an impact in
the media-, particularly in countries s­ eeking
to reduce the levels of poverty, illiteracy,
­impoverishment, and exclusion of their child
and juvenile populations, and also in countries
that have historically cultivated the musical arts.
The international bodies and organizations that
recognize the System as a unique pioneering
program worthy of being implemented in all
countries around the globe are many and varied.
By 2010, orchestra nuclei or centers and music
teaching programs based on the V
­ enezuelan
System had been set up in 25 countries:
Argentina (Buenos Aires), Bolivia (La Paz and
Santa Cruz), Brazil (Bahía, Sao Paulo and Río de
Janeiro), Canada (Calgary, Moncton, Ottawa),
Colombia (Medellin, Cartagena and Bogotá),
Chile (Santiago), Costa Rica, Cuba, ­Dominican
Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, England
(Lambeth, Liverpool, Norwich, Islington),
Guatemala, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Korea,
Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru,
Puerto Rico, Scotland, Trinidad & Tobago,
United States of America (Avon, Baltimore,
Birging, Birmingham, Charleston, Chicago,
Durham, Fort Wayne, Hampton, Hilton Head
Island, Jackson, Los Angeles, New York, North
Oakland, Pasadena, San Antonio, San Diego)
and Uruguay (Montevideo).
Music missionaries
The initiative of gradually “planting” the System
throughout the world is not a recent one. Back
in 1982, the presidents of some nations in
Latin America and the Caribbean requested
­FESNOJIV (today the Simón Bolívar Musical
Foundation) for its support and best instructors
to emulate the Venezuelan musical
phenomenon.
Ulyses Ascanio has been one of those ­“planters”
of the System throughout America. With
30 years’ teaching experience and, today, the
principle conductor of the Teresa Carreño
Youth Orchestra, he tells how he headed the
delegations that founded youth and children’s
orchestras in Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay
and Trinidad & Tobago.
“The recognition our System has won
­throughout America has been impressive. I have
particularly fond memories of our experience in
Guatemala. It was a wonderful trip. We arrived
at the city’s Conservatory and the Director
called us in immediately. We had a meeting
with all the teachers; it was like an interrogation.
They couldn’t believe that we were capable of
getting the kids to play Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony... they said it was a very difficult piece for
children. We had a very heated argument but we
won it with our dedication
and our conviction in what
we were doing, and on the
day the Youth and Children’s
Orchestra of Guatemala
made its début it sounded
better than the country’s
professional orchestra.”
But not everything was
rose-colored in carrying
Ulyses Ascanio
out the mission of founding orchestras throughout
Latin America. According to Ascanio, the
most ­difficult experience of all was in Paraguay.
“When we arrived in Paraguay, there were
fourteen of us teachers from the Simón Bolívar
Orchestra, and to our surprise, we found only
three students. But that wasn’t the end of it: a
concert had been planned by the Presidency of
the Republic at which the orchestra we were
going to form was supposed to make its debut.
So, in the very best tradition of Maestro Abreu,
we got moving to round up the children. Frank
Di Polo tapped into the police band in search
of new musicians; we made calls to provinces,
to the Venezuelan Ambassador, and even to the
First Lady of Paraguay. As we rehearsed with the
kids, considerable expectation began to grow;
opinions in Paraguay’s cultural circles were divided about whether we could pull it off: some
that we would, others that we wouldn’t; and
there was considerable resistance from the Conservatory. But finally, 150 youngsters divided
into a youth orchestra and a children’s orchestra
gave a concert in the Cathedral of La Asunción
that is remembered to this day. Today in the
provinces of Paraguay, where there are many
limitations, they have their orchestras; they’ve
fought for them because they need them to save
their young people from so much poverty.”
The Caribbean, a sea of talent
Another founding member of this movement
and currently the conductor of the Chacao
Youth and Children’s Symphony Orchestras,
Florentino Mendoza, has been one of the
people commissioned to teach the Venezuelan
103
music model since 1982. Initially he traveled to
several Latin American countries, among them
Colombia and Ecuador, but his main job was to
pave the way in some of the Caribbean islands.
“Our mission in the Caribbean started in Trinidad
& Tobago. At first it wasn’t easy to set up the
orchestra structure on the island, because, like on
the rest of the islands, they have a long music tradition of pop groups and steel bands. In the end,
however, the orchestras we founded in Trinidad
& Tobago thrived and are still there, as are the
ones that were set up in Saint Lucia, Barbados,
Jamaica, and Guadeloupe.”
That experience has allowed Florentino
Mendoza to have a clear idea of how this
music teaching model has been received in the
­Caribbean: “It has to be said that the C
­ aribbean
is beautiful but difficult. Although the people
are extraordinarily talented, there are factors,
ranging from the economic to the envi­
ronmental, that make our task more difficult.
For example, there would have to be a campaign
for buying and distributing musical instruments
for these islands, where the marine environment
prevents their preservation. On the other hand,
in their favor, I could see that, thanks to the
British tradition in many of these islands, the
inhabitants are highly disciplined when it comes
to studying. The Caribbean is a mine of musical
talent,” comments Mendoza.
He has also had to be a teacher and workshop
facilitator in cities such as Medellin, Colombia,
where a large number of youth and children’s
orchestras have sprung up. “In Medellin, the
phenomenon is truly amazing; it’s fabulous to see
how every neighborhood has its ensemble, all
very well organized; there are more than fifteen
orchestras. I couldn’t say that any country has implemented the System better than the others; it’s
simply that the essence of the System created in
Venezuela has been imitated, including its ability
to bring about social change, but with the variations and adapted to the characteristics of each
nation. In Bolivia, for instance, there’s a wonderful orchestra of indigenous children, ­supported
by a Jesuit mission; in Peru the orchestras are sup-
104
ported by the National Conservatory in Lima,
and the System there is very well organized, as it
is in Chile, Argentina and Brazil.”
As Florentino Mendoza sees it, there are no
false labels when it comes to a country putting
into practice the Venezuelan music education
model, and he refers Germany as a case in point,
a country that has been captivated not only
by the merits and musicality of our youth and
children’s orchestras, but also by the social values
that the System implies. “There are great social
needs in Europe too and our model has been
regarded there as a tool to help correct them.
In other words, the System cannot be seen as a
solution only for third world countries,” he says.
An integrating clarion call
In 1982, the continental scope of the System
was understood and accepted as were its
strengths as a platform for integration. So,
the Organization of American States (OAS)
passed a resolution to promote the Multinational Project for Extending the Simón
Bolívar Foundation Music Education Model
­throughout Latin America and the Caribbean,
and the United Nations Education, Science, and
Culture Organization (UNESCO) awarded
it the International Music Prize in 1993 and
­approved the creation of the World Movement
of Youth and Children Orchestras and Choirs
for promoting world peace in 1995.
Thanks to these decisions and expressions of
support from the OAS and UNESCO, music
integration in our continent began to happen.
In 1997, the Latin American Youth Symphony
Orchestra made its debut with the participation
of children, adolescents, and young people from
the 24 countries represented at the Seventh
Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State. In
the year 2000, another major vote of confidence
was forthcoming, this time from the Andean
Development Corporation (CAF) when it
recognized the System and created the Andean
Countries’ Youth Symphony Orchestra made
up of 170 young musicians from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela, who held
their debut at the Teresa Carreño Theater’s Ríos
Reyna Concert Hall in Caracas and then went
on tour to perform in the countries of the Andean Community. The success of this ­experience
gave rise to the creation of the ­Itinerant Andean
Conservatory, the Itinerant Lutherie Workshop, the Andean Youth Choir, and the choral
group Voces Andinas a Coro, the latter led by the
­Venezuelan teacher María Guinand.
Also in the year 2000, sponsored by the OAS,
the System inspired the creation of the Youth
Orchestra of the Americas, which debuted in
New York under the batons of the tenor Placido
Domingo, Gustavo Dudamel, and Christopher
Wilkinson.
Venezuela and the United States
­playing from the same page
The United States has also absorbed the System
as a means for the underprivileged to better
themselves. One recent initiative is that of the
Los Angeles Philharmonic, naturally under the
baton of Gustavo Dudamel, who is the principal
conductor of this prestigious orchestra. The
plan, as announced by Deborah Borda, the president of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, has been called YOLA (Youth Orchestra
of Los Angeles), under which it is expected to
create at least five youth orchestras.
Florentino Mendoza working alongside Lope Valles
Another initiative is the USA System, a network
set up in 2009 by FESNOJIV, the New England Conservatory of Music, the TED Prize,
and the Quincy Jones Musiq Consortium to
support the expansion of the System outside
Venezuela, and one of its main objectives is to
serve as the liaison for all organizations inspired
by the Venezuelan music education model. Its
first undertaking is the Directory Project 2010,
where any organization interested in having
any of the musicians participating in the Abreu
Fellows Program as an intern or collaborator can
register. The purpose of this postgraduate course
is to provide outstanding musicians with the
necessary academic grounding to allow them
to develop a social-music program based on the
System’s ideals outside Venezuela.
105
Venezuela’s biggest social
and education revolution
Tulio Hernández
(Sociologist)
“Right from its beginnings, the System had
some things that were extremely special and
gained a position of leadership in our cultural
circles: first, because it was conceived of as a
program for social development, in other words,
as an activity whose purpose, above and beyond
artistic creation, was to promote social cohesion, individual growth, and a sense of responsibility in the participants; second, because
it was a project that genuinely democratized
culture, making an artistic discipline –music–,
until then thought of as a possibility for families
with economic means, accessible to children,
adolescents, and young people from any social
stratum completely free of charge; third, it was
a decentralizing project, not only because, from
the start, it proposed reaching places outside the
capital, Caracas, and setting up nuclei or centers
in all the states of Venezuela, but also because it
involved the support of central government, local governments, and the private sector; fourth,
managerially speaking, right from the start, the
System adopted a networked rather than a vertical organizational model, which is the model
that the most dynamic social organizations
have been adopting; fifth, the System gears its
106
policies to children and young people –the first
time this has happened in our country-, sectors
of the population that have always been, and
still are today, the least favored; and sixth, the
System has demonstrated over these 35 years
that long-term projects are fundamental, despite
the criticisms that were leveled at the System for
this reason initially.
Two final points: one, this is a project for social
development motivated by a deep concern for
the people, without being populist or geared to
the masses. That is why considerable attention
has been given and care taken with the artistic
aspects of the project, the quality of its t­ eaching
and music, which goes to show that it is p­ ossible
to democratize and even make available to
the masses what is being democratized or
being made available to a mass public without
­lowering qualities or standards; and that what
is being democratized –if it is to be of high
­quality- does not come free or easily, that it
demands dedication and sacrifice of the person
who obtains the benefit. And two, there is
­probably no other program on an international
scale that proves what culture and the arts can
do for social development. It is no exaggeration to say that José Antonio Abreu is one of
the world’s great cultural managers who has
demonstrated how public policy and a cultural
strategy backed by the State, but not controlled
by government, can guarantee success.”
Esteban Araujo
nowhere else in the world, that it has marked a
milestone in the history of Venezuela’s musical
and social progress, and that it is on the way to
contributing its best experiences to the rest of
the world.”
(Lawyer, cultural manager)
Carlos Paolillo
“José Antonio Abreu freed Venezuelan culture
from the complex of underdevelopment. He
managed to get the System of Orchestras to
extend an invitation to a broad public, ­including
the humblest sectors of the population, and
­created a teaching method that coordinates
theory and the playing of an instrument in a single teaching process that aims not only to form
good musicians but also to provide orchestra
training, which implies teamwork, ­discipline,
and aiming for goals within a collective. He
also set up a multiplier mechanism whereby
trainee musicians are instructors for pupils who
are less advanced: young students who, at the
same time, are teachers of children and other
youngsters in an endless training chain that
renews itself by drawing on its own resources.
That is the only sure way to achieve excellence.
Finally, he permitted the System to be assumed
as a state policy that has survived changes in administration to continue over time. In that way
he demonstrated that only perseverance and
continuity produce fruits because, in society, the
magic of the immediate does not exist.”
Alberto Grau
(Choir conductor and composer)
“One of the most outstanding virtues of the
System is that, more than two decades ago,
­Venezuela was importing musicians and, today,
that situation has changed drastically. Nowadays, the world’s best orchestras and music ensembles have excellent and talented Venezuelan
musicians and choristers who have been formed
in the System’s 300 plus orchestras and choirs.
This has brought with it the widest possible
recognition and the most surprising admiration
-at times bordering on skepticism- of countries
that are at the forefront of international music.
That’s why I’ll never get tired of repeating that
the System is a unique phenomenon found
(Journalist, teacher, and dance critic)
“The System became an unprecedented reference for cultural management combined with
social action. Its institutional mission and vision,
as well as its values, objectives, and goals, have
served as inspiration for conceiving of a renewed artistic undertaking that promotes both
creative excellence and individual and collective development in children, adolescents, and
young people. The project’s broad scope and
the remarkable impact it has had throughout
the country have meant that cultural activity
in ­general and its capacity for transforming
the most complex social situations are highly
valued. And now that it is being extensively adopted internationally, it is showing how it is possible to get a society to evolve using education
based on sensitivity, creativity, and excellence.
In Venezuela, the System has even managed
to influence the management of other types
of artistic endeavor. Theater and dance, for
example, have taken the System as a model for
extending their sphere of action, adapting it, of
course, to their specific needs. The network of
National Youth Theaters and the projects Child
Actors of Venezuela and Youth Ballets that have
sprung up around much of the country since
1980 and 1990 are specific attempts a applying
the System’s values to other areas of Venezuelan
artistic endeavor.”
Patricia Van Dalen
(Artist)
“The System of Orchestras is one of the best
­examples of successful Venezuelan projects. There
is no doubt that it is already known throughout
the world as the biggest educational-cultural
revolution in our entire democratic history. And
it is the best model for ­multiplying, ­copying,
107
The System’s children learn discipline from a very early age
Socializing and happiness are two attitudes
the System encourages
emulating, and repeating in other spheres and with
other artistic disciplines. Its intelligent and human
structure, its bounties and benefits in many areas
and walks of life make this possible.”
Since the end of the 1930s, the name of
­Venezuela has been associated with oil and
­coffee, then cacao, and after that its beauty
queens, models, and beautiful women. Fortunately, it has also been associated with great
­artists who became part of 20th century
universal art, among them Armando Reverón,
Jesús Soto, Alejandro Otero, Gego, and Carlos
Cruz-Diez; and when the System opened up to
the world as it has, an extraordinary experience
was revealed, a project for achieving true social
and cultural change from the grassroots. This
program definitely proves that culture changes
people for the better, and provides the certainty
that peace and prosperity are achieved by paying
attention to those who have the least.”
108
Patricia Phelps de Cisneros
(Patron of the arts)
“I am convinced that we Venezuelans have
music in our genes, and that is precisely what
Maestro José Antonio Abreu has known how
to capitalize on through the System from the
start. But beyond that, I’ve always thought that,
in general terms, we Venezuelans are short on
­discipline, precision, and team work. However,
the System and its orchestras and its other
programs have managed to get our boys and
girls to learn the discipline of study; and the
musicians in our youth and children’s orchestras
have proved that, by working with perseverance,
they can achieve the goals they dream of and
international recognition. That’s why I always say
that the System has made it possible to get the
best out of our young people to turn them into
well rounded men and women.”
Concentration and paying attention are fundamental for achieving objectives when learning the musical instrument of their choice
109
saved my life
The most wretched thing about poverty, the
most tragic, is not the lack of bread and a roof
over your head, it’s feeling you’re no one, the
lack of identity, the lack of public esteem;
it’s being ignored
Mother Theresa of Calcuta
Three children from Los Chorros Center take a break from practicing their
music to pose for our book
V
Chapter
Music
Breaking the vicious
circle of poverty
uite apart from all the artistic and
cultural benefits that the National
System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of
Venezuela has brought, what strikes one are its
social benefits. Thanks to the one hundred percent humanistic and educational essence with
which its creator, José Antonio Abreu imbued it
right from the start, this revolutionary program
is, in a nutshell, a nation-building model for
any country in the world seeking a future of
progress. Abreu was clear from the start that
art’s mission had to transcend aesthetic values:
art had to be the engine driving the training,
rescue, inclusion, and development of a country’s citizens regardless of their social position,
economic situation or level of education.
With his experience and thanks to his close
connections with initiatives that have ­benefited
low-income populations (such as Fe y Alegría11),
Abreu tipped the balance in favor of the most
underprivileged, making the System a “social
front” with the idea of starting to break the
vicious circle of poverty from the base of the
­family pyramid: the children. And he has
explained it very well on many occasions and
before a large number of audiences.
1 Fe y Alegría is an international movement that promotes all-round
education and social advancement. It is aimed mainly at impoverished
and excluded sectors in order to reinforce their personal development
and participation in society.
112
The children get together with friends in the neighborhoods where they live to indulge in the pleasure of making music
“The immense spiritual wealth that music
itself engenders ends up vanquishing material
poverty. From the very moment the child takes
up the musical instrument and has it in his hands
before a teacher, he is no longer a poor child,
he is a child on his way up, moving to a level of
action that will turn him into a full human being
and with an alternative mirror in which he can
see himself. So, we start to perform a preventive function against prostitution, domestic
and social violence, against bad company and
against everything that sets back or degrades the
lives of the children. This is a System dedicated,
not exclusively, but yes largely, to children and
youngsters of moderate and scant means. Why?
Because we think that one of the most painful
aspects of poverty is not having access to art.”
On this front, the System’s proposal has two
fundamental pillars and objectives:
1) Democratizing and making available to
the masses, in the fullest sense of these terms,
opportunities for study, work, earning a living,
recreation, achieving success as part of a group,
individual happiness, regeneration of the individual, forming an identity, and the participation
and inclusion of all, regardless of a child’s or
adolescent’s socioeconomic status or whether
or not he has some physical impediment.
2) Multiplying its impacts on and benefits in
society, because, while it is true that the child or
youngster who joins the System is the protagonist, through his studies and artistic activities,
he also automatically involves the stem cells of
any society: he involves his family, his school,
his teachers and his classmates, the community,
neighborhood or barrio where he lives, the state
or region where he was born, and the entire
country, which, at some time or another, he
represents, both at home and abroad.
When the child arrives at the National
System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras
of ­Venezuela, a powerful and, at times, imperceptible machinery that generates values,
impacts, and relationships goes swiftly into motion within the individual with such force and
power that, in 35 years, it is capable of changing
a country forever.
Right from the moment a child joins the
­National System of Youth and Children’s
Orchestras of Venezuela accompanied by his
parents, what has been called “the Venezuelan
music miracle” starts to work. As soon as he
is given the enrollment form, admission tests
are scheduled and he is assigned to a Nucleus
or Center, given his timetable of classes and
113
At the Guatire Center, the young
teacher Andrés Ruíz does admirable
work giving training to children
from low-income families who
dream of becoming musicians
rehearsals, told who is teachers will be, and a
musical instrument is placed in his hand; and,
right then and there, the lives of that child, his
family, the people in his milieu, fortunately, start
to change.
Having an impact on millions
According to a social stratification study conducted in 2007 on a group of the families of the
children and adolescents who are beneficiaries
of the National System of Youth and Children’s
Orchestras of Venezuela, approximately 11%
come from the middle class, 36% from poor sectors, and 53% from critically poor sectors. The
study was conducted using the Graffar-Méndez
Castellano sampling method on a total of 180
family groups from 15 different nuclei located in
the Capital District and in Bolívar, Lara, Mérida,
Miranda, Táchira, Sucre, and Zulia states.
114
Having acknowledged and acclaimed the
virtues of the System, central government, local
governments, government and private organizations, foundations and NGOs, and entrepreneurs face a challenge: actually implementing
that powerful tool for breaking the vicious
circle of poverty. In Venezuela, the cradle of
this program, more than 300,000 children have
benefited over a period of 35 years; however, under the decree establishing the Music Mission,
announced by the President of the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela Hugo Rafael Chávez
Frías on November 23, 2007, it is expected to
achieve an impact on a population of more than
one million children and adolescents in the
short and medium terms.
“Acknowledging the effectiveness of the System
in fighting poverty,” the Music Mission will give
a major boost to the setting up of orchestras
and music studies, mainly in schools, public
and private education centers, universities, and
rural communities. Thanks to the scope of this
program in quantitative terms, it is safe to say
that studying music and exercising the music
profession in our country have ceased to be
a monopoly of the élites and become a social
right of the entire Venezuelan people and of
all citizens.
The challenge is everywhere
Material poverty and social and racial exclusion
are not problems that are specific to a given
country or group of countries. But, fortunately, the System has ceased to be an exclusively
­Venezuelan phenomenon, as we have noted elsewhere in this book, and today, as is quite logical,
“the Venezuelan music miracle” is being implemented abroad and gaining momentum daily
in cities where there are gross inequalities. And
it will come as no surprise if, as the 21st century
unfolds, this program becomes the model for
cushioning the effects of violence in warzones ...
orchestras in Iraq, Pakistan, India or Nigeria, ­sayso that symphony music prevails over the sound
of bombarding, explosions or conflicts.
The musician from my neighborhood
Bright and early that Sunday morning
in August 2009, the barrio got ready to
celebrate. It wasn’t a national holiday
or a saint’s day, nor were they ex­
pecting a visit from some government
dignitary or other. But it was not only
the womenfolk and senior citizens
who sallied forth to buy breakfast, that
day even the children and youngsters
woke up earlier than usual.
And it was only to be expected. They
all knew about it. Word had spread
from house to house, from shanty
to shanty. The news had spread like
wildfire weeks before. Because, apart
from anything else, some of the kids
from the barrio are musicians and all
the neighbors know about and are
proud of their successes. So, the day
that the Simón Bolívar Venezuelan
Youth Symphony Orchestra was to
give its concert was finally here, and it
was going to be quite an event.
What’s happening today in La Vega?
Belkis Pinto, an inhabitant of the
parish’s Los Mangos sector, asks
herself when she saw an enormous
dais on Calle Independencia, the
street all cleaned up, and a large
police p­ resence. “There weren’t any
problems in the barrio today. They
collected the garbage and painted
the streets, and there are a lot of policemen and helicopters taking care
of La Vega. Let’s hope they stay to
fight the crime that’s always present
on these streets,” she says.
And like Belkis Pinto, the entire
community of that popular Caracas
neighborhood milled around in front
of the dais. People came out onto
their balconies, perched on stairways,
leaned out of windows, and climbed
onto rooftops. At 2 o’clock in the
afternoon the OSJVSB’s bus a­ rrived
and the musicians started to fill up
the stage. The only person missing
was the star of the event, the conductor Gustavo Dudamel; then he
appeared and immediately took the
microphone to say how overjoyed he
was to be giving this concert, one of
his most remembered.
The concert lasted two and a half
hours, staring with the Ode to Joy
(from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony), followed by Alma Llanera,
the National Anthem, and the song
La Vega, a working class neighborhood in Caracas, celebrates the
arrival of Dudamel, Abreu, and the
orchestras
V­enezuela. This last piece in particular
caused euphoria in the audience,
although everyone behaved ­properly
and listened attentively to the
symphonic music, so different to
the reggaeton, salsa or vallenato they
listen to every day.
For the children of La Vega, who
were the ones who most applauded
the OSJVSB visiting the barrio, José
Antonio Abreu announced a gift:
that they would be setting up the La
Vega Children´s Orchestra Center
that very year, thanks to the support
of the Mayor’s Office of Libertador
Municipality, a truly unbeatable gift
for a memorable Sunday.
115
Eunice Flores and her four children have found a “haven” for self-betterment at the Guatire Center
Ripple effect in the family and the community
“Imagine a home anywhere in
Venezuela or Latin America, just
like the thousands of homes that are
springing up in all our countries and
elsewhere in the world. The father
is drinking beer and watching a ball
game on television. The mother is
busy doing housework, cooking
maybe, and there’s a small boy in his
room practicing, playing a piece of
Vivaldi’s over and over again. So,
while waiting for supper, the music
gradually envelopes everyone in the
house. Days, weeks, and years pass in
the same fashion, until one day, that
boy, who has been busy studying and
practicing violin, tells his parents:
“I’ve got my first concert with the
Children’s Orchestra of Venezuela
on Saturday.” Then that mother and
father, his brothers and sisters, his entire family will be proud of that small
boy’s dedication, which has resulted
116
in him achieving his first goal of being
able to play Vivaldi’s Concerto for Violin
in a theater.
That boy from a humble home
turns into an individual who can
go out into the world armed with
an extremely powerful weapon: his
self-confidence and his firm conviction in work, in his determination to
attain his goals. Thanks to his musical
instrument he will be able to work his
way up through the worthy ranks of a
model organization –the orchestra–,
which immediately makes him a child
who is also an artist and not a faceless
child from any old slum. When he
reaches adolescence, he will have
broader horizons and clear aspirations
and intellectual and spiritual values
with which to undertake a pro­
fessional path that will provide him
with the means to make a living.
This story is repeated in thousands of
Venezuelan families who have children enrolled in the System. And the
ripple effect that the orchestras have
within the family is amazing: without
the attendance, commitment, and
support of parents, grandparents,
brothers, sisters, and close family,
the children could not be part of the
organization. It is the family unit that
is drawn together and strengthened,
and, ultimately, it is the family that
is picked out for a trip, a national or
international tour or a seminar with
important Venezuelan or foreign
maestros.
orchestras’ activities and, in some centers, they help, when necessary, with
paying for the rent and with cleaning
the center’s premises.
While it is usually the mothers
who take the children to rehearsals,
fathers are increasingly to be found
there. Both become familiar with the
System, the music, the orchestras, and
the dynamics of the centers where
their children take classes and they
even play a key role in many of the
A case in point is the relationship
that the parents of Marisela Rosales,
the president of the Association of
Friends of La Rinconada Center’s
Youth and Children’s Symphony
Orchestra, has developed with the
System. “Our center,” she comments,
“is a place where peace, harmony and
The impact of the System on the
­family is so powerful that, today,
­several generations are actively involved in all aspects of Simón Bolívar
Musical Foundation, so it is not
unusual to find parents, children and
grandchildren performing different
functions within this great musical
enterprise, some as musicians or
teachers, others as students, and yet
others as producers or managers.
One of the initiatives that are currently
underway is taking shape in the lustrous city of
Los Angeles in the powerful United States of
America. There, no sooner had the ­Venezuelan
Gustavo Dudamel arrived to occupy his
post as music director of the Los Angeles
­Philharmonic, than he took out his baton and
stood before the upturned faces of about a hundred poor children between seven and 12 years
of age, many of them Latin immigrants and
blacks, to start a Children’s and Youth Orchestra
Program aimed at fighting exclusion.
That autumn of 2009 was particularly exciting
for more than a hundred mothers and fathers
of the working class districts of Los Angeles.
­Neither they nor the curious philanthropists nor
the directors of the Philharmonic itself believed
that, in just a few days, Dudamel could get those
children, who had had no ­previous contact
with or training in music, to play Beethoven’s
Fifth Symphony. And that is just the start of what
“exporting the System” -an ­expression they also
use when referring to Dudamel- is capable of
doing. He challenged them with a stimulating
phrase, one he himself grew up with: “I want to
see your superhero capes; I want you to fly with
your instruments,” because he knows how to do
it. He is the System’s most original, illustrative,
and successful product.
Mariluz La Cruz de Romero with her
son, Walter Romero, a trumpet player
from the Montalbán Children’s
Academic Center
my husband and I didn’t graduate
from high school, we want them to
have a different kind of life.”
Safe havens for the kids
Eunice Flores, a 31-year-old
Venezuelan mother, works at a
Casa de Alimentación (a kind of soup
kitchen) in Guatire. She lives with her
current boyfriend (a potter) and her
five children in El Milagro, a shanty
district located behind the Guatire
bus terminal in Miranda state. Eunice
is fully aware that she can’t leave the
kids alone at home; and she tells us
her story.
Two stories tell how most of the
System’s centers have become safe havens. For many large families, more so
if they live in remote villages or slum
areas or are victims of violence and
the lack of security, the center is the
salvation of children and youngsters,
keeping them away from drugs, bad
habits, and the problems arising from
loneliness and the lack of education.
“I thought you had to pay, but I came
one day and I realized that you only
had to make a contribution for each
one and I was able to enroll three of
my children. I come to the center
with my kids every afternoon. I feel
they’re doing something productive
and are kept from seeing so many
bad things that happen in that shanty
district where we live. Even though
happiness prevail. We all look after
the premises to keep it nice and in a
good state of repair, as it’s a unique
treasure our community has. There’s
no violence, drugs or foul language
here. We defend it because it’s our
oasis of peace. My two children study
music here and the benefits they
receive are tremendous.”
Andrea (violin, 12 years old), Estilven
(horn, 10), and Adriú (violin, 9) are
Eunice’s three children who study at
the Guatire Center. Not long ago,
there was a fire at their house, but
fortunately no one was hurt, “because
the children were out and nothing
happened to them. That’s why we
want them to be at the Center most
of the time,” says Eunice.
Mariluz La Cruz de Romero is the
mother of 11 children and right
away she says: “The System has been
a great solution for our family. My
husband’s a mechanic and he spends
all day working at the mechanical
shop and I take care of the house and
our 11 children, six boys and 5 girls…
an entire troop. The older ones are
at university, but I’ve got six enrolled
here at Montalbán: Walter, the oldest
is 16, he’s been studying trumpet for
four years; next is Valentín, 12, who
also plays trumpet; Oriana, 11, chose
the violin; Luis Alejandro, 10, plays
the horn; Gabriela is 9 and she likes
the cello; and Omar Eduardo, who’s
5, is in the preparatory class. That
leaves only Paola, the baby, who’s 3,
and we will definitely bring her when
she can join the workshops for babies.
Through my eldest daughter, who’s
also a musician and knows the people
at the Montalbán Center, I was able
to enroll six of my children here and
they are giving them an opportunity
to learn a lot of things, not just music,
from the preparatory level through
to the youth orchestras, and, in these
times we’re living in, we’re very grateful for that.”
117
Maestro Abreu and Dudamel closely follow the social progress made by the System
In selecting Dudamel, the Philharmonic of Los
Angeles also made sure of its association with
a unique and successful style of music education. Deborah Borda, the president of the Los
Angeles Philharmonic Association, confessed
to New York Times critic Arthur Lubow that
she had been inspired by what she encountered
during the visit she paid to Caracas in 2007 and
on subsequent visits in later years. What she
found was in marked contrast to the situation in the United States, where art education
programs have been eliminated from the school
timetables and curriculae. So Borda’s surprise
is natural, more so, because the Venezuelan
System gives children and young people a place
in the orchestra regardless of how poor or how
problematical they are. For Borda, what was
clear were the amazing results she saw in centers
such as La Rinconada and Los Chorros: “I never
imagined I’d cry as much as I did in Caracas with
the System,” she told Lubow.
The challenge is everywhere, because poverty
and corruption, vice and gang wars in poor
districts exist the world over. In the favelas of
Rio de Janeiro, in Medellin’s deprived areas and
also among its middle and upper-middle classes,
where drugs corrupt from the cradle; in Bom-
118
bay; in Asunción, Paraguay; and in disaster-torn
Haiti, the System has ample terrain in which to
work its miracles.
Hope in Los Chorros
One of the model nuclei or centers that prove
the System’s capacity for bringing about change
is, undoubtedly, Los Chorros, located, paradoxically, in an upper class residential area of Caracas.
At one time a detention center of the National
Institute for the Attention of Minors (INAM),
where children and adolescents with behavior
problems, who consumed drugs or had been
involved in robberies, muggings or other violent
offenses, is today one of the most dynamic and
productive platforms of that change wrought by
music and the orchestras.
Moreover, its present director is one of the boys
who lived his own personal drama and tragedy
at the old INAM center, Lennar Acosta, who
proudly conducts a tour of the classrooms at Los
Chorros, previously steeped in gloom and today
overflowing with happiness, light, and future,
thanks to the fact that the Los Chorros Nucleus
of the National System of Youth and Children’s
Orchestras of Venezuela set up shop there with
its entire team of a staff of more than 70 music
teachers, instructors, coordinators, and administrative personnel, plus choirs and orchestras.
Lennar Acosta explains that practically 85% of
the pupils enrolled at Los Chorros Nucleus,
more than 800 children and young people- come
from the deprived areas of Petare and Palo Verde
and from all the barrios or shanty districts in
Sucre Municipality. “We go to the barrios to look
for the kids, and we need to do that because a
lot of people think that, given its location in Los
Chorros, the Center’s intended for children and
youngsters whose parents have a high income.
The truth is that there’s room for everyone here.
The only requirement is a desire to experience
the happiness that music and learning a musical
instrument provides; that’s all.”
Lennar Acosta’s goal was to make it to the
Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, but it
seems that his preordained task was to take
charge of Los Chorros. “I’m on a return journey,”
he says. “There’s no room for making mistakes.
Years ago teachers of the System made sacrifices
for me and offered me a helping hand. Well,
now I have to do the same, and do it responsibly
and in a spirit of generosity. A lot of the kids
who were in detention with me here when Los
Chorros was a center for the INAM are already
dead and others are still wandering the streets
sick and with all kinds of problems. That’s why
I’m more grateful every day for the miracle, and
my way of returning the favor is to now run this
Nucleus with love and to be a full-time soldier
of the System.”
“There’s room for everyone at Los Chorros,” says the Center’s coordinator, Lennar Acosta
119
José Manuel León Leal, who studies recorder at the Lara Center, is one of the youngsters who has benefitted from the System’s Special Education Program
There’s a place for everyone in the System
120
n 1995, with the motto “We’re Venezuela,
Too”, the National System of Youth and
Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela’s Special
Educational Program was born under the
tutelage of Maestro José Antonio Abreu, who
maintains that music geared to special education (education designed for disabled children)
is a challenge that has manifold possibilities.
La Grita, and Calabozo, and other towns are in
the process of setting up the program, so ­creating
an extensive network of 19 centers to date where
more than 100 teachers and instructors cater to
1,800 children. Many of those instructors and
teachers are young musicians who do social
work by assisting teachers who are specialists in
psychopedagogy or special education.
Since it started, the program has taken in
children and youngsters with impaired hearing
and sight, cognitive deficiencies, motor impairment, learning difficulties, autism, and Down’s
syndrome. The program’s pilot center was, and
still is, in Barquisimeto, Lara state, from where
it is expanding its radius of action. Since 2000,
the program has been spreading out to centers
in a number of towns and cities throughout the
country: Maracay, Punto Fijo, Valera, Duaca,
San Felipe, Aroa, Porlamar, La Asunción,
Güiria, Pueblo Llano, Distrito Capital, Los
­Teques, Los Chorros, La Guaira, San Cristóbal,
Jhonny Gómez, a clarinetist with the Lara
Symphony Orchestra and a graduate of
the ­Experimental Teaching University in
­Barquisimeto with a major in Special Education
for Children with Learning Difficulties, is the
project’s creator and was later responsible for
organizing the System’s Special Education Program. He comments that the program started
off with 16 children with learning difficulties
and 12 with impaired sight and that, later, with
some significant results under their belt, they
focused on learning the special needs of each
handicap and finding out which would be the
Jhonny Gómez and Naybeth García, creators and pioneers of Simón Bolívar Music Foundation’s Special Education Program
best approach for teaching pupils with those
handicaps through music.
Gómez also explains that the program is not
based on therapeutic sessions using melodies
and rhythm, but on a program of learning –
modeled after the System’s study plan– for children, young people, and adults aged between
five and 30. “In the past it was believed that, in
order to study music, you had to have an ear for
music. We broke away from that model when
we included practically deaf children in the Coro
de Manos Blancas (White Hands Choir), for
example. And, last of all, the most important
task is to continue rescuing the thousands of
Venezuelans who have been segregated by
society for generations.”
A miraculous fluttering
No one who witnesses the fruits of the
System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of
­Venezuela’s Special Education Program is left
unmoved. If the System’s orchestras draw ovations, the groups of handicapped children and
young people bring tears to the eyes and awaken
the consciences of those who hear them, as has
happened with visitors of renown and maestros
who have worked with our youth orchestras
and choirs, among them Simon Rattle, Claudio
Abbado, Michael Mark Churchill (Director
of the New England Conservatory, in Boston),
the violinist Itzhak Perlman, the tenor Placido
Domingo, the opera singer Mirella Freni,
and Maestro Marcus Marshall (Director of
­London’s Royal Festival Hall).
This program’s main artistic “product” is, undoubtedly, the “Coro de Manos Blancas” (White
Hands Choir), which has been joined by the
Percussion Ensemble, the Rhythm Band, the
Recorder Ensemble, the Bell Ensemble, Las
Manitos Blancas (The Little White Hands), and
the Cuarteto Lara Somos (We’re Lara Quartet).
The White Hands Choir, made up of deaf
children, came into being in 1999 and is conducted by Naybeth García, a special education
teacher. She comments that, “in the specific case
of children and young people with impaired
hearing, emphasis is placed on body language
and gestures, the idea being to get deaf pupils
to discover and strengthen their inner sense of
rhythm. That’s the training we give them in the
White Hands Choir.”
García explains that one of the first areas
­addressed by the Special Education Program
was sight impairment. Here they came up
against several obstacles. One of them was
the lack of scores in Braille, which led them to
create the Braille Music Research and Printing
Center in Barquisimeto. The purpose of this
center is to teach blind children and youngsters
to read and write and to help them catch up on
121
The White Hands Choir has drawn forth
ovations from all its audiences and won
international awards
In Bonn (Germany), Michael Ladenburger, the director of the
Beethoven Haus Society, treasures the gloves given him by the
White Hands Choir
their schooling, so permitting these pupils to
make music and form choirs.
She adds that, when implementing the program,
the teacher teaches the handicapped child or
youngster how to establish music goals. To do
this, different methods suitable for this type
of education are used. All the students within
this group attend classes every day, either in the
morning or the afternoon. The classes include
theory, practice, and general rehearsals, and
there are also individual classes.
Naybeth García -who has studied Choral Di­
rection, Musical Ear Development, Venezuelan
Music Arrangements and Repertoire, done specialization courses in, among other subjects, in
Braille Musicology, and is also a specialist in sign
language- is extremely sensitive to her children’s
needs and shows a very special passion for her
122
Youngsters with Down’s syndrome are given a place
in the orchestras
work. “Each and every child in the choir conveys
a spiritual peace that cannot be expressed in
words”, she says.
The Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s Special Education Program has made recordings of
the White Hands Choir for television stations
in Switzerland, France, Spain, and Germany and
also for some Venezuelan television stations. It
has also won major national and international
awards. In 2010, it won the Nonino Risit d’Aur
Prize, bestowed in Friuli, Italy, “for symbolizing
a miracle for handicapped children and young
people.” During the prize-giving ceremony,
the distillery’s president, Giannola Nonino,
announced that the foundation bearing her
­family’s name was to form a White Hands
choir that would follow the method created
by ­Naybeth García and be under her direct
supervision.
Handicapped children, young people, and adults
find their place in the System
In 2010, Maestro Claudio Abbado was the delighted recipient of the symbolic gloves from the White Hands
Choir for his support of the Special Education Program
123
The orchestras set them free
nother of the advances that Simón Bolívar
Musical Foundation has been implementing
for more than three years and that demonstrates
the value of music as a tool of spiritual salvation
and social inclusion is the Prisons Academic
Program (PAP), a unique initiative without
precedent anywhere in the world that has
received the recognition of international bodies,
among them the Inter-American Development
Bank (IDB), which granted it funding jointly
with Venezuela’s People’s Power Ministry for
Homeland Relations and Justice.
Feasibility studies for implementing the program
started in 2004, thanks to the dedication, initiative, and social awareness of a young Venezuelan
musician, Kleiberth Lenin Mora Aragón, an
active member of the Simón Bolívar Venezuelan
Youth Symphony Orchestra who also studied
law and graduated in International Humanitarian
Law and later obtained a master’s in Criminology
in 2007. Under his coordination, the program
finally started up with the creation of the Prison
Symphony Orchestras Network, which was
­welcomed by the Executive as part of the
­Venezuelan Prison System’s Humanization Plan.
It is Lenin Mora himself, the National Coordinator of the Prisons Academic Program and the
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Prison Symphony Orchestras Network, who
explains the concept and development of this
program, which, since it started nearly five years
ago (as at June 2011), has had an impact on a total
of 4,453 inmates, who have been given 28,624
hours of music classes and specialization courses
in teaching and playing the different instruments
that make up an orchestra.
What does the Prisons Academic Program
consist of and what are the fundamental values
it instills in the inmates?
The Prisons’ Academic Program (PAP) is an
instrument for achieving the reintegration into
­society of men and women who are in prison and
who, through learning, practicing, and enjoying
music, manage to change their lives. I spent time
visiting Venezuela’s prisons and interviewing more
than 500 inmates to learn about their situations and
spiritual needs. From the start, I knew that the goal
was to raise their self-esteem, to give them a sense
of self-worth, and to rebuild them as ­individuals so
as to prepare them for their reintegration into society once they’d done their term in prison. In the
orchestras, they develop concentration, strengthen
their ties with their families, acquire discipline and
the habit of studying, and change their perception
of the world and their behavior. Besides that, happiness comes back into their lives.
pieces as well. Bit by bit they become enthralled
by the music and their acceptance of it grows.
We are proud to be able to say that the dropout
rate is very low. After two months of classes, the
participants generally don’t leave until they’re
released from prison.
Are the inmates expected to fulfill some kind of
special requirement in order to join the Prison
Orchestras Network?
Lenin Mora
In order to form the groups at each prison, we
put out a notice and accepted everyone who
responded. The only condition was that they
An orchestra for every prison
shouldn’t have a record of aggression against the
prison’s officers. The inmates were interviewed
How did you go about choosing the prisons for to determine their temperament, character, and
setting up music conservatories?
morphology and, based on that information,
The idea is to produce a replica of the System of
it was decided which musical instrument they
Orchestras inside the prisons. First, we conducted would be assigned. Most of them had never seen
sociological studies of the individual structure of a musical instrument up close, but three months
each prison, as they’re all different. For example,
later they were playing the National Anthem
the idiosyncrasies of the Andes region aren’t the
and other fairly complicated pieces. The average
same as those of the people on the coast. Second, time each of them spend studying is four to six
we studied the security mechanisms inside the
hours a day. They can study all day long, if they
prisons. Third, we looked for suitable areas for
prefer. The ­instrument is for their exclusive use.
­giving classes and for having a permanent staff
There are group and individual classes, workshops,
there. And four, we worked with staff and ­teachers re­hearsals, and also choirs. Once they’re enrolled,
who have been trained within the System and
they’re in for good. The inmates are expected to go
who had a profile that would serve as a role model to classes clean, use appropriate language, respect
for their pupils, because inmates are always going their classmates, not carry weapons, and take care
to idealize their teachers; and to do that, we have
of the instruments they’ve been assigned.
a team of behavior modification specialists that
does a weekly follow-up in each of the prisons.
What benefits has this program brought
since 2011?
How is the conservatory organized inside
The PAP currently has 1.565 pupils and we’ve had
a prison and how do you go about recruiting
4.453 participants to date. We have given seven
pupils?
people the opportunity to reintegrate into society
Each prison that runs the program has a team of
and they are already members of the Prison
professionals and collaborators: a coordinator,
­Symphony Orchestra project. They will continue
a secretary, a director (who is a musician trained
with their music studies. All the pupils have
within the System and who lives in the region),
received dental care and 147 dental prostheses
and a group of teachers whose number depends
have been fitted so that the pupils who play wind
on the prison in question. We have established
instruments have a complete set of teeth.
a minimum staff of 22 teachers for each prison.
At the beginning, we had to entice the inmates
At how many prisons has the Prison Symphony
to get them to sign up. They had the false belief
Orchestras Network been set up?
that classical music is tragic, that it would make
At eight so far: the Andean Region Penitentiary
their world sadder. That’s why they learn to play
in Mérida state; the Western Region Penitennot only academic music but popular Venezuelan tiary (Santa Ana) in Táchira state; the Carabobo
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P­ enitentiary (better known as La Mínima de
Tocuyito) and Anexo Femenino de Tocuyito (Women
Detention Centre) in Carabobo state; the
­National Orientation Institute for Women
(INOF) in Los Teques, Miranda state; San
­Antonio Penitentiary in Porlamar, Nueva Esparta
state; Coro Penitentiary Community in Falcón
state, and Internado Judicial de Barinas (Barinas
Detention Centre) in Barinas state.
The program also has artistic and choral groups in
each prison. In Mérida, there’s a Wind Ensemble;
in Táchira, there’s an estudiantina (a traditional student music group) that plays folk and traditional
instruments and another one in Tocuyito; at the
INOF, we have a String Ensemble and a women’s
choir; and in Falcón, we have a Wind Ensemble.
Lives changed behind bars
What has it been like for the prisoners, their
experience at the concert they held at the Teresa
Carreño Theater, for example?
At each prison where the program has been
implemented, a variety of presentations have been
put on: recitals, concerts, technical exhibitions, and
teaching concerts for the prison population and
their families; a total of approximately 137
to date. The Prison Symphony Orchestras have
appeared at the Teresa ­Carreño Theater on three
occasions interpreting a repertoire of Venezuelan
and Latin American works and works from the
universal symphonic repertoire. Those concerts in
the Teresa Carreño were prepared with a selection of 300 musicians from the five prisons. The
logistics of transporting the inmates was extremely
complicated as it was by bus and each inmate
was accompanied by two national guardsmen;
besides that we had one empty bus per caravan,
motorbikes, jeeps, ambulances, and a group of
para­medics. But here are the testimonies of some
inmates who belong to the Prison Orchestras
Network to give an idea of the impact that our
PAP has had.
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Dudamel sharing a moment with the inmate musicians
at the Teresa Carreño Theater
Víctor Villasmil
(Flutist, 24, Andean Region Penitentiary)
“I’ve been ten months in this prison’s Symphony
Orchestra, from the time it started. I’d been
dreaming about the day of the concert, of being
in the Teresa Carreño Theater, and playing (…).
The flute has helped me stop taking drugs; I’ve
changed completely.”
Henry Dávila
(A former member of the Merida Prison
­Orchestra, he came to work for FESNOJIV ­
after his release from prison.)
“I’m very proud to be an example for the inmates
of the Andean Region Penitentiary, where I’m
presently working as a music instructor.”
Irma González
(Bass player. She is a street vendor who is serving
a six-year sentence for theft.)
“Before this, my music was reggaeton. My proudest moment was when my four children (aged 9,
10, 13, and 14) went to see me play in the Teresa
Carreño. When they applauded me, I finally felt
my life was of some use.”
Heidy Seijas
(A violinist and one of the founding members of
the INOF Prison Symphony Orchestra)
“I arrived at this prison on the last day of June
2006, a week before my birthday. Inside the prison
Music and its healing powers reach Yare Penitentiary thanks to the Prisons Academic Program and the Prison Orchestras Network
walls, I felt that my life was slipping away; all I
could think about was the freedom I no longer
had and the effort I’d have to make to adapt to
this place, far away from all kinds of vice and the
temptation to get what I want the easy way. I was
very depressed. Over the next five years I became
acquainted all kinds of evil, egoism, and envy, but
I also found comradeship and friendship. My
time here coincided with the start of the Prison
Symphony Orchestras Network project. I was
28 and the only music that interested me was
salsa and reggaeton; apart from anything else, it
was all I’d ever heard. When we saw the musicians
arrive at the prison’s auditorium, I said to my
fellow inmates, let’s go and badger them. I had the
bright idea of rolling up bits of paper into pellets
and throw them at the musicians and, after they’d
played, the only thing you could hear was all of us
laughing. The second time they talked to about
this program in the prison, I made fun of it. The
secretariat of the Foundation handed out some
fliers asking us to always turn up at the music
classes bathed, with short nails, our teeth brushed,
and with no cigarettes in our hands. My fellow
inmates and I had a good laugh about that. The
third encounter decided the thing. I challenged
one of the violin teachers to play something with
salsa rhythm, because that was my favorite kind
of music; and when I heard him, I couldn’t believe
it. I signed up right away. No sooner had I got the
violin in my hands than the teasing and humilia-
tions began inside the prison. I still remember my
surprise when I saw a whole lot of notes on the
staff. It was all wonderful. I became disciplined,
I wanted to get ahead, I stopped swearing, and bit
by bit I changed my way of thinking. We were so
busy learning that we stopped being violent.
I remember that one of the teachers chose a piece
for me to play together with a women I detested,
and music managed to get us to become friends
and to play together. It was something magical.”
Author’s note: The publication here of the names of
the ­inmates and their testimonies was authorized by the
National Coordinator of the Prisons Academic Program
and the Prison Symphony Orchestras Network.
127
A light
on the road
José Daniel Coronado
(Blind, aged 18. Barquisimeto Center, Lara state)
“Actually, I grew up like a normal kid. I was 9
or 10 before I realized I was blind, because my
parents made me feel just like a normal kid and
my childhood was the same as any other small
child’s. When I was six, I joined the System and
started with the violin; then I tried the piano;
and finally I stayed with the trumpet. I learned
to play music using Braille and then by ear.
That’s how I learn the scores, by ear. Now I’m in
fifth grade and I do all my school work, but I’d
definitely say that 99.5% of my time is spent on
music. I’m a member of the Lara Brass Ensemble
and I want to continue studying music. I’ve
­already composed some small pieces; one of
them is an Ave María that Andrea Bocelli listened to… Maybe I’ll end up being a composer.”
Luisana Freites
(Aged 20. Barquisimeto Center, Lara state)
“I’m blind and I study violin. I’ve just finished
third year in Harmony and third year in History
of Music. I’m from here, from Barquisimeto. For
me it’s very important to come to the Center
because every day I learn something new about
music and about life. I’ve lots of friends, some
of them are also blind and others are normal.
I confess that I love the violin because it is a
beautiful-sounding instrument. With it, I feel
confident. I’m already in my fifth year studying
violin. I’m a member of the Barquisimeto Youth
Orchestra, in the first violins section. I read my
scores thanks to the Braille system. The teachers
are great; they teach you a lot, especially about
the importance of discipline. I also sing in a
choir for special children. The fact is that I’m
very, very happy thanks to the System of Youth
and Children’s Orchestras and the light that
music has brought me.
128
Manuel Martínez
(Aged 12. Guatire Center)
“I’ve already been studying viola for two and
a half years and I’ve been able to play in the
Vicente Emilio Sojo Pre-Youth Orchestra. But
my thing, what I’d really like to do is to become
a conductor. I met Dudamel and I want to
conduct an orchestra too, but I know that that’s
going to be very difficult because I’d have to
learn a bit about all the instruments and read
a lot of scores. But my dad tells me to go for it,
that, if that’s what I like, I should study a lot.
I put a lot of effort into the viola because I love
its sound, and I always like to sing and to listen
to music. That’s why pestered my mom for her
to bring me to the Center, and I’m already making my dream come true.”
Jannethe Ramírez de Martínez
(Manuel’s mom)
“We live in Las Casitas, a shanty district in Guatire, and
although I have to take care of the house and of Valentina,
our second daughter, who’s three, I do everything I can
to accompany Manuel to his music classes because that
has helped him a lot and has made him more disciplined.
At the beginning, my husband used to say that there was
no money in that music business and he didn’t like the
idea. But I told him that it wasn’t a matter of money but of
discipline; besides, we are both high school graduates and
we want our children to get ahead and have a good education. But now, when Manuel told his father he had
a concert, we all went, and proud too.”
Marialis Sarabia and Gabriela Rosas
(6 and 14 years of age. Pupil and teacher.
Guatire Center)
Two girls, two destinies that have become
entwined to learn from and help one another.
Marialis Sarabia, the younger, daughter of María
Toro, a cleaning lady at the Guatire Center,
asks the elder, Gabriela Rosas: “Teach me that
piece you’re playing, I love how it sounds.”
And ­Gabriela, who is already a member of the
Francisco de Miranda Pre-Youth Orchestra, at
only 14 years of age, takes her responsibilities as
a teacher very seriously. She has been r­ eceiving
training in music teaching techniques and
­methods for the past year and confidently says:
“You have to put a lot more effort into learning
the instrument because teaching small children,
who don’t know anything about the violin, is
more difficult, and you have to have a lot of
patience in order to reach them with love and
tenderness. That way they fall in love with what
we’re doing here at the Center. And when you
teach them, you learn more about music too;
and you know that, as each year goes by they’ll
gradually make progress, just like I’m doing
now, and that, one day, both of us can become
professional musicians. I, at least, hope to get to
the Simón Bolívar Orchestra. That’s my goal. I
think it’s the goal of nearly all of us who are in
the System.
129
Zambra Saavedra
(Aged 13. Los Chorros Center, Caracas)
Natasha Tesorero
(16 years of age. La Rinconada Center, Caracas)
Sadly, Natasha lost her mother just when she
turned 14, and the pain she felt found an outlet:
music. “My mom adored me and she did everything to make me happy. She knew I loved to
come to the Center. That’s why, when she died,
I decided to carry on with my violin classes and
that has helped me to get ahead. It was my greatgrandmother who enrolled me here when I was
8, and the whole family pitched in and bought
me my violin. Now I live with my maternal
grandmother in El Valle and divide my study
time between my high school work and music.
I hope to go on to university because I want to
be an architect. But there’s no doubt in my mind
that I’ll continue to cling to the violin because
it makes me happy and because it allows me to
maintain friendships in La Rinconada Pre-Youth
Orchestra, to which I belong at the moment.”
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“Maybe I was kind of young when I chose the
horn. I was 10 when I had to choose an instrument here at Los Chorros Center. But the thing
is that when I saw a horn I found it so strange.
I loved its shape, the curves of the metal, and
I loved it even more when I heard the sound it
makes… it was great. And when my parents saw
me with the horn, they said it was very strange
but, as I’m an only child and they’ve always
wanted to give me the best, they respected my
decision. My friends say the same thing. They’re
surprised because at the high school we go to,
the Lino Clemente in Petare, they organize parties and invite me and I often tell them I can’t go
because I have to go to the Center nearly every
day, even some Saturdays. Then my friends say:
‘Gee Zambra, you’re just music. All you think
about is music, you don’t think about anything
else except the horn.’ And it’s true. I love all this
and my Children’s Symphony Orchestra at Los
Chorros, to which I belong.”
Junior Alejandro Chivas González
(Aged 9. Montalbán Center, Caracas)
“I like the violin because it has a lovely sound.
Before, I used to be embarrassed to play at
school, but not now. And since I started at the
Center, I love to come every afternoon because
you learn a lot of things, and I’ve already learned
so much that I’m in the Mozart Orchestra.
­Besides, I’ve heard Dudamel speak. He played
the violin too, and he heard Maestro José
­Antonio Abreu speak, the person who did all
this. I know that he started to play the violin
when he was very young too and that he became
a ­professional and that he also played the piano.
It’s a shame he doesn’t play now because it would
be great to hear him to see how he plays.”
Doris González
(Junior’s and Jesús’s mom)
“I’m a housewife and my husband’s a taxi driver; we live in
La Vega. One day, my husband met Beatriz Abreu, José
Antonio Abreu’s sister, and chatting in the taxi while he
took her someplace, she told him all about the System.
After that we plucked up courage and brought our elder
son, Junior Alejandro, who was 5 at the time, and later
we brought Jesús when he was only two and a half; he
was still in diapers and they put him in the preparatory
class. Now he’s moved on to Music Initiation because he’s
already 5. We’re really pleased because we love the idea
of our sons becoming professional musicians. But what
gives us most peace of mind is to see the progress our sons
have made in everything.”
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a brother and two sisters. One of my brothers
is 10 years old, he’s in second grade and I play
the viola for him when I see he’s nervous. Mom
says he’s got speech problems. My little sister
Yusmely is 3. She’s really bright. Sometimes she
wants to get hold of my viola to play it. Mom
says she’s going to enroll her to take music this
year. And the baby is two years old and we don’t
know whether she’s going to like music. I feel
­really happy when I see the orchestras playing.
The other day I saw Gustavo Dudamel on television. I’d like to meet him in person.”
Víctor Manuel Dicuru Guerrero
(12 years old. Guatire Center, Miranda state)
“I started when I was 9. Some cousins who
played in the orchestra told my dad to put me
down to study music. That’s how my dad came
to enroll me. I didn’t have an instrument for the
first two years and in the third year they gave
me a viola. I like the viola a lot. They gave me
one I’ve got at the Center. I treat it carefully.
Sometimes I’m afraid when I have to go from
my house to the Center on my own at 5:30 p.m.
and do the return journey at 7:30 p.m., because
my dad can’t take me every day. He work’s in
one of the System’s warehouses and mom is busy
with my younger brothers and sisters. That’s why
I learned to go on my own. I don’t want to miss
my viola classes. The neighbors where we live
stop to watch me when I go by with my viola. At
home, when my aunts, uncles, and friends of the
family visit, my dad asks me to go for my viola
and play. And they all sit quiet watching me, and
I close my eyes and continue playing. We live in
my grandmother’s house in Valle Verde, a barrio
in Guatire, in a basement she let us have. I’ve got
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Yusmary Guerrero
(Víctor’s mother)
“Víctor Manuel is fully occupied every day of the week.
In the morning he practices the viola at home and in the
­afternoon he goes to school, then he comes home, picks
up his viola and goes to his music class at the Center.
That’s nearly every day: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and
­Saturday. My husband wants Víctor Manuel to have a
future in music, a profession. This has been a tremendous
relief for us, because there are a lot of kids in the barrio
who roam the streets getting into trouble. That’s why
I got him into the System. I want to save my son from
everything we’re exposed to here.
Emily Andreína Castillo Matheus
(8 years old. Montalbán Academic Center,
Caracas)
“I started to study music when I was 5, here at
the Center. I was very tiny and wanted them
to give me an instrument right away. First they
put me in the preparatory class, and we played
a lot of games. Later, I went up two more levels
and they gave me the violin. Then they got me
to give an audition and I joined the Mozart
Orchestra. I like to study at this Center. When
I grow up I want to be a doctor and a violinist.
I live just with my mom and my sister, Zulemi.
She’s 5 and dances flamenco. My dad doesn’t live
with us. I’ve changed a lot with music; that’s what
my mom says. I’m not afraid of giving presentations at school any more. Music has taught me
not to get nervous when I speak in public. I’ve
played the violin at school. Sometimes I get
very tired because I have music classes every day,
Wendy Méndez Briceño
(Aged 12. Montalbán Academic Center,
El Paraíso, Caracas)
“My mom brought me to the Center to study
music when I was 6. I’d never seen an instrument.
But I was very happy when I started to study
here and saw that all the kids had their instruments, played nicely, and were very happy. So,
every day I’d ask the teacher when they were
going to give me an instrument. I went from
Music Language to the Training Orchestra and
after that they gave me the violin. I like how
it sounds; I like the violin a lot. When there
are birthdays, I play for the whole family. My
family’s very proud of me; they always tell me
that. My dad doesn’t live with us; he’s living in
Mérida. I live with my mom and my brother in
from 2 to 6 o’clock in the afternoon, then I get
a small rented house in a barrio in Antímano.
home at about 8 at night, and that’s when I have
My brother is 15; his name’s Antonio. He’s very
to do my homework because I set off for school
intelligent and a good student. He’s a musivery early. When I grow up I want to continue in
cian too; he’s here in the Center with me, he’s a
the orchestra and travel a lot.
percussionist. My mom’s a policewoman. She
works for the Metropolitan Police Force in the
Emilia Matheus
area of prevention. She’s pleased we’re studying
(Emily Andreína’s mother)
music. She works long hours and worries a lot
“I came from Trujillo when I was still very young. I’m
about me and my brother. At work she learns
divorced and have two daughters. I work at a nursery
school in El Paraíso and pass by the Simón Bolívar Music
Conservatory every day, as it’s practically next door to
where I work. I used to love seeing those boys and girls
coming and going with their instruments. Sometimes I
went up close, a bit timidly, to try to get a peek inside and
I’d listen to the music. How lovely! I thought. And I’d remember my daughters: how wonderful it would be if they
could play like that! One day I went to the movies with
the girls and a girlfriend and we saw Tocar y Luchar (Play
and Fight). That movie gave me the strength I needed to
go inside the Simón Bolívar Conservatory and ask if one
of my daughters could study there. They gave me information and suggested I take her to Montalbán Academic
Center, which was for the tiny ones and was completely
free of charge. That’s what I did. I came and pre-enrolled
Emily Andreína, who was four at the time, and shortly
afterwards they called her. I’m happy because music has
taught Emily Andreína to be independent and to be very
discerning. It’s molded her personality despite her young
age. I want Emily to be independent, not to be afraid of
doing the things she wants to in life.”
133
about very sad things that happen to children,
that’s why she got us to study music, to protect
us from bad things. I always hear her talking to
my brother. My brother always looks out for
me; he brings me to music classes every day and
afterwards we go home together.”
Maite Briceño
(Wendy Méndez’s mom)
“I was very concerned about my children’s future. It’s
not easy to bring up kids nowadays, particularly when
you spend all day working. I was looking for some kind
of activity that would keep them occupied while I was
working. I’d pass the doors of this Academic Center every
day on my way home from work and I noticed the large
number of boys and girls coming and going. One day
I stopped and asked a parent who was outside waiting
for his daughter what they did there. He told me that
they gave music classes and that it was completely free
of charge. So I went in and pre-enrolled them right on
the spot, and two months later they called them. They’ve
been at the Center for six years now. I’m very proud of my
children and happy that I discovered their musical bent.
They started off with the recorder and now they each have
the instrument they want to play for the rest of their lives.”
134
Eduar Cervantes
(17 years old. Los Chorros Center, Caracas)
“I came here thanks to a special program for
street kids called “Forging the Future.” As I
was already 15, they didn’t accept me here, so a
teacher who gave classes here told me I could
get in under this special program for street kids,
even though I wasn’t one. It was the only way. At
the beginning I wanted to play the guitar, but
there were no guitars here, so I tried with the
tuba, and I liked it. I joined the Center as a street
kid, but I wasn’t one. I live at home with my
mom, my dad, and my two sisters: Erika, who’s
22 and is studying electronics at university; and
Estefanía, who’s 8. Music’s my life. I want it to
be my profession. I’m studying for a degree in
­administration, because a degree is very important, but what I really want to be is a musician. In
a year’s time I’m going to audition for the Simón
Bolívar Orchestra and for the Teresa Carreño
Symphony Orchestra. That’s why I’m studying
a lot, practicing scales, doing breathing exercises, studying methods, parts of the orchestra,
­flexibility and staccatos, among other things. My
dream is to join the Simón Bolívar Orchestra.
I’ve been composing songs since I was four years
old, like a game; then in sixth grade I was chosen
for a choir, after auditioning. Everyone likes how
I sing, but I didn’t know where the orchestras
were until I met that teacher and I enrolled as
though I was a street kid. Once I started to study
here I was so happy that I wanted to spend all
my time here. The timetable of the music classes
got mixed up with the timetable for classes at
school; at both places they expected a lot of
me, but I tried to work it so that I did all right at
both. I hardly slept, what with doing homework
for school and practicing the tuba. I graduated
from high school last year and now I’m starting
university. My parents are very proud of me and
they’re pleased that I’ve been able to find something to channel all that restlessness I felt inside.”
Jefreson Carmona Fernández
(Aged 14. Fe y Alegría Center, La Rinconada,
Caracas)
“I’ve been studying music for seven years. Before
I studied at San Agustín, and now I’m here at La
Rinconada Center, where I’ve been for five years.
My dad died when I was seven. I didn’t know
what was happening. My mom and all the people
ran over to see my dad; he was on the ground
next to me and he didn’t move. He was bleeding
a lot. My mom started to cry and some people
shouted that my dad was dead. Now I play the
trombone that belonged to my dad and I want to
play music so as to always remember him.”
Mary Fernández
(Jefreson’s mother)
“Jefreson has not been able to get over the death of his
father. Seven years ago, the three of us went to a baseball
game in Santa Teresa del Tuy. At the entrance to the
stadium there was a confrontation between two gangs
of delinquents; they were armed and were shooting like
crazy. Everything happened so fast. I was going in to the
game with my husband and my son. I went on ahead and
my husband was right behind me and had Jefreson by the
hand. Then suddenly I felt my husband fall to the ground,
he was losing a lot of blood, and the boy just stood there
paralyzed. It was terrible for everyone, but particularly for
the boy. I have to take Jefreson for some tests but I haven’t
had time because I’ve had a lot of work and live alone with
him. A year ago, from the psychological tests they did on
him, the psychologist said that he couldn’t pass seventh
grade, that he had a lot of anger bottled up inside; he was
blocked after the death of his father. His father used to
play the trombone with a salsa group and Jefreson would
go with him. My husband and I decided to enroll him in
San Agustín Center and the boy was happy because he
used to go to class with his father’s trombone. His father
would take him every day. Since the death of his father,
my son has taken refuge in music; he wants to play all
the time. That’s how he’s coped with his pain. He’s already
a member of the Center’s Ensemble. He comes every day
and spends the whole afternoon here. I can’t bring him, but,
thanks to an arrangement that Maestro Abreu made with
the Caracas Metro, there’s a Metro bus that picks the children up at La Bandera station and brings them to the Center and then takes them back to La Bandera. If it weren’t for
the System, I don’t know what would have happened to my
son. I live on the main avenue of El ­Cementerio in Caracas,
and there’s so much danger everywhere. I want to talk to
Maestro Abreu to see if he can get my son a new trombone
because the one he’s got is very small for the level Jefreson
has reached in his music studies.”
Author’s note: All the testimonies and photos in this
chapter were authorized by FESNOJIV, 2010.
135
A fresh chance at life
Lennar José Acosta Ramírez
I spent my entire childhood in
Carapita. I was born in Caracas on
February 19, 1982, at the Magallanes
de Catia Hospital. My family is from
San Cristóbal, but I’ve lived all my life
in Caracas. In fact, I don’t remember
very much about my childhood in
Carapita because we were always
moving from one place to another.
Then my mother married and moved
to La Candelaria; she got married to
my younger brother’s father. I met my
own father when I was thirteen. We
are four brothers and sisters on my
mother’s side. My mother’s name is
María de los Angeles Ramírez, and
my father is Luis Hernández; he’s
nothing in my life. My stepfather,
my mother’s husband, didn’t like
me or my older brother either; his
rejection made me feel unwanted
at home, that’s why I left. Most of
our stepfathers mistreated us. I had
several. We’re all sons and daughters
of different fathers.
I went to school in La Candelaria.
When I was eight I was in second
136
grade at the Mariño District Unit;
I always went to school on my own.
It was then I started working in La
Hoyada market in the afternoons,
selling soft drinks, shoes, and clothes.
I kept studying up to sixth grade.
My mother worked all day and
didn’t know I was selling clothes or
anything. I always kept my family out
of all my problems.
I began getting involved in other
types of deals. I was ambitious. Ever
since I was small I had a goal: I
wanted to be somebody in life, but
unfortunately I took the wrong path:
drugs. I started smoking cigarettes
when I was nine and when I was
twelve I tried drugs: first marihuana,
then cocaine and crack. I left home
when I was twelve because I didn’t
want to hurt my mother or my
brothers and sisters. When you get
involved in the world of drugs it
makes you aggressive towards anyone who’s close to you. I went to live
in El Chimborazo, a rundown part
of town. I spent my time in Pinto Salinas and other shanty districts or barrios near La Candelaria. At that age
I was handling a lot of money; I got
it by stealing or getting involved in
shady business; you know, you spend
the day casing a place, w
­ atching to
see who stays behind, who takes out
the money, all that, and then you’d
make your move.
I was twelve and sometimes I had as
much as five hundred thousand bolivars in my pocket. I didn’t steal on
the streets, because that seemed very
small-time to me. I always thought
big. I saw that the pickpockets earned
nothing. I’d left home to make more
than that and get my family out of
the hole they were in. I used to give
my mother money and I told her
that I was working and that I was
doing OK. I used to go to the house
when she wasn’t there. I’d talk to my
brothers and sisters and leave them
the money. I never thought of going
back home because I felt that if I did
I’d contaminate the others.
When I was high I felt as if I was
somewhere else; you clear your mind
of everything you don’t want there
and start to invent your own world. I
could smoke up to fifteen or twenty
joints a night. I was thirteen when I
got my hands on my first gun, a .38.
My last robbery was at an electronics
appliances warehouse, together with
two older boys. I always carried a
weapon but I never killed anyone. I
spent most of my time in the barrios
so I wasn’t afraid. I stayed behind
upstairs packing the last box. When
I went downstairs the police arrived,
and our getaway car had already gone.
I started running. The police ran after
me and caught me in Paseo Anauco.
They caught me just as I was throwing
the gun into the River Guaire. They
beat me up until I confessed. I had
money in my pocket and tried to
make a deal with the police, but it
didn’t work; the policeman did for
me. They took me to Cotiza. There I
got stabbed in the chest. It’s survival
of the fittest. Perhaps you are not the
strongest but if you’re tough, you’re
respected. I told them I was twelve
so I’d be sent to a juvenile detention
center. They took me to Los Chorros.
Actually, I was going on fifteen years
old, but I was small for my age. When
I arrived in Los Chorros I was wearing
a T-shirt and shorts because I’d been
playing soccer just before the robbery.
I had long hair. I saw only small kids
but when I went to the dining room
the older kids started coming down.
I said to myself: “What’s happening
here? I’m finished!” I didn’t have any
problems, because I put on my “It
wasn’t me” attitude and acted cool.
When I sat down to eat I wasn’t
hungry; all around me about ten kids
were asking me for my food. That
made me feel so bad, I gave it to them.
They asked me questions, but I didn’t
say anything because I’ve always kept
very much to myself. If I’d said I used
drugs or robbed people it would have
caused problems for me, because
the social workers would have done
their job: they’d have told the court
what this kid had been up to, and if
he’d been involved with drugs and
­robberies he couldn’t stay at that
center. They would have transferred
me to a center they called the “miniPlanta” (La Planta is a notorious
Caracas prison).
I was given a kitchen helper’s course
at Los Chorros, but then some
medicine went missing and everyone
was punished, and since I was a leader
my punishment was worse, I was
blamed. That really bugged me. One
day they asked me if I was going to
go to the course. I said yes, they gave
me bus money and I escaped. I never
went back. First I went to a friend’s
house in Parque Carabobo, I was
already fifteen, and then I went to
Carapita, a very poor neighborhood;
I got ­another gun and began using
drugs again. I started buying and
dealing drugs in La Hoyada, where
the street vendors are. I sold toys, but
that was just a front for the drugs.
One day there was a police raid, the
police caught me and, since I was on
a wanted list, I was taken back to Los
Chorros.
I wasn’t sure whether they would have
me back at Los Chorros because they
only took kids under fourteen and
I was already fifteen. Of course, it
helped that I didn’t have any negative
reports in the book. I was still the
leader, but I spent most of my time
alone because I didn’t trust anyone. I
began to watch the kids, their good
sides and their bad sides, all the things
they didn’t have and what I, like it or
not, had had. I got to thinking and
realized that I’d gotten myself into a
hole that I’d never get out of. Then
I decided to go straight. Just then
the Youth Orchestras Project came
to Los Chorros. I was bored and
didn’t want to do anything. But I’d
always liked music. I never dreamed
of p­ laying an instrument. I liked
instrumental music, Venezuelan
music. Once I watched an orchestra
on television; I loved seeing all those
instruments together. That was the
National Youth Orchestra playing.
When the instruments arrived I
wanted to play the trumpet, but
there weren’t any left, they’d all been
­assigned. The director, Manuel
Mijares, a fantastic teacher, a cellist,
told me that there was a clarinet left; I
didn’t know what that was. I was fasci­
nated when I saw it. It’s a very formal
and elegant instrument. He taught
me the first four notes. I played those
four notes all day because I didn’t have
a teacher. Then Freddy Velazco came
along; he showed me the first steps
and gave me classes, but he soon left.
After that Edgar Pronio arrived. He
got me really involved in music; he
taught me how to read music scores,
the language of music, and techniques.
I got out of Los Chorros when I was
seventeen. I went back to Carapita
to study high school and continue
with music. That was the agreement
I had with the judge. After being
locked up for so long you become
used to isolation, you feel inhibited,
ashamed and can’t look people in
the face. I never left the house. The
past plagued me. One day a boy I’d
once beaten up came by asking for
money to buy drugs; I told him I
didn’t have any. Even though I wasn’t
doing anything wrong, I went outside
the house, armed, and we had a fight.
At that moment I felt everything I
had achieved till then had slipped
away. Then five thugs armed with
automatic weapons came down
from the upper part of the shanty
district. The guys asked me what was
going on, I explained and they didn’t
do anything to me. Thank God!
From then on I began to realize how
important life is and I never went
back there again.
Seeing so much poverty all around
me, observing the messed-up
g­ lue-sniffers, made me look at myself
in that mirror and realize that that
wasn’t what I wanted for myself.
That’s why I decided to study music.
Music saved my life; it helped let
out a lot of the anger I had inside.
If music hadn’t arrived, like Ignacio
Fombona arrived, a volunteer who
taught me how to work with wood
and helped me a lot with dealing
with my behavior and with my
reeducation, I wouldn’t be here today.
Music opened a door for me. Then
I really got down to it. I studied
­cabinet­making and, apart from that,
I’ve been playing and making music.
My clarinet means everything to me.
If I’m holding my instrument and
someone tries to take it away from
me I get very aggressive. They’ve
tried to steal it from me three times.
This clarinet was given to me on
my seventeenth birthday. It’s one of
the greatest gifts I’ve ever received.
I always used to dream of having a
bicycle or lots of toys, but when I got
home and saw it there, I never asked
for anything else: it was enough. I’d
like Simon Rattle to conduct me. I
saw one of his rehearsals and I think
he’s a great maestro.
I’d have liked to have been born
into an environment where one
of the members of my family was
a musician, so as not to have gone
through what I did. Because, I swear,
I wouldn’t change music for anything.
The System of Youth and Children’s
Orchestras of Venezuela gave me
a new chance in life. The System
includes people, and Maestro Abreu
is the father of all this. I say this from
my heart: a father is not the person
who brings you into the world; he’s
the one who brings you up.
Author’s note: This testimony, the result of a long interview with Lennar Acosta in 2004, is taken from the book Venezuela Bursting with Orchestras and has been
summarized for this edition. Today, Acosta is the director of Los Chorros Center (where, as he himself recounts here, he found his path to get ahead in life) and is
responsible for the maintenance and care of the organ in the Simón Bolívar Concert Hall. He continues with his clarinet studies, an instrument he also teaches at
Los Chorros Center.
137
Chapter
VI
Top-notch
teaching
Music education in Venezuela was
faced with two choices. As Simón
Rodríguez, the Liberator’s great
teacher said: “Either we invent or
we err.” And José Antonio Abreu
preferred to invent.
Félix Petit
A new generation of outstanding trumpet players being forged at the Latin
American Trumpet Academy with one of their teachers, Francisco “Pacho” Flores
A breeding ground
tended with discipline
ince the second half of 20th Century, there has
not been a more impressive, consolidated, overwhelming and futuristic musical training program in this part of the world than the National
System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of
Venezuela. Over a period of thirty-five years
of constant work, our country has managed to
demonstrate that the teaching method thought
up by José Antonio Abreu is capable of winning
over the hearts of thousands of children through
art and cause such a visible multiplier and successful artistic explosion as the one that is being
witnessed in Venezuela today.
It is not merely a matter of names, such as the
young Venezuelan baton Gustavo Dudamel, or
the fact that the youngest member of the Berlin
Philharmonic is Edicson Ruíz, his fellow countryman. The point here is that Venezuelan musicians are highly thought of and their preparation
has reached very high standards, which has
enabled them to pass the most demanding tests
at competitions and on stages from Berlin to
Japan, winning the acceptance of the complex
international music industry and market.
140
The Venezuelan pianist David Ascanio, one of
the System’s founders, comments the following:
“Thanks to Abreu’s music teaching method,
we Venezuelan musicians have lost our fear of
playing symphonic music; we’ve lost our fear of
the music stand, of the orchestra, of performing concerts every week. He taught us to open
our hearts, first to music and then to learning to
play it. That’s why our performers have a more
profound way of making music; they play from
the heart and with the backing of collective
­excellence. This teaching method has illuminated generation after generation of musicians
with no complexes whatsoever.”
Staff by staff
Breaking paradigms, already far removed from
the traditional methods of the conservatories,
the essence of the System’s style of teaching
combines intensive group practice from the earliest age and the commitment to keep the joy,
fun, and pleasure of making music permanently
alive. In a nutshell: “first passion, then polishing.”
A child who enters the System between the ages
of three and five starts off in the Music Initiation
Program. During that first stage, which Abreu
calls the phase of encountering and becoming sensitized to music, the children play musical games
and they are taught children’s songs and manual
activities to stimulate the development of their
motor functions. They are gradually guided
towards developing their sense of rhythm and
polyrhythm using their bodies and they become
familiar with toy instruments.
Then, during the second stage, called the Musical Induction Phase, they are given the first theoretical and practical notions of musical forms,
while at the same time they develop their audioperceptive skills. Once the child has an idea of
the instruments that make up the orchestra, he
moves on to the Instrument Selection Phase, where
he is given guidance in selecting an instrument
that he likes and suits his natural abilities and he
starts to study it.
Finally, the student, who by now has made
progress and is between six and eight years of
age, goes on to the Instrument Playing Phase,
which is conducted in group classes held in
the orchestra or by instrument section or in
instrument ensembles, so opening up the world
of putting together the different parts of a
symphonic work selected by the teacher based
on the pupil’s level of knowledge. He starts on
the wonderful adventure of the rehearsals and,
of course the most exciting part, almost weekly
concerts, during which he loses his fear of playing in public.
Music stand by music stand
Parallel to this teaching plan, which is implemented throughout the System’s national
network –in other words in all the nuclei in
Venezuela-, there is a process of moving up
through the ranks by practicing with the instruments: the student-players join the pre-school
orchestras and children’s orchestras, and, later,
move on to the youth orchestras. Last of all, the
most talented players are selected, by means of
tough auditions, to occupy a place in the Simón
Bolívar Venezuelan Youth Symphony Orchestra, either group “A” or group “B.” It is there, of
course, that they acquire most experience and
the highest professional level.
Abreu never stops being a teacher. He often makes time in his busy agenda to be present at special auditions
141
Each of the orchestras, in the different categories, is literally a battlefield, a field of competitiveness, and promotes striving among the
pupils, both individually and as a group. For example, the children and adolescents who put in a
lot of effort and progress have a chance to “win”
prizes consisting of attending advanced courses,
workshops, seminars, rehearsals or concerts
with Venezuelan and international teachers of
considerable standing, such as musicians of the
Berlin Philharmonic, or world famous personalities such as Placido Domingo, Claudio Abbado,
Lorin Maazel, Kristof Penderecki, Yo-Yo Ma,
Nikolaus Harnoncourt or other visitors of note.
More than 3,500 teachers, most of whom are
founders of the youth orchestras and have received all their training in the System over a period of three decades, are in charge of “­polishing”
the new generations of “diamonds” coming
along behind them to prepare them to take the
baton and guarantee the continuity and unending progress of this great cultural enterprise.
Scenarios for attaining goals
While it is true that each nucleus and each
orchestra in the country are schools where
the contingents of children and adolescents
who have been assimilated into the System are
trained daily, since 1980, approximately, ­teaching
plan has included the creation of exemplary,
model teaching structures as scenarios for
­training and polishing our musicians.
As the demand of children wishing to join the
System and its nuclei has grown, the projects for
building new teaching centers have increased.
By 2011 FundaMusical Simón Bolívar had the
following national teaching centers: the Montalbán Children’s Academic Center, the Simón
Bolívar Conservatory, the Center for Social
Action through Music, the Luthiery Academic
Center, and twelve Latin American Academies:
for Violin, Viola, Cello, Flute, Piano, Doublebass, Clarinet, Horn, Oboe, Trumpet, Bassoon,
and Percussion.
The maestro’s gestures reveal his rigorousness
when it comes to teaching
142
Harnoncourt and Dudamel at a master class with the SJVSB
Montalbán Children’s Academic Center
(CAIM) is one of the most original education platforms and the one that has had the
­greatest impact of all those created by the
System. Lo­cated in the Caracas neighborhood
of ­Montalbán, it has had many successes since it
opened in 1998 under the management of Susan
Siman (a violinist and former member of the
Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra) and currently under André González. CAIM, together
with the Center for Social Action through
Music, is, undoubtedly, the most attractive showcase where the most prestigious maestros and
personalities of the international music world are
able to enjoy watching and listening to the future
musicians being cultivated in this seedbed.
CAIM started out with 120 children and today,
in 2010, it has some 1,200 pupils or more who
are taught by 60 teachers from the time they are
babies of 36 months until they are 15 or 16 years
old, by which time they have completed the
eight teaching stages and are ready to move on
to a higher level of training, which they obtain
at the Simón Bolívar Conservatory, the Latin
American Academies, and also at the University
Institute for Music Education (IUDEM), an
initiative that, today, is attached to the Experimental University of the Arts (UNEARTE).
Placido Domingo during a master class-rehearsal with
the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra
Every morning and afternoon, Montalbán
becomes the perfect scenario for discovering
how the pool of good musicians is “nourished
and grows” “right from the cradle,” with the
support and participation of the mothers in the
classrooms, as many of the little ones are still
bottle-fed and use diapers.
The Simón Bolívar Music Conservatory,
located in the Caracas neighborhood of El
Paraíso, was founded in 1975 based on a concept that is very different to that of traditional
conservatories. Today it is run by the teacher and
clarinetist Valdemar Rodríguez. Its mission is to
support the academic training, to the h­ ighest
level, of more than 150,000 of the System’s
musicians who hope to get their diplomas as
Performing Musicians, a qualification that is
endorsed by the People’s Power Ministry for
Education in Venezuela.
Every year, some 1,200 students from all parts
of Venezuela, many of them instrument players
with years of experience in orchestras, take
advanced classes from 120 teachers in Theory
and Sight-Reading, Instrument, Texture (Counterpoint and Harmony), History of Music, Aesthetics, Chamber Music, Orchestra Practice,
and Complementary Piano. The courses with
143
the largest number of students are Violin, Flute,
Singing, and Cuatro (a four-stringed guitar).
Besides the regular classes, the Conservatory’s 36 classrooms are used to hold seminars
and master classes. At weekends in particular,
the Conservatory is overflowing with pupils,
­teachers, and cultural managers, as courses are
also held there on the guidelines of the Regional
Teaching Plan aimed at consolidating academic
centers at FundaMusical Simón Bolívar’s regional nuclei. Many musicians from other parts
of Latin America and the Caribbean who have
come to our country to take advanced courses
and obtain technical advice and music teaching
are also to be found there.
The Simón Bolívar Music Conservatory is
­currently setting up other academic centers
along the same lines in the Venezuelan ­provinces
to cater to advanced students in other parts
of the country who are unable to travel to or
live in Caracas. An interesting and fl­ ourishing
project has been started up with the Simón
Bolívar Conservatory in Guárico state, in the
­Venezuelan Llanos or plains region, the Guárico
Nucleus. This center has the System’s best
teachers who live in nearby states or who travel
from Caracas on Saturdays and Sundays to give
classes in a variety of musical instruments.
The System puts emphasis on one-to-one teacher-pupil training, such as the training
Lila Vivas receives from teachers of the stature of Luis Miguel González
144
As is customary at every one of the System’s
premises, the Simón Bolívar Conservatory lends
itself to all kinds of activities: Fridays, Saturdays,
and some Sundays it becomes the venue for
recitals, concert seasons, or musical celebrations
of graduations or promotions, events that are
held in its Iván Adler Concert Hall with seating
for 50 people. And, to complete its mission and
to give a boost to its pupils’ artistic development,
it is the home of the Caracas Youth Orchestra,
the Simón Bolívar Youth Symphony Band, the
Simón Bolívar Big Band Jazz, and the brand new
Simón Bolívar Latin-Caribbean Orchestra.
Constant, disciplined work every day bears fruit: getting to the top
145
Foolproof artistic
and managerial tenacity
mong the generation of Venezuelan musicians educated in the System of Youth and
Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela, Valdemar
Rodríguez’s artistic career is one of the most
complete and most promising. This clarinetist,
born in Yaracuy and who began playing when he
was barely five years old, has come a very long way
thanks to his talent and tenacity. Before being
selected to join the Simón Bolívar Symphony
Orchestra, where he is the main clarinetist, he
belonged to the Yaracuy Youth Orchestra and to
the Valencia Symphony Orchestra; after that he
took advanced classes with the eminent teacher
Luis Rossi and continued his training in master
classes with distinguished teachers in Europe and
the United States.
But it is his artistic experience that has made him
a reference among the Continent’s ­clarinetists.
146
He has performed as a soloist all over Latin
America, did a recital tour with the pianist David
Ascanio, has been the soloist in symphony
and youth orchestras in Argentina, Colombia,
Mexico, Ecuador and Chile, and has taken part in
international tours in Europe and Latin America,
and then, of course, there are his outstanding
performances with Venezuela’s major youth and
symphony orchestras.
However, thanks to his teaching abilities and his
efficiency as a manager, there were two new jobs
in store for him: as Director of the Latin American Clarinet Academy and as Deputy Executive
Director of FundaMusical Simón Bolívar).
Valdemar Rodríguez told us: “The biggest
satisfactions in my professional life have been with
my students, because I’ve developed the ability to
discover talents and turn them into professional
clarinetists. I believe that this immense passion
for teaching is part of my mission in life to help
people, particularly people in my country.”
How would you describe your work at the head
of the Latin American Clarinet Academy?
I’ve made an effort to create a solid clarinet school
throughout Venezuela and now, after teaching in
many countries in Latin America, I’m seeing the
results. Our Clarinet Faculty has a large number
of foreigners from South and Central America
and has been endorsed by professors from the
Paris Conservatory, universities in the United
States, international soloists and orchestra conductors, and maestros from the Berlin Philharmonic, among others, as one of the best clarinet
schools with more than twenty top clarinetists.
This gives me great satisfaction because I’ve been
teaching clarinet for more than twenty years. I’ve
organized six international clarinet festivals, and
that’s part of the pride I feel at being a representative of Venezuelan workers.
How did the Academy evolve?
The Latin American Clarinet Academy was
formed gradually, step by step. It started as course
with eight Venezuelan pupils, who achieved a
high level of technical skill and an admirable level
of musical development. It was then that a lot of
Venezuelan and some Latin American ­clarinetists
applied for the course, and the academy had to
find more fellow clarinetists to come and give
classes, but using a system of rotating teachers and
pupils rather than the traditional setup, so that
pupils were able to benefit from the ­knowledge
each teacher had to offer. Apart from that, we
had the opportunity to learn to teach, play
chamber music, play as soloists, and play in an
orchestra, producing all-round clarinetists capable
of addressing the clarinet’s various possibilities.
Maestros of many nationalities and soloists of
international renown come to Venezuela to teach
and contribute to the development of the Latin
American Clarinet Academy’s pupils.
Valdemar Rodríguez explains that there are two
ways to enter the academy. The first, and simplest,
is to send in a video, which is evaluated by four of
Young soloists get their first chance to shine during
the International Clarinet Festival
the academy’s teachers; and the second is to give
an audition to those same teachers.
The clarinet: the passion
he doesn’t abandon
Although love isn’t something you explain, tell
us about your love for teaching.
It’s my passion, it’s what I have learned most about
and developed. I’ve been teaching for nearly 30
years, at all levels, from beginners to a master’s
course, and I enjoy them all. So far I’ve given
classes in Canada, the United States, and in nearly
all the countries in Latin America, and I’ve also
given master classes at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and at Beijing Language and
Culture University; and now I’ve been invited to
give classes in Portugal, China, and Denmark.
What have been the most significant advances
and changes at the Simón Bolívar Conservatory since you’ve been in charge?
Since 1997, we’ve been introducing changes, the
idea being to permanently update the Conserva-
147
tory and to be able to offer training of the highest
level, both artistically and in terms of teaching
quality, to the growing number of pupils, a total
of 1,200 to date (2010). One of our achievements
has been that we are now able to grant a diploma
in instrument playing, which allows graduates
to continue their studies at university or other
higher education establishments. As for the
curriculum, we have increased the number of
subjects to offer a very complete course of study
where orchestra practice accounts for about
70 percent. Apart from that, the Simón Bolívar
Conservatory has emerged as the head organization and a model for a network of conservatories
that already exist in Yaracuy, Carabobo, Aragua,
Guárico, and Ciudad Bolívar. But now we have a
challenge that is both exciting and gives me much
pleasure: that of broadening the artistic horizons
of that large contingent of pupils currently in
the System and those who will be entering it in
the future. I’m talking about new programs: the
Venezuelan Popular Music Teaching Program;
the Urban Music Program; the Jazz Program,
which is already under way with our Simón
Bolívar Big Band Jazz Orchestra; and the Latin
and Caribbean Music Program, which includes
the genre salsa.
Has the International Clarinet Festival
been a thermometer for measuring t
he Academy’s work?
To a large extent, yes. The Festival has shown
those high levels of training and has provided
an opportunity to appreciate how competitive
our clarinetists are and the astonishing artistic
progress they’ve made. Years ago, when we started,
it was impossible to think that a 15- or 18-year-old
could play Aaron Copland’s Concert for Clarinet
and Orchestra. Today, they do it and come away
triumphant. We’ve held eight Festivals so far (now
it’s every two years), and it has become an event
that attracts outstanding clarinet maestros and
148
players, which means that I have had the enormous satisfaction of seeing the fruits of my work.
Finally, how do you manage to combine all
that passion for teaching and the artistic
side with your managerial responsibilities
as FundaMusical Simón Bolívar’s Deputy
Executive Director?
I’ve been Deputy Executive Director since
1999, and I can say that it is more than an obligation, a duty, and a pleasure because I have been
able to develop and channel my desire to give:
it’s knowing that you are in a position and have
the power to give, help, and do good to a lot of
people. Of course, I’ve had to learn about lots of
things: laws, politics, dealing with government
agencies, administrative matters, negotiating,
budgets, communi­cation, publicity, and public
relations. I’m basically a musician who learned
to sacrifice many other things, but to sacrifice
them willingly for Venezuela and for our children and young people.
149
Instruments
with a heart
osé Antonio Abreu did not forget a
single detail when he created the National
System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of
­Venezuela. He not only gave thought to the
network of orchestras and chamber music
ensembles, the speedy and dynamic method of
teaching, the extremely high levels of ex­cellence
and artistic quality, and the international
prestige of his pupils, but he was also able to
­“buttress” the Simón Bolívar Music Foundation with organizations that would provide
Venezuelan musicians with all the support they
need, such as ensuring the supply and constant
maintenance of musical instruments.
That is how the Luthiery Academic Center
(CAL) was born, oriented towards the technical and artisanal aspects of the craft. Founded
in 1982 with the idea of training professionals
in the fabrication, maintenance, and repair of
symphonic and popular music instruments,
today it is run by Henry Parra, with the support
of Richard Arellano, who coordinates the area
150
of plucked string instruments, Nelson Nobre in
charge of the area of bow instruments, and a large
staff of master artisans and numerous apprentices.
One of the CAL’s main purposes is to repair and
maintain the instruments used by the youth and
children’s orchestras around the country. And as
the number of children and adolescents joining
the System has increase, so too has the demand
for this service, with the result that, today, CAL
has 10 centers in different parts of the country.
However, its work is not limited to the System’s
nuclei and to Venezuela. Through the Social
Action through Music Program’s Itinerant
Luthiery Workshop, promoted and supported
by the Andean Development Corporation, the
System collaborates with the training of luthiers
in Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru.
Every year there are more youngsters who want
to make their way in the world of music, and
many of them find they have a special talent
and a vocation for artisanal work and for taking
care of instruments. What is more, there is an
increasing demand for people to repair and
fabricate instruments for the System’s growing
student population. To meet this demand, the
Academic-Technical Wind Instrument Center
was created and set up at Los Chorros Nucleus
in Caracas. There a group of specialist teachers
give classes to young apprentices aged between
14 and 25, who learn about maintaining and
repairing woodwind instruments (flute, oboe,
clarinet, and bassoon) and metal wind instruments (trumpet, horn, trombone, and tuba).
Henry Parra, who also teaches the Luthiery 1
Workshop, speaks of his work with pride: “I’ve
been working for FESNOJIV for more than
20 years and one of my dreams is to completely
satisfy the domestic market and flood it with
our handmade instruments, lovingly cut and put
together. What matters to us most at the CAL
is that each violin, each viola, each cuatro made
here ends up in the hands of one of the System’s
students and that they are proud to have them
and play them,” he comments.
Richard Arellano, a concert guitarist and a luthier
instructor at the Guitar Workshop, talks about
his work: “Being both a luthier and a guitarist has
meant I’ve forged strong ties with the sole and
essence of these instruments. Because of that,
I’m able to solve a large number of details when
it comes to making them, because I know about
the tone, tuning and different types of pitch for
guitars, for example. That’s why we aim to get our
students to know and love music,” he concludes.
Rómulo Alaluna Calderón, is from Peru and
came to Venezuela more than 25 years ago. He
specializes in bows and strings, and his violins, in
particular, are much sought after. He points out
that in order to be a good luthier you have to have
a vocation and knowledge of music. “The first
thing the student has to learn at the CAL is to
identify the different types of wood; that is what
determines the quality of the instrument. After
that, once the cutting of the wood starts, everything flows with passion and, last of all, the instrument is sealed with a unique color of varnish. Craftsmen bring patience and love to the fabrication of instruments that will eventually be used
by the System’s youngsters
151
Excelence
as the loadstar
ther platforms for seeking excellence and
music specialization are the Latin American Academies, true schools for virtuosi and
interpreters of considerable stature. FESNOJIV
and FundaMusical Simón Bolívar now have entrusted this responsibility to outstanding ­teachers
who have had distinguished artistic careers with
their instruments of choice and have the knowhow that is essential for polishing talent.
Paul Herrera, Ramón Román, Jesús Alfonzo,
Ismael Vázquez, Ana Beatriz Manzanillo, Tarcisio
Barreto, Carlos Villamizar, Antonio Mayorca,
Claudia Villasmil, Joel Nieves, José Saglimbeni, José Scolaro, Edgar Aponte, Octavio Rico,
Eddy Marcano, Sergio Celis, Dietrich Paredes,
Alexis Cárdenas, Alejandro Carreño, currently the
Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra’s concertino,
and even Gustavo Dudamel.
The people in charge of the Latin American
Academies are: José Francisco del Castillo
(violin), William Molina (cello), Félix Petit
(double bass), Valdemar Rodríguez (clarinet),
Ulises Aragón (horn), Víctor Rojas y José García (flute), Francisco “Pacho” Flores and Gaudi
Sánchez (trumpet), Omar Ascanio (bassoon),
Andrés Eloy Medina (oboe), Annette León
(classical harp), María Beatriz Cárdenas (viola),
and Miguel Sánchez (trombone).
Maestro del Castillo, the founder of the first
Latin American Academy, the Violin Academy,
and undoubtedly one of the System’s most
loved and respected veteran teachers, comments
that, for more than 30 years, he has had the
opportunity to improve his teaching methods
every day, so making it possible to obtain better
results. “I think that progress has been achieved
with the present generations of pupils in less
time, more quickly, because, surprisingly, very
young children, even from the time they are tiny
tots, play to a high level of excellence. That is
due, of course, to the fact that we have created
a teaching system that streamlines, analyzes
each facet of the different technical and musical
aspects, instilling in the pupil a spirit of selfcriticism and discipline. Generally speaking, the
same teaching criteria are used throughout as all
the teachers come from the same school. That’s
the reason for the success of the Venezuelan
school of violin playing.”
One of the most remarkable examples of the
benefits that the Latin American Academies have
brought is the Venezuelan music movement’s
pool of magnificent violinists, under the guidance
of José Francisco del Castillo. Here are just some
of the violinists “molded” by Castillo who have
already made an international name for themselves: Ulyses Ascanio, Osane Ibáñez, Alejandro
Ramírez, Jesús Hernández, Claudio González,
Carlos Riazuelo, Zaralina Núñez, Joén Vázquez,
152
Cellist and teacher William Molina, who was
one of the first members of the Simón Bolívar
Youth Symphony Orchestra and has studied at
the Paris Conservatory (thanks to a scholarship
he won in a competition in which he beat 180
cello players from around the world), founded
the Latin American Cello Academy, where he
has perfected the talent of Venezuelan cello
­players such as Miguel Rojas, Juan Carlos Rosales,
Francis Vásquez, Juan Pablo Méndez, Horacio
Contreras, and Cecilia Palma, to name but a few.
Molina says with much satisfaction that many
his fellow cello players from the SJVSB has become his pupils and that “we also have students
from other countries, such as Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Mexico. In other
words, we’re changing the history of music:
before we had to study music abroad. I had to
go to France, and now a lot of French musicians are studying in Venezuela. We’ve created
an interactive method with the help of teleworkshops produced by the Inocente Carreño
Audiovisual Center. I think all our teachers have
tried to tropicalize the knowledge acquired in
Europe. To put it briefly, we seek the individual
and collective development of the musicians,
but very much in our own style, full of passion
and energy.”
Félix Petit is the founder of the Latin American
Double Bass Academy and confesses that he is
a product of the System and the music ­teaching
method created by Abreu. Petit deserves
recognition as Edicson Ruíz’s teacher, and he
speaks of him with great delight: “I’ve been a
double-bass player with the Caracas Municipal
Symphony Orchestra for more than 20 years and
I also have the joy that harvesting the fruits of my
work has brought me: the position Edicson Ruíz
has won with the Berlin Philharmonic after so
much hard work and also the successes of other
pupils of mine, Joan González, who is the main
double-bass player with the Balearic Symphony
Orchestra, and Gabriel León, who is with the
Bilbao Symphony Orchestra.” Petit maintains
that there is no special secret to discovering and
guiding so many musical talents. “The boys and
girls trained in the System have a very special
attitude; they always maintain their freshness,
force, and vitality. There is no magic formula for
getting ahead: here you have to study, then study
some more, and remain alert and active. What
works the miracle here is the method for learning
the instrument, which is one hundred percent
innovative as it breaks with the parameters of the
traditional, orthodox conservatory, and besides
that, we made the discovery of how to learn the
instrument by playing and making music.”
Félix Petit with his pupil
Edicson Ruíz
The forger of the best violinists the country has had in the last 30 years: the much loved teacher José Francisco del Castillo and director of FESNOJIV’s
Latin American Violin Academy
153
A two-way world
conservatory
ne of the key values imparted to the musicians of the System is the quest for excellence in
any activity they undertake. With that in mind,
FundaMusical Simón Bolívar has developed an
extensive platform for providing advanced technical, musical, artistic, and managerial training.
­ ruguay, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, A
U
­ rgentina,
Paraguay, and other countries, so renowned
musicians and guest professors from France,
Belgium, the United States, Germany, Austria,
England, and Italy come to Venezuela to give
series of classes of the highest level.
Thanks to the organization of seminars, master
classes, intensive courses, and Latin American
chairs and promotional efforts to obtain international grants and gain entry to international
competitions, the musicians of the youth and
children’s orchestras have been able to speed up
their advanced training, obtain constant feedback, keep up to date with what is happening
in the music world, and have contact with great
maestros and personalities.
Nearly 30 seminars are held each year, some
internal for pupils from the nuclei in the
­provinces, and others national aimed at the
System’s most outstanding pupils and that are
also open to foreign students. The System’s most
experienced teachers are in charge of giving
these seminars, among them Félix Petit (double
bass), William Molina and César Noguera
(cello), Ulyses Ascanio, Sergio Celis, Ramón
Román, and Alexis Cárdenas (violin), Fernando
Ruíz, Javier Aragón and Jairo Hernández (brass),
Víctor Rojas and José García (flute), Andrés
Eloy Medina (oboe), Omar Ascanio (bassoon),
Valdemar Rodríguez and Edgar Pronio (clarinet), Edgar Saume (percussion), and Frank Di
Polo and Santiago Garmendia (viola).
In addition, thanks to international agreements,
Venezuela has become a major center of music
specialization, particularly in Latin America.
This is a two-way street, since, just as our
maestros offer their knowhow to a fair number
of musicians in Mexico, Colombia, B
­ razil,
154
From Germany with passion
Since 2001, the Simón Bolívar Music Foundation has made a tremendous leap in advising on and providing advanced training in a
variety of instruments. Thanks to the academic
­arrangement between the System and the Berlin
Philharmonic, seminars of the highest level have
been organized each year by this orchestra’s
musicians for the string, brass, and woodwind
rows and sections.
These seminars have been a revelation for
everyone taking part in them: causing surprise
and admiration in the foreign guest professors
when they discover the pool of good musicians
in Venezuela, the magnificent level of preparation they have, and the speed with which they
acquire new knowledge, on the one hand; and,
on the other, producing satisfaction in the
Venezuelan teachers when they confirm, during
the seminars, that their pupils are on a par with
any great player in the world.
Felicitas Hofmeister, a teacher and the first violinist of the Berlin Philharmonic, shares her secrets
with the musicians of our Venezuelan orchestras
the top down to the last child, binds me to
this country.”
The Venezuelan percussionist and teacher Edgar
Saume sums up his experience at these seminars
with the German musicians: “Obviously the
Thomas Clamor, first trumpet of the Berlin
German teachers have discovered a gold mine
Philharmonic and who currently conducts the
Venezuela Brass Ensemble, describes, with deep here; they’re impressed by the talent of our
feeling, the relationship he has forged over more young percussionists, how well they’re trained,
than eight consecutive years with the youngsters the variety of trends and genres of music they
take on, and how fast they learn. That simply
of the Youth Orchestras: “I keep coming back
to Venezuela because I am definitely in love with confirms that our musicians can go and play
anywhere in the world because they have what
this program and this country. The way I see it,
it takes and know how to do it. Moreover, it
making music is being able to achieve spiritual
tells us that the method of education has been
harmony, and here that’s a dream come true. In
effective and of the right quality. We’re on the
Venezuela, I’ve found fresh inspiration for my
professional career, and the entire System, from right path.”
155
A pact with Viennese tradition
“This is an historic day for music and culture
in Venezuela. The Vienna Conservatory has
always been a reference for our country when it
comes to music and this artistic and education
cooperation agreement we’ve reached sums up
magnificently one of the most important moments in the 30 years of successes garnered by
the System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras
The Albéniz Foundation, chaired by Paloma O’Shea, will make it possible offer a course
leading to Master’s in Music in Venezuela
of Venezuela.” Those were the opening words
of José Antonio Abreu’s speech, in November
2006, at the signing of the Cooperation Agreement with the Vienna Conservatory, located
very near the historically famous house where
Mozart spent much of his life.
Musical Director Sung Kwak greets Maestro Abreu
during a performance given by the SJVSB in Korea
156
The director of the V
­ ienna
Conservatory, Ranko
Markovic, explained that
the agreement consists of
cooperation and exchanges
on the technical and artistic
levels and in the areas of
teaching and programming
between the System and
the Viennese conservatory. Abreu announced
the holding of a Biennial
Music Festival between
Austria and Venezuela. And
thanks to this agreement,
exchanges of soloists and teachers have, in fact,
taken place.
A musical dialog with Asia
Besides awakening uncommon emotions
among the audiences, the Simón Bolívar Youth
Symphony Orchestra’s two-month tour of
Asia towards the end of 2008 gave rise to an
­extremely important relationship that will bear
fruit in the coming years.
In Beijing, a technological integration agreement
was reached in the area of instrument ­fabrication,
via the creation of a mixed ­bi-national company,
to put FESNOJIV’s production on an industrial
scale. In addition, a teaching plan was drawn up
that will permit the exchange of teachers on two
levels: teachers for children and young people
and facilitators specializing in teacher training.
And, last of all, it was decided to found a binational orchestra, which was to make its debut
at Expo Shanghai 2010.
In Korea, an arrangement was reached for an exchange with Korea’s most important music conservatories in the field of music education for
children and young people, which contemplates
the support of the conductor Sung Kwak and
also provides for Takeshi Kobayashi returning to
Venezuela to give courses to a new generation of
musicians who hope to teach children.
Then, in Japan, where our Simón Bolívar Youth
Symphony Orchestra was already well known
thanks to its two previous tours there, several
invaluable agreements were reached, including
the scheduling of a series of engagements for
Venezuelan ensembles at theaters in Asia, as a
result of which, the Venezuela Brass Ensemble,
Venezuela Winds Quintet, the Millennium
Quartet, the Simón Bolívar Quartet, and the
Atalaya Ensemble are to appear at China’s
National Theater for the Performing Arts, Seoul
Arts Center, and Tokyo International Forum.
After the seminars, everyone
lets off steam
157
for export
We don’t have individual goals, they’re always
collective. I’m a creation of the System, and in
the future I’ll always be there, working for the
up-and-coming generations.
Gustavo Dudamel
VII
Chapter
Talent
Dudamel
deciphers the score of his life
m still the child who started playing with music as a game, and I don’t want to lose that
child. It’s true that, as time passes, one matures,
which for me means humility.” That phrase
spoken time and again by someone who, today, is
on the Mount Olympus of world classical music
is the best clue when it comes to deciphering
and telling the story of the artistic career of the
Venezuelan Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez
(born on January 26, 1981, in Barquisimeto, Lara
state), the most shining example of the System of
Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela.
There is no doubt that, while his life is happily
linked to the successful Venezuelan social and musical program, Dudamel is writing his own score
in a highly personal and intimate style. Because
the young man who now steps up to the podium
of the most eminent stages and stands before the
most prestigious symphony orchestras still carries
160
that child within him: that only child who, in the
solitude of his room organized his toy figures in
semicircles, just like an orchestra, and had them
listen to music. His grandmother and companion
on his tours, Engracia de Dudamel, recalls how he
manifested his interest in music at the age of four.
“Gustavo loved music from the time he was tiny.
One day I took him to a concert where his father,
my son Oscar, was playing. I thought he was going
to fall asleep, but he paid attention throughout
the entire program and, at the end, he said to me:
‘Grandma, I really like that music.’ His interest was
so great that we sent him to study with the System,
at the Barquisimeto Center.”
At that age, his arms were still too short to play
the trombone, the instrument he saw every day
at home, but how captivated he was when his
father, a professional trombonist who played
Latin music and salsa, and his mother, Solange
Ramírez, a singer, filled his home with lively
music, very different from the music that was
starting to fascinate him, the music he would
read in the scores copied on the blackboard of
the Jacinto Lara Conservatory in his home town,
where his first teacher, Luis Giménez, who recalls
Gustavo’s early days, still works.
“He arrived at the Center like so many children
who come to the System today, but he immediately showed signs of great talent; he learned
everything with ease right from the start and
was able to progress rapidly. When he was 10, in
1991, we gave him his first violin and his first violin lessons, which he continued later in Caracas
with José Francisco del Castillo. Today, when
I watch Gustavo conducting, I feel I wasn’t mistaken: from the start, it was clear that Gustavo
would become an all-round musician with a
very fresh style of conducting and, above all, a
trait he always demonstrated, with tremendous
­personality,” says Giménez.
ies.” By then, D
­ udamel was already 17, and he
moved to Caracas and lived in Parque Central,
very near the Teresa Carreño Cultural Complex where the José Félix Ribas concert hall is
located and where both the National Youth
Orchestra and the SJVSB hold their rehearsals
and performances. It was in this small corner
of the city that D
­ udamel spent intense weeks
and years of t­ raining; Maestro Abreu’s offices
were even there, as at that time he was Minister
for Culture, and found time to attend to the
­de­velopment of his pupils. And in that coexistence with artists, D
­ udamel met the person who
was to later become his wife, the ballet dancer
Eloísa Maturén, an outstanding member of the
Teresa Carreño Ballet.
Being a true Aquarian, in particular as regards his
creative abilities, did not distract him from his
goal. Focused, with his feet firmly on the ground,
Dudamel battled with the mountain of material
he had to learn, which suddenly grew. He wasted
not a single day of Abreu’s teachings. It was the
With the score in his head
time for absorbing everything, for listening
to everything, for acquiring as many skills as
The young Dudamel made rapid progress and had possible, otherwise how was going to face the
the unconditional support of his family. In Lara
tough battlefield of the European music world?
Children’s Orchestra, Gustavo was chosen to be
“José Antonio taught me to study the scores and
concertino, when he was only 12, a position he con- record them inside me, almost memorize them,
tinued to hold in the Amadeus Youth Orchestra.
no less,” recalls Dudamel, “because as he sees it,
However, his path was a different one. One afterthere are two types of maestros: those who have
noon, when Luis Giménez arrived late for rehearsal, the score in their head and those who have their
he discovered that one of the Amadeus Orchestra’s heads in the score.”
small musicians had already started to play. “It was
great, it was like seeing a regular conductor,” recalls Dudamel’s days became a kind of permanent
Giménez, who immediately appointed Gustavo
hurricane. Abreu pushed Gustavo at full speed
assistant conductor of the orchestra. With his extowards the youngster’s own goals… more and
ceptional musical instinct, the young novice started more pieces from the symphonic repertoire
his orchestral conducting lessons with Rodolfo
to study, rehearsal after rehearsal. Then came
Saglimbeni. But still in store for him were the rigor the opportunity for the first tour of Italy and
and definitive vision of José Antonio Abreu, who
the Maestro gave him the responsibility of
took on the tutoring of the talents of all the orches- conducting the National Children’s Orchestra,
tra nuclei around the country personally.
when he was to interpret Mahler’s Symphony
No. 1. Abreu prepared him personally for this
In 1998, Abreu saw Dudamel conduct Lara
first international test, and success was not long
Children’s Orchestra in Barquisimeto. When
in coming: Dudamel caused a great impact
the concert was over, the maestro talked to
among the Italians. It was then, in 1999, that he
Gustavo’s grandparents and told them: “I have
met the conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli, whom
to take him to Caracas for his advanced studhe thinks of as his first foreign mentor.
On the day of his First Communion
with his parents, Oscar Dudamel
and Solange Ramírez. At his nursery
school in his bullfighter’s costume.
With his wife, Eloísa Maturén
161
Between 1999 and 2003, Gustavo underwent an
amazing artistic baptismal fire that many great
orchestra conductors would like to have experienced, even at a later stage in their lives. His
school as a conductor was the renowned stages
of Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay,
Italy, France, and the United States, countries
where he had his first successes alongside the
Youth Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela and
the National Children’s Orchestra of Venezuela.
During those years, he met two of his most
fervent and consistent international supporters:
Claudio Abbado and Simon Rattle.
A prince in the orchestra kingdom
Engracia de Dudamel, his
grandmother and traveling
companion, and Daniel Vielma, his
childhood friend and collaborator.
With Maestro Abreu and Alejandro
Carreño, fellow member and
concertino of the SJVSB (center).
During a picnic in Los Angeles with
Eloísa, the film director Alberto
Arvelo, and the composer Nascuy
Linares
Modest, even when fans come up to ask for his
autograph, good-looking, with enviable youth
and freshness; that is Gustavo Dudamel and
fame has not changed him. That charisma and
his electrifying temperament, full of vitality
and energy, were his best calling cards at the
Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition 2004
in Bamberg, Germany, where he won the day
over 15 outstanding competitors from thirteen
countries, thanks to his excellent and passionate
conducting of pieces by Mahler, Schubert, and
the Venezuelan Aldemaro Romero (Fuga con
pajarillo), interpreted by the Bamberg Symphony
Orchestra. “I didn’t understand when they announced me as the winner because they were
speaking in German. All of a sudden people
started me and, at that moment I asked myself,
‘Could it be that I won?’” recalls Gustavo several
years after the experience that opened the doors
of all the world’s orchestras to him. The news
spread quickly: the new prince of orchestral
conducting had been born in Bamberg.
The year 2005 was a decisive year, the start
of a great artistic tour, which was not free of
unexpected quirks of fate, which, fortunately,
worked in Gustavo’s favor. Maestro Frans Brüggen fell ill, for example, and the organizers of
the International Beethoven Festival thought
of Dudamel to take his place to conduct the
London Philharmonic Orchestra. His performance was so spectacular that the Venezuelan
was awarded the “Beethoven Ring” as the best
162
conductor of the German composer’s Symphony
No. 5. In the ­summer of that same year, Dudamel
“fell in love” with the Gothenburg Symphony
Orchestra (and its musicians with him), and, one
year later, he was appointed principal conductor
of this Swedish orchestra, a position he was to
occupy starting in 2007. But the stellar performances and triumphs of that year did not end
there, Dudamel made his début with eight more
orchestras: the Berlin Philharmonic at the Royal
Festival Hall in London; the Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra in Tel Aviv; the Orchestra of the
Academy of Saint Cecilia, Rome; the Camerata
Salzburg; the National Philharmonic Orchestra
(Great Britain); the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra; the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra; and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and they all issued further invitations
for the coming years. Besides that, Dudamel
redoubled his efforts and conducted the SJVSB
in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Germany; and
the year was brought to a spectacular close with
an exclusive ten-year recording contract with
Deutsche Grammophon.
What came next is already history, still fresh in
the memories of his followers and, naturally, of
his closest observers: the music critics who try to
decipher the Dudamel phenomenon. Between
2006 and 2009, he added débuts with more
than 15 new orchestras to his belt, among them
the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra,
the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra ­(England), the Saxon State Orchestra of
­Dresden, the Gurzenich Orchestra of Cologne
(Germany), the Philharmonic Orchestra of La
Scala, Milan, and the Berlin State Opera with
which he conducted Donizetti’s L‘Elixir D’Amore.
But the great contract that was to bring some
calm to the whirlwind of engagements finally
came in 2007: he was appointed as the new
musical director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for five years starting in the 2009-2010
season. During those years, Dudamel was given
a monarch’s reception in the United States; he
conducted no fewer than four US orchestras
apart from the Los Angeles Philharmonic: the
Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony
Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic, and
he also took the SJVSB to Carnegie Hall, sharing
the podium with Rattle.
A much awaited appearance was Dudamel’s
début with the Berlin Philharmonic. That
­happened in 2008 before an audience of more
than 20,000 that filled Berlin’s prestigious concert
venue, the Waldbühne and was a great ­success.
The same year saw the launching of his third CD,
Fiesta, a collection of Latin American pieces.
Between 2008 and 2009, Dudamel ­appeared
in more than 15 countries, including Asia, and
his agenda is booked solid until 2016. Not to
be overlooked is an unprecedented event in
­Venezuela’s musical history: our young conductor and his SJVSB proved the popular saying that
“no one is a prophet in his own land” wrong when
they drew a crowd of more than 20,000 at the
Luis Aparicio Stadium in Maracaibo, Zulia state.
In cap and gown on the day he was awarded a doctorate honoris causa by
the Universidad del Zulia, accompanied by the university’s authorities
Accolades in crescendo
•
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•
It was precisely in Maracaibo that Gustavo
­Dudamel confessed before a distinguished audience of doctors and professors at Zulia University, which paid tribute to him by awarding him an
honorary doctorate: “I’m not a child prodigy or a
genius, much less the savior of classical music. I’m
just at the start of my career and I have to work
very hard to successfully complete all its stages,”
making it clear, once again, that there is little
danger of him “cutting” himself on the doubleedged sword of fame. And if there were any
doubt about his commitment to the System that
formed him, Dudamel dispelled it by saying, “I’m
aware of who I am and who I want to continue
to be.” To which we add, he will certainly want
to continue to be the most splendorous face of
a Venezuela that, with music, is eager to emerge
from the Caribbean Sea, the lofty mountains
of the Andes, the Amazonian forests, and the
­defiant plains of Florentino and the Devil; the
new paradigm of a country of luminous and
blessed men and women.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Finalist at the first Maazel/Vilar Conductor’s Competition (USA, 2004).
Winner of the first Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition held in
Bamberg (Germany, 2004).
Winner of the first “Beethoven Ring,” a prize created by the Society of
Friends of the Bonn International Beethoven Festival (Germany, 2005).
Prix de la Latinité, awarded by the Unión Latina. Dudamel was proposed
by 37 Latin American and African member states (France, 2007).
ECHO Music Award as “New Artist of the Year” (Germany, 2007).
Order of Francisco de Miranda bestowed by the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela (Venezuela, 2007).
Nominated for the Latin Grammy for the CD recorded and marketed
by Deustche Grammophon (USA, 2008).
Young Artist of the Year Award from the Royal Philharmonic Society,
London (England, 2008).
Doctorate (Honoris Causa) from Universidad Centro Occidental
“­Lisandro Alvarado,” Barquisimeto, Lara state (Dudamel is the youngest
person to have received an honorary doctorate in this university’s entire
history. Venezuela, 2008).
World Leader, elected by the World Economic Forum from among 230
outstanding young people from all parts of the world (Switzerland, 2009).
Ranked among the 100 most influential personalities in the world by the
American magazine Time (USA, 2009).
Classical BRIT Award to the best male artist of the year (England, 2009).
Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (France, 2009).
Saeculum Prize (Germany, 2009).
Receives an award at the Royal Albert Hall in London for his CD Fiesta
(England, 2009).
Doctorate (Honoris Causa) from Universidad del Zulia (Venezuela, 2010).
Starred in the documentary “Dudamel, El Sonido de los Niños” by the
Venezuelan filmmaker Alberto Arvelo (Venezuela, 2011).
163
Dudamel’s debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, 2009
Dazzling,
energetic, and brilliant
rom the second half of the 20th century,
around the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the fingers
on both hands sufficed to count the names
of the batons that were given column space
as the leitmotiv by classical music critics. The
prestigious magazines (Le Monde de la Musique, ­Classical Review, Gramophone, Beckmesser,
­Filomúsica, Classic Voice, Classical Music, and so
on) and the major dailies of the world’s cultural
capitals reproduced year after year the names
of Herbert Von Karajan, Claudio Abbado,
Carlos Kleiber, Sergiu Celibidache, Daniel
Barenboim, Simon Rattle, Zubin Mehta, Lorin
Maazel, R
­ iccardo Muti, Aldo Ceccato, Leonard
­Bernstein, Bruno Walter… and that was it.
But –who dares doubt it?- the critics lavished
their favoritism on some and meted ­­­­­­out ­lashings
to others, in particular to the polemical and
always defiant Von Karajan, for example, known
both for his genius and for his rudeness and
­eccentricity. And as they say in journalistic circles,
critics help to make stars but they also cause them
to tumble. In short, despite the prolific creativity
of those times, there was not a single ­personality
among those mentioned who managed to
achieve the wholehearted consensus of the critics.
However the time had not come for the critics
to raise their voices as one in an unequivocal
tone of praise. That time was reserved for our
Gustavo Dudamel, an unknown Venezuelan,
164
unassuming, a South American who came out
of nowhere with his contagious C
­ aribbean spirit, free and authentic, without, apparently, having
undergone artistic baptismal fire, b­ ringing
delight to the competition for young conductors in Bamberg and sweeping to victory against
the favorites, his Japanese, English, I­ talian,
German, and French rivals. He erupted on the
scene like an unexpected hurricane causing a
whirlwind of passions and a media frenzy from
which the feared critics and journalists of the art
and culture pages of the world’s most influential
newspapers did not manage to escape.
Here is a brief sampling of that frenzy unleashed in
the early days of the career of a Gustavo Dudamel
who, as he himself puts it whenever he speaks to
the press, has before him the challenge of “maintaining the success achieved thus far.” He has talent
and capacity to spare; all he lacks are years.
Presence, magic, and joy
“This prodigy does not have the air of one who
is merely gifted. He has the air of knowing his
métier like a seasoned veteran - he’s already ten
years into his career - and he has something
indefinable yet undeniable: presence. He has
panache, but is no show-off . . . One has every
indication here of a conductor who is no longer
in the early stage of his artistic calling.”
(Le Monde, Paris, November 2005)
“A new star is born, and his name is Gustavo
Dudamel (…) It has been a very long time since
I found myself so deeply and profoundly moved
by any musician as I was by this one. He gave a
mesmerizing reading of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony.
Everything was there: an electrifying musical tension, overwhelming energy, and a masterly technique of the first order. With a musical language
that immediately brings to mind the ­legendary
Leonard Bernstein… Dudamel ­manages to get
the musicians to play like demons.”
(Omer Shomrony, The Jerusalem Post,
March 2005)
“Anyone who has listened to or watched young
Gustavo Dudamel conducting Mahler’s Fifth
Symphony has surely felt that the world of
orchestral conducting has gained a great star.
This young man has a ton of talent, charisma,
enthusiasm, and love of music. Such capacity is
not something merely learned; it is a gift of God
that has been developed over time. The Philharmonic Orchestra of Israel played as though
it were a great lighted torch (…) The musicians
were enthusiastic and seemed to be hypnotized
before the young conductor, who molded the
meaning of all the sounds with each phrase.”
(Ora Binur, Maariv Newspaper, March 2005)
“In his U.S. debut (…), a 24-year-old conductor
from Venezuela with curly hair, long sideburns
and a baby face accomplished something
increasingly rare and difficult at the Hollywood
Bowl. He got a normally restive audience’s full,
immediate and rapt attention. And he kept it.
With the opening bars of Silvestre Revueltas’
“La Noche de los Mayas,” the party sitting next
to me put aside its just-opened giant bag of
Cheetos and forgot about it until intermission.
Once into this arresting depiction of a night of
the Maya’s revelry and enchantment, once the
percussion department’s battery of drums got
to beating and a conch shell called the Maya to
carousing, the crowd clapped and whooped.
That’s not just rare but a downright wonder at
the Bowl on the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s
classical Tuesday and Thursday programs.”
(Los Angeles Times, September 2005)
“Dudamel appeared at the Hollywood Bowl as
the guest baton “conducting the Los Angeles
Philharmonic in a program of Russian and
Hungarian music (…) He is, as I am certain
everyone in the auditorium instantly realized, a
phenomenon. No classes in music appreciation
are necessary to recognize this kind of charisma,
which has laws of its own (…) Like (Carlos)
Kleiber, Dudamel does not appear to be leading
the orchestra (…) He is the orchestra.”
(Los Angeles Times, January 2007)
“Gustavo Dudamel is the System’s most brilliant
baton.”
(El País, Spain, August 2007)
“Dudamel conducted a blazing Mahler Fifth.
From the opening trumpet fanfares, which he
had painstakingly shaped in rehearsal, one sensed
a real performance was in store. The huge orchestral eruption after the funeral march, frightening
but superbly played and balanced, still rever­
berates in the mind. … Wherever ­Dudamel turns
up next, it will be worth the voyage.”
(Financial Times, May 2007)
“True class: South America’s lightning conductor… what I experienced was sensational. His
name is Gustavo Dudamel… he produced
enough electricity to light up Birmingham… a
young man with boundless talent, deeply in love,
and the world at his feet.”
(The Times, London 2007)
His gestures and choreography transmit tremendous energy that moves audiences of all kinds
165
“…When the concerts of a foreign youth orchestra, with an extremely young conductor, are
sold out everywhere six months in advance, it
means that a great event is in the offing… A new
and luminous name is hovering on the horizon:
Gustavo Dudamel. The orchestra is the Simón
Bolívar Venezuelan Youth Symphony Orchestra… and it carries his conductor on admirably
musical angels’ wings…”
(Peter Bilsing, Der Neue Merker, Germany,
August 2007)
“…The world of classical music is setting him up
as some kind of savior - do we need one? - and
the hype machine is at full throttle. One can’t
help but worry a little about the crush of it all on
this diminutive, innocent-looking, floppy-haired
young man, but once he steps on the podium
all seems well. (…) Dudamel is an immensely
talented, electric performer. His youth shows
in his gung-ho style; his maturity, in making it
work. (…) Dudamel is fun to watch. The energy
he brings to the music is apparent, and it works
up through his body and shoots out his hair. But,
in his motions at least, he is more Carlos Kleiber
than Leonard Bernstein. There is method here,
an incisive baton style that dissects the music,
uncovering details and nuance rather than
merely encouraging them.
(Timothy Mangan, The Orange County
­Register, Los Angeles, November 2007)
“For some time now, the great orchestras of
the world have been fighting over the curlyheaded 27-year-old Venezuelan. His début with
the Berlin Philharmonic at the Waldbühne
166
before 20,000 spectators is tantamount to
being knighted. The Spanish-Latin American
program, which is an introduction to Dudamel’s
homeland, captivated the audience...”
(Berliner Morgenpost, Germany, June 2008)
“There was a drop or two of rain (…) but when
the conductor Gustavo Dudamel appeared on
stage, even the sky gave a bow. The 27-year-old
Venezuelan is one of the young stars of the
world of classical music. He is the most famous
scion of a program, one of a kind, for f­ urthering
the music of his country. Always fresh, he is
once again touring the world with the Simón
Bolívar Orchestra, which he has conducted
since 1999, to storms of applause. Now his
début with the Berlin Philharmonic has
definitely put him in the league of the world’s
most sought after conductors. The Berliners
did not make things difficult for him, because
the Spanish and Latin pieces have accompanied
Dudamel since childhood (…) The young musician conducted with fresh, marked gestures, he
leapt in the air, and lost no opportunity cause an
effect: the music sparkled, blazed, resounded,
and reverberated. The members of the Philharmonic suddenly reacted, no Prussian stuffiness
in sight. A veritable rejoicing of applause, shouts,
and whistles…”
(Thomas Vitzthum, Germany, June 2008)
“This 28-year-old Venezuela could be the first
star to shine in 21st century orchestral con­
ducting (…) Classical music is hemmed in
by the dictatorship of clichés. For those who
think that this is a lost world in the hands of the
initiated, the pedantic and the elitist, Gustavo
Dudamel’s smile is like an open window. For
those who believe that sopranos should be fat,
pianists romantic, and conductors of orchestras
irascible, circumspect, despotic individuals with
not the slightest sense of humor, the ­personality
of ­Dudamel would leave them speechless. He
puts on no airs. He is capable of getting the
audience off their feet and dancing the mambo.
He has some of that lively, fun-loving blood in
his veins that his father, Oscar, managed to hand
down to him from his years as a trombone player
with several Latin orchestras in Venezuela. So,
Gustavo believes, more than anything else, that
music is happiness, emotion, and something
else: a calling to change the world. But, besides
that, he has sufficient character to dominate an
incredible wave of sound and energy from 200
musicians, all under 25, in a single auditorium.”
(Jesús Ruíz Mantilla, El Mundo, Spain 2009)
On the up and up
Following his performances, in
the summer of 2010, of a concert
version of Bizet’s Carmen with
the Los ­Angeles Philharmonic at
the ­Hollywood Bowl and Verdi’s
La ­Traviata in Caracas, Gustavo
Dudamel did a season with the
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (2010-2011). He also took up
another invitation from the Vienna
Philharmonic, with which he made
a European tour that culminated at
the Musikverein in Vienna, did his
second season with the Los Angeles
Philharmonic, including a gala
concert presenting the Peruvian tenor
Juan Diego Flórez that was broadcast
internationally by PBS. Then he
appeared at La Scala in Milan, where
he conducted nine performances
of Bizet’s Carmen. To complete his
­successful 2010 agenda, he conducted
the Berlin Philharmonic in a series of
concerts with opera themes together
with the soprano Elina Garanca, culminating with the New Year’s concert,
which was broadcast live.
In January and February 2011,
Dudamel focused on conducting
the Los Angeles Philharmonic on its
first international tour with him as its
musical director, making appearances
in Lisbon, Madrid, Cologne, London,
Paris, Budapest, and Vienna. Then,
also with the LA Phil, he conducted
the “Brahms Unbound Festival,” a
series of seven concerts at which he
performed the Brahms symphonic
repertoire together with the début
of recently commissioned pieces, in
addition to concerts with a varied
repertoire that included works such
as the Turangalila-Symphonie by
­ essiaen and pieces by Bruckner,
M
Gorecki, Gubaidulina, Lieberson,
Mackey, Schumann, Shostakovich,
Takemitsu, and Weber.
In April 2011, he made a tour of Sweden with the Gothenburg Symphony
Orchestra and then returned to the
Berlin Philharmonic for two weeks
to conduct it in Berlin and at the
Salzburg Easter Festival. In June, he
undertook a “marathon” tour of South
America, the “Bicentennial Tour,” with
his Simón Bolívar Venezuelan Youth
Symphony Orchestra giving a series
of 14 concerts that started in Caracas
and continued in Salvador de Bahia,
São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil),
Buenos Aires (Argentina), Montevideo (Uruguay), Santiago de Chile
(Chile), and Bogotá (Colombia).
167
Duda-mania
has its angels
ortraying him with a smile on his face, curly
haired, and his arm outstretched holding a
baton, the posters with the new conductor of
the Los Angeles Philharmonic are to be found
by the dozen on walls and billboards all over the
city. That same open, shining face of Gustavo
­Dudamel travels the streets and avenues on
buses, festoons the marquees of theaters around
the world, and welcomes visitors at all the centers
of the System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras throughout Venezuela. What’s this all about?
It’s quite simply “Duda-mania.”
While in past (London, 2007; New York, 2008;
and Berlin, 2009) there had already been clear
demonstrations of appreciation and affection
for our young conductor, from souvenirs to
advertising slogans, it was in Los Angeles that
­“Duda-mania” went really to town: “Dudamel,
vibrant,” “Dudamel, passion,” “Gustavo, energy,”
are some of the phrases on the posters fêting his
And in Los Angeles, Dudamel already has his
nicknames just like any other idol. They call him
“Gustavo the Great,” “Gustavíssimo,” “The Dude”
or “GD.” But much of this phenomenon has
168
been created by the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s
publicity machine, which really pushed the boat
out in October 2009 and energetically promoted the début of their young eleventh musical
director so that no one would miss the event,
which was to end with a fireworks display.
On October 3, 2009, in a preview to the official
gala reception, more than 18,000 people enjoyed
a five-hour concert at the Hollywood Bowl
entitled “¡Bienvenido Gustavo!”, at which he was
accompanied by other artists, among them the
young Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodríguez, Herbie
Hancock, and Flea, a member of the Red Hot
Chili Peppers.
On that memorable evening in his artistic career,
Dudamel made his first appearance accompanied by about a hundred children of the YOLA
Center’s young orchestra, created based on the
same philosophy as the System’s, to perform Ode
to Joy from the last movement of Beethoven’s
Ninth Symphony. Shortly afterwards, the young
musicians were replaced by the grownups of the
LAP with a choir of 200 voices and four soloists.
A red carpet
in Hollywood
It would not do for Dudamel’s
gala début on October 8, 2007, at the Walt
­Disney Concert Hall, the home of the Philharmonic, to be less dazzling than an evening to
celebrate the Oscar awards. Nor was it: a parade
of patrons and philanthropists and stars from
all the arts walked down the red carpet to later
enjoy the concert, which lasted until midnight.
Afterwards, the guests gathered together at an
open-air dinner to the strains of Latin music, salsa
to be more precise, which Dudamel and his wife
Eloisa danced superbly.
Accompanying Dudamel that evening were
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Don Johnson,
Dana Delany, Courtney B. Vance and Angela
Bassett, the architect Frank Gehry, the conductor John Williams, the movie director Gary
Marshall, and legends of the big screen Anne
Jeffries, Anne Rutherford, the musician and
producer Quincy Jones, and Sidney Poitier, who
went up to Dudamel to congratulate him and to
introduce themselves to the young Venezuelan,
who, just days before, had received a letter of
welcome from President Barak Obama and his
wife Michelle.
Naturally, the biggest fans in Dudamel’s life
could not be absent from such an event: his
parents, Oscar and Solange Dudamel, and his
tutor, maestro, and artistic father, José Antonio
Abreu. Many other Latin personalities were also
there, because the hiring of Dudamel by this
prestigious international orchestra has, to some
extent, encouraged the Latin public to take a
greater interest in concerts and attracted a larger
Latin audience.
But “Duda-mania” has had even greater repercussions that have impacted the business world
of the arts. At the end of April 2010, Dudamel
caused quite a stir when he decided to change his
agent and leave Askonas Holt, the agency that
had been handling his engagements since 2004,
or thereabouts. Van Walsum, an agency that
also has its head offices in London, fought to get
Dudamel to join it and leave its rival, Askonas
Holt, without the most promising client on its
list, which includes musicians of the stature of
Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, John Eliot
Gardiner, and Bernard Haitink.
There is no doubt that Dudamel is already a
personality who is shaping up as a sure target
for marketing and advertising worldwide. Just
approaching 30, he has virtues that can take him
along the path of popularity and fame for the
next 15 years at least, something the big brands
will want to take advantage of. He preserves
the freshness and happiness of a “face that sells,”
and, as though that were not enough, his image
is associated with children and young people, a
strategic segment that guarantees the promotion
of a large number of products.
Even his physical appearance is a plus. His
halo of elegance, status, and increasing prestige ensures companies such as Rolex and its
­luxurious watches full brand identification. In
fact, a month after his début as the conductor of
the Los ­Angeles Philharmonic, in November
2010, Dudamel became the new image of these
magnificent pieces of jewelry, along with other
famous artists.
Dressed impeccably in a tuxedo, his hair shining
and slicked back, and, of course, wearing an
expensive Rolex on his wrist, the photo in the advert makes Dudamel look like a perfect model.
To mark the launching of the new image, during
a concert conducted by the Venezuelan baton,
the gift the company made was not a watch,
unfortunately, but a beautiful bracelet.
But “Duda-mania” does not end there. Pink’s,
the popular hotdog and hamburger chain,
has named one of its hotdog recipes Gustavo
Dudamel, and while the ingredients are not
entirely Venezuelan, people ask for it and enjoy
it very much. Even the Los Angeles Lakers have
designed a t-shirt with his name.
169
Interviews out loud
rom many stages around the world emerges
the lustrous voice of a young man; he raises his
breath as though it encompasses the air above
the souls gathered together to listen and enjoy
his heartbeat; and he gives flight to his angel,
which touches more and more audiences.
But his other voice is more personal and secret.
We have attempted to put together a route map
with fragments of testimonies given by Gustavo
Dudamel as a way of traveling in his company
and getting to know him out in the light of day,
without the backdrop of the theaters and the
paraphernalia that usually accompanies him
as a conductor. As dreams take no account of
distances, getting to know Dudamel from what
he has said, how and where he said is allowed
and we will be able to see him conduct himself
in his other score, his life.
I
Did you ever think that you’d get a job like
being the musical director of the Los Angeles
Philharmonic?
It’s funny, because for me conducting has been
natural right from the start. I fell in love with
170
that guy standing in front of an orchestra telling
the musicians how to play… I started to direct
because the conductor was late, and after that,
everything’s happened naturally, all this, the
Mahler competition… I was 17 when
I conducted the Simón Bolívar Orchestra, and
I started to conduct when I was 12. It came as a
great surprise, a dream, not only to me, Gustavo
Dudamel, personally, but also to the Venezuelan
project. Conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic is an honor, very exciting.
How did you react when you found out?
I thought, ‘My God! The Los Angeles Philharmonic! One of the most important orchestras
in the United States where famous conductors
such as Carlo María, Giulini and Zubin Mehta
have gone before… The fact that they called on
a 26-year-old Venezuela was beautiful. It was so
beautiful because I’d only played twice in Los
Angeles, the first time in 2005, and then again
in January 2008 (for the Hollywood Bowl).
Normally when they call on a musician to be
musical director there’s been a long relationship,
years of working together… I remember the first
time, the first note we played together; there
was a good connection.
What plans do you have for the
­Philharmonic?
I think the most important thing is to have fun
and enjoy it. When you love what you do, you
can do very special things, magical things, and
I think it will be a marvelous season. We have
lots of ideas… A very important one is the social
program we want to start with the Los Angeles
Youth Orchestra, for example, which comes
from Venezuela’s System. That’s something I find
exciting, exporting what we have in my country.
Have you any ideas for giving a Latin or
­Venezuelan flavor to the music you’ll be
­conducting?
Of course. There’s a touch of Venezuelan and
Latin soul in all my pieces of Beethoven, Mahler,
Mozart, and Brahms. I think that’s the secret:
preserving your identity, your soul. I feel it’s very
important to show the public and the orchestra
what we’ve got. Obviously, our program will
include Latin composers; that’s normal. But the
important thing is how we make music, how we
enjoy it, having fun, creating magic moments at
each concert we give.
II
Critics around the world praise your way of
conducting, what do you think makes you
different from other conductors?
I don’t know. I work very hard and I’m not an
irascible conductor. I’m not like the idea people
have of a conductor as a grouchy person, certainly not! I’m an amiable person, open to ideas.
What does being a complete artist mean, in
your opinion?
What being a complete artist means is relative
because I’ve seen the teachers with whom I’ve
studied, who are already 70 or 80, and they still
study scores as though it were for the first time.
They are people who are in their twilight years
and they carry on studying. I think that there
are no limits when it comes to music. If you’re
­thinking about being a complete artist, you’re
always going to be bettering yourself.
Panorama. Maracaibo, 2005.
(Interviewers: B. Guarisma and M. Contreras)
What do miss about Venezuela?
Everything! I miss the warmth of the people;
the Venezuelan’s effervescence, not being able
to stop. Venezuela is in constant motion! My
country’s a country full of future, it’s an optimistic country, and that’s something I take with me
everywhere I go.
After all these successes, what dreams do you
still have?
I wanted to be a musician, I wanted to be a
conductor, I wanted to work with the greatest
orchestras; and here I am. My dream is to maintain this, to carry on doing what I love most.
Do you have any specific goals?
I’ve got goals for every day. It’s fun because my
agenda is full until 2014 or 2015. But you live a day
at a time and think about what you want to do the
next day. It’s something that evolves a day at a time.
AP, 2009.
Always natural and unassuming in his dealings with the media
171
Wow! Ideas, lots of ideas, for a start, because, in
music -and this is an idea I’ve always maintainedyou have the score, which is simply the riverbed,
the bit of land over which the water flows. To my
way of thinking, music is that river, always changing. And in the case of Latin America, we can
talk of a river that, even though it’s existed all this
time, is being born or reborn now, with a special
energy, with impetus, with a desire to improve
and perfect a lot of things. That’s precisely what
I try to do with my orchestra and, of course, with
all the others with which I’m working; with that
energy, that Rolando Villazón refers to when he
talks of “balls”; with that passion, that hot blood
that we associate with everything Latin.
Dudamel loves to know all the details of the concerts
With your first CD, dedicated to Beethoven,
you paid tribute to your family, including your
uncle for that present that influenced you so
Rattle has said that you are the best trained con- much.
ductor he has ever known. That’s impressive.
You’re talking about the score of the Fifth
Of course, but he says that because he’s very
Symphony, right? I personally consider it to be a
­generous, and we’re very fond of one another.
tribute to my family, who gave me the opportuI have to say this about Simon, he’s a very special nity to be a musician; also to my teachers who
person from whom I’ve learned a great deal
taught me music, and to the entire System, for
and whom I have to thank for the time and
everything it teaches about humanity; in short,
­knowledge he has given me.
a tribute to mankind. It’s possible to do that
with Beethoven, because he’s so complete that
At the moment, given your position in the
he captures the understanding of one having a
world of music, you’ll be forced to take fredestiny and the knowledge to fulfill that destiny
quent and long absences from your orchestra in a work like the Fifth Symphony, which to some
to work with others.
extent materializes transcendence. There are
I’ve got a lot of work engagements, but I try not two ways you can interpret this symphony:
to play abroad during the four or five months
man either overcomes destiny or he learns to
of the year I ought to be working with my
live with it. That’s the dilemma it faces you with.
orchestra in Venezuela. Apart from that, in 2007, Beethoven, his music, is a tribute to mankind. I
I’ll be starting as the principle conductor of the
speak for myself and on behalf of the orchestra
Swedish National Orchestra in Gothenburg,
which, after all, is what one hears on the CD. All
to which I will also have to devote part of my
I’ve done is to work with them, putting forward
agenda. But the project in Venezuela, from the
ideas until we reached an agreement, which is
artistic and social viewpoints, is very important the wonderful part about music. Having clarito me, because that’s where I came from; it’s not fied that point, I think that we pay tribute to
just another orchestra, it’s my family.
music itself for having been capable of changing
our lives; for having helped us to understand
Marcelo Álvarez says that his generation of
that there is a path we can follow, while at the
Latin voices brings heart to opera. Villazón is same time managing to make those around us
more direct and talks of “balls.” What does a
feel good.
Latin American have to say about symphonic
music?
III
172
Dudamel in 2004, when the flood of engagements was just starting
Is Gustavo Dudamel’s future tied to his country and will he return there to continue his
work despite his commitments?
Yes, definitely. I don’t see it as a commitment.
It’s my reason for living. Venezuela gave me the
opportunity to get to know music and, through
music, to make my life what it is today. And
that’s why I’m here now, to give the Orchestra
everything I’m learning and to grow with them,
because I don’t talk about the Orchestra as a
group of musicians, but as my family.
Scherzo Nº 212. Spain, 2006.
(By Juan Antonio Llorente)
IV
Rhythm, energy, is that what you, in
­Venezuela, have to contribute to an overly
rigid world, the world of classical music?
We have just demonstrated that utopias can
happen. Ours seemed impossible. No one
expected classical music to become a weapon
for social change, but what Maestro Abreu has
done with the orchestras, rescuing children
from poverty and exclusion through music,
shows that it is possible, and to a very high level.
Today, music saves the lives of many youngsters
in my country. Thanks to that training, they have
become tomorrow’s audiences as well.
173
You are the symbol of that entire system. Do
you find so much success at such an early age to
be a burden? Isn’t it too much responsibility?
No, on the contrary, it’s a wonderful respon­
sibility, something very important. It makes
me very proud. But I have to stress that it isn’t a
matter of one person, but of many people. I’m
a dragonfly in that universe of the System of
Orchestras.
be achieved. It teaches us humility and to help
our neighbor, to fall in love with music and with
those around us.
You mean your theory of the river?
Exactly. The structure is a riverbed. We have
to bring the interpretation, the water, which is
always going to be different, is always changing.
And not to fear strong emotions?
No, just cry for joy. Children shouldn’t cry because they’re hungry, because they’ve seen death,
murder, violence; children should cry for joy and
for no other reason.
There we have miracles like the White
Hands Choir, where deaf and dumb children
interpret music. Does that mean a desire to do
away with boundaries?
Some of those children go on tour with us. Also,
when you see a blind eight-year-old from a very
A great conductor must be able to hear music poor home playing the piano and you ask him
who taught him, and he says, no one, that he
inside his head as well.
You know, that’s what happens to me. I’m talking learned on his own, you sense something divine,
something you feel deep inside. You have
to someone and I’m hearing music in my head.
Each of us conductors has to bring our own sen- to open the channel for the message of
sitivity to the work; that’s what gives it structure. the impossible.
Also as something that builds human beings,
something that contributes values. What does El País. Spain, 2008.
(By Jesús Ruíz Mantilla)
the System teach you in that sense?
It teaches us to hope, to dream about what can
174
V
VI
Your image is that of a model. Not everyone
can be Dudamel, but everyone would like to
be. What do you see in that wonderful pool
of kids?
I part from the premise that a conductor without an orchestra is nobody. You need the human
component, you need the musicians. I don’t
think Dudamel’s important. I’m just another
member; I’m simply a dragonfly in that universe.
I know I’m the image of a role model, but
that’s not me, it’s the System. Because what has
spread beyond our borders is the message of the
System as an artistic and social rescue program;
that has meant that such a distant art –such as
academic music- now belongs to us.
Mentor, tutor and teacher, what do you still
have to learn, academically?
You never stop learning about art. It’s like when
you conduct Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, an
extremely well-known piece. You conduct it for
the first time and the next time you discover
details you hadn’t notice the first time.
Apparently you are at a summit, I say
­apparently because you have assumed that
leadership role with extraordinary hu­mility.
In other words, you are in a position to say
something to others. What would your
­message be to the country, to young people?
I think the most important thing we need to
focus on is values, the value of life. A young
person should be capable of valuing his life and
his surroundings, that’s the most important
thing. What’s done most harm to our country is
self-denigration, when we say: we’re no good at
anything and I’ve got to go elsewhere in order to
be someone. We have to value being citizens of
a country that has a tremendous future and we
have to work for that with a lot of discipline and
dream, because you have to dream. We have to
dream things beyond the limits of our dreams
and work for them. We have a beautiful country
for which we have to fight.
Do you read the reviews of the concerts you
conduct?
From time to time. In Israel, the orchestra’s
musicians would come up to me really excited,
because the reviews said that they’d rarely
sounded with such energy. The reviews are not
only for me, they’re for the musicians as well. I’d
be walking the streets and I’d see them on the
publicity boards.
What about the negative reviews?
You disregard the negative ones, I mean the
ones that have a negative intent in the sense that
they make you feel bad instead of helping you
to progress. Here in Venezuela I’ve had more
bad reviews than good, but those reviews have
not made me grow, they haven’t made me think
about the mistake I made so as to change it,
they’ve been destructive. That’s why I haven’t read
them. But people always mention them to me.
El Nacional. Caracas, 2005.
(By Olivia Liendo)
Television program José Vicente Hoy. Televen,
Caracas, 2009.
(Interviewer: José Vicente Rangel)
Out in the world, Dudamel encourages children and young people to become more aware
175
Painting a portrait
with testimonies
udamel is the most astonishingly gifted
conductor I’ve come across. If he has free
time again we’ll try to have him back in Berlin,
but I think he has before him a career that will
follow him very swiftly, so Venezuelans should
enjoy him while they have him, because the best
venues in the music world will try to steal him
from them.”
(Simon Rattle, Conductor, Berlin Philharmonic.
Germany, 2005)
“I think that Gustavo Dudamel is a very special
musician… What is needed in music nowadays is
this feeling of transformation, and Dudamel, with
his Venezuelan orchestra, manages it completely.”
(Marina Mahler, granddaughter of the composer Gustav Mahler. Germany, 2006)
“Selecting Gustavo Dudamel as being worthy of
the first Beethoven Ring was very easy because,
quite simply, he is a marvelous conductor, a
very attractive and talented person. And it’s not
just that he has a good technique, he also has a
musical soul.”
(Michael Ladenburger, Chairman of the
Beethoven-Haus Society. Germany, 2006)
“… Dudamel knows Mahler’s Symphony No. 5
very well and conveys that. He conducts each
member of his orchestra impressively and they
follow him perfectly. He’s a major music figure
despite his young age.”
176
(Jürg Reinshagen, Chairman of the Lucerne
Festival Board of Trustees. Switzerland, 2007)
“The fact that Dudamel has been chosen by
the Royal Philharmonic Society for its Music
Award for Young Artists 2007 is a confirmation of Gustavo’s immense artistic talent and
his ­stellar international career. He is already
an archetype and emblem of Latin American
musical youth… a world model for the new
generation of musicians (…) who daily brings
more glory to his country, gaining loftier and
more outstanding positions in the world of
symphonic music. From the moment I met
Gustavo, when he was still a child, I knew that
his future was one of broad horizons.”
(José Antonio Abreu, tutor and teacher.
­Venezuela, 2007)
“Gustavo Dudamel is music; he’s life, he’s
everything. He is incomparable. I hadn’t heard
Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 interpreted like that
since Bernstein…”
(Marcel Quillévéré, Artistic Director of the
Geneva Chamber Orchestra. Switzerland, 2007)
“Gustavo Dudamel is a messiah who comes
from the New World overflowing with talent,
energy, quality, and naturalness.”
(Martha Argerich, pianist. Japan, 2008)
“Gustavo Dudamel is an extraordinary musician.
It is because of his total commitment and the relationship he establishes with the musicians that
he manages to produce such a magical sound.”
(Seiji Ozawa, conductor. Japan, 2008)
“Venezuelans should be proud of a musician like
Gustavo Dudamel, whom I admire so much.”
(Placido Domingo, singer and conductor.
Venezuela, 2009)
“I think an atmosphere exists for Gustavo
Dudamel to change musical history… He has
an ability to communicate the passionate and
vital part of music in a very 21st century manner.
­Dudamel is extremely demanding and very
intense when he conducts, but he is also cheerful and a lot of fun (…) The musicians come and
ask me if they can rehearse more. I’ve never seen
them so happy.”
(Deborah Borda, President of the Los Angeles
Philharmonic. United States of America, 2009)
“Gustavo Dudamel is extraordinary, he’s magnificent, he’s great…”
(Claudio Abbado, conductor. Caracas, 2010)
“I think Gustavo will bring a new approach
to the Los Angeles Philharmonic… First and
foremost, diversity.”
(Quincy Jones, composer and musical
­producer. United States, 2010)
“Gustavo has boundless talent, but his development depends solely on his will and discipline.
He can do what he wants and go as far as he
wants, but he should not forget that talent
is only our alphabet, and that knowing the
alphabet is not sufficient to be able to read Don
Quixote. He must have the strength and the will
to learn from his own reflections on music.”
(Daniel Barenboim, conductor)
With the conductor Seiji Osawa
Music and stagecraft
Javier Vidal
The first thing about Dudamel that
seduces me is the way his main musical object –his body- dominates the
stage. Dudamel knows that, when he
stands before a symphony orchestra,
his image is the show’s dramatic
thread and the writing of his body
language is the doubly-hypnotic spell
of seeing and listening cast on the
captivating –and at times dark– posture of the spectator. Dudamel has
the joy of a Bach in his smile and the
piquancy of a Mozart in his eyes; the
romantic ingenuity of a Beethoven in
his invisible punches at the refulgent
brass section, and the mathematical
discipline of a Mahler standing erect
before the tempered strings of the
violins; the shoulders of a Bernstein
for moving his Mambo along with
the hips of a Mehta for Revueltas’s
Danzón; the hair of a Stokowski with
which to chisel Ducas’s woodwinds, Maazel’s exact raising of the
eyebrows for Pendericki’s soft voices
or Béla Lugosi’s magic “yes” for the
fantastic keyboards of an equally
fantastic Bartok. All that stagecraft,
all that presence with the rhythm
of a Caribbean sea that comes and
goes, rises and falls, is born and dies
in the deepest essence of man: music.
Music to listen to with the skin and
muscles of Saint Gabriel Archangel,
with the heart and kidneys, with
the body in constant motion, to
see it openmouthed gulping down
demisemiquavers and pauses; at the
corners of the mouth in the faint tension of the adagios; in the Achilles’
heel that fled from blessed waters to
turn them into pasture for mortals;
to be dragged by a wave of irra­
tionality where all emotions merge
and blend, to then emerge from the
depths to become sublimated in his
kinetic baton. Dudamel is the show
of symphonic music. Dudamel is
music and stagecraft.
(Actor, Director, Playwright, and
Journalist)
177
A private pre-concert ritual before going out on stage: Eloisa Maturén gives a feminine touch to her acclaimed husband
With Bernstein’s magic baton
Eloisa Maturén de Dudamel
Leonard Bernstein was one of the
most emblematic musicians of all
time, his qualities were infinite.
He was outstanding not only as
a conductor but also as a composer, ­pianist, and, of course, his
well remembered foray as a speaker
and e­ ducator. There is absolutely
no doubt that his life revolved
around music, and its facets were so
numerous that it seems impossible
to imagine that a man could have
energy to live each of those “musical
lives” as intensely as he always did.
178
The first time Bernstein came to
everyone’s notice was in 1943,
when, without a prior rehearsal, he
conducted the New York Philharmonic in the place of Bruno Walter,
who was indisposed. That concert
was televised right across America
and the next day Leonard was a true
national hero. Later, he became that
same orchestra’s musical director
and remained there for many years,
in what has been acknowledged as
one of the most fruitful orchestraconductor relationships of all time.
Leonard Bernstein holds the title
of Laureate Conductor of the New
York Philharmonic, a way of immortalizing his career.
Lenny, as his friends called him, left
a profound mark on the New York
Philharmonic, and Avery Fisher Hall,
the orchestra’s home in New York’s
Lincoln Center, is still covered today
with photos and mementos of the
maestro. The theaters archives are
full of objects that belonged to him,
scores and other paraphernalia that
are revered by the world’s musicians
and music lovers. In fact, I always
say that one of my biggest frustrations is not having had the chance to
meet him. To me, he’s like an unreal
almost fairy-tale character. And here
is where I get to the point of my story.
It happened during Gustavo’s début
with that same New York Philharmonic. One of the memorable
moments that week was when, during
a break in the rehearsals, he had the
opportunity to visit the orchestra’s
archives and relive history by perusing
the scores. He is, of course, a huge
fan of Bernstein’s and he had a real
feast with everything he found there:
scores analyzed with pinpoint accuracy, philosophical essays, even a photograph Leonard kept as a souvenir
of a visit to Venezuela with his New
York orchestra. The picture shows
Lenny attired in a white liquiliqui
(traditional Venezuelan dress) and
with an enormous glass of whisky in
his hand, totally blending with the
environment (all that was missing was
a tequeño! – a local appetizer). The
days passed and it was time for the
first concert. The week’s rehearsals
had been magnificent and expectations couldn’t have been higher.
Just minutes before the show, while
Gustavo was hurriedly getting
dressed, embracing everyone who
dropped into the dressing room,
he went to greet Barbara Haws, the
person in charge of the archives and
with whom he’d been a few days
earlier digging into the orchestra’s
past. After greeting Gustavo warmly,
Haws announced her surprise:
“We’ve decided to lend you one of
Leonard’s batons for you to conduct
this week’s concerts, if you’d like.
Gustavo, hovering between stupefaction and excitement, grasped hold of
the baton as though it were a treasure
and rushed out of the room in the
direction of the podium. Now, let’s
try to imagine for a second what
something like that would mean for
any one of us. For me, I thought, it
would be as though someone had
lent me Margot Fonteyn’s ballet
shoes or Gabo’s typewriter or word
processor. The maestro conducted
the entire concert with the borrowed
baton in a state of euphoria and at the
end the entire audience gave him a
standing ovation for his interpretation. The next day, the success of the
concert and, of course, the matter of
the legendary baton had made the
news everywhere.
The complete series of concerts
included four repetitions of the same
program. The baton had functioned
marvelously. Gustavo himself
commented that the sensation was
profoundly natural, as though it had
always been his. For those of you who
are not familiar with a baton, it looks,
at first sight, like a wand. It can be
made of wood or a synthetic material, be heavier or lighter, shorter or
longer, have a handle of cork or wood
that is either rounded or elongated…
The baton that Gustavo had the
opportunity to use and that, at one
time, belonged to Bernstein, was
made of a very light wood and had a
rounded cork handle. But the truly
strange part of this entire story and
what, in fact, prompted me to tell it,
happened during the last concert.
The baton in question behaved
gloriously throughout the entire
week and was, undoubtedly, one of
the stars, always seeking attention.
Gustavo used it at each concert and,
in his hand, it bounced up and down
almost as much as his hair, with every
movement.
It was the last performance of the
week. Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony was
the piece that was to close the evening’s program. The last movement, a
frenetic Allegro, is capable of getting
the least involved spectator out of his
seat. And then something incredible
happened, two chords before the
end of the work, when there were
something like three seconds of
music to go, say, the baton decided
to take off by itself and, crumbling
into tiny pieces, ended up scattered
over the audience. The wand broke
precisely in the last second. When
the movement finished, the audience,
astounded, needed a few seconds
to recover from the shock and start
to applaud. Just think, what are the
probabilities of the baton –which
had survived nearly four hundred
concerts- breaking precisely at the
last second? There is no logical explanation, but I have an idea that, for me,
fits perfectly: Leonard Bernstein was
present at each concert supervising
every detail and impregnating the
environment with his special energy.
Then at the end of the last concert,
he decided to confirm his presence in
the most obvious way possible. It’s as
though, by causing his own baton to
disappear, he was giving way to a new
one: Gustavo’s.
(Ballet dancer and journalist)
179
New sap
on the horizon
n the firmament of classical music, Gustavo
­Dudamel’s star is not the only one to shine.
The System has many talents that are already giving
their first international steps, promoted, naturally,
by Dudamel, Maestro Abreu, and the ­advocates
and mentors won over by the ­Venezuelan music
program, such as Maestros ­Abbado, Barenboim,
and Rattle, to name but three.
Abreu comments with regard to this emerging generation: “Gustavo has managed to push
Diego Matheuz
ahead other youngsters who see the career of
conducting as a form of prestige. Coming up
behind him there is a litter, a whole generation.”
And, true enough, Christian Vásquez and Diego
Matheuz are already giving people something to Here is just a tiny sample of this new g­ eneration
from the System that is following the path
talk about in the world of conductors.
plotted by Dudamel in the firmament of the
complex and competitive world of
Like Dudamel, this constellation of artistic
international music.
talents, trained in accordance with the same
philosophy, has very clear goals: contribute to
the world the freshness and joy of making sym- Diego Matheuz, under Abbado’s
guidance
phonic music to the highest level of ­excellence
and achieve world recognition. But they aspire
He is one of the most outstanding Venezuto attain this always with a great sense of union,
elan conductors in the cadre of talents. Like
because they all grew up at the same time,
played at the same conservatories, had the same Dudamel, he is a son of the System and was
teachers, shared their problems and worries, and also born in Barquisimeto. He is a member of
celebrated their joys together. And because they the Mozart Orchestra, which Claudio Abcome from the same tree, they understand how bado conducts in Italy, where he started off on
the right foot when, in 2009, he was appointed
wonderful it is to make music together.
“main guest conductor” of this orchestra, which
opened the 2010 season in Bologna, receiving
The System has also become an artistic springboard for many, who, after having done their time the highest praise and revealing his qualities as
an international baton. He has also conducted
in the youth and children’s orchestras and once
in Israel, Canada, and other European countries,
they reach maturity, form their own ensembles.
always under the guidance of Abbado, whom
The Venezuelan music movement is full of
professional musicians trained in the System who he met in Seville in 2006. Since then, Matheuz
has been the Italian maestro’s assistant conductoday are playing jazz, salsa, rap, pop and other
tor. In March 2010, Diego also met up with his
genres, putting Venezuela in the vanguard of
European tutor at the Lucerne Festival, where he
urban, popular, and experimental music.
180
Christian Vásquez
obtained magnificent reviews for his performance with the SJVSB.
His début before an international audience was
in San Juan de Puerto Rico, together with the
Simón Bolívar Venezuelan Youth Symphony
Orchestra, at the Casals Festival in 2008. With
more than 16 years’ musical experience, this
young conductor born in 1984, started to study
music with his father at the age of seven and
played cuatro at a school near his home. But the
violin is the instrument that always accompanies
him and that he plays in the first violin section of
the SJVSB. He studied at the Jacinto Lara Conservatory in Barquisimeto, and was a pupil of José
Francisco del Castillo and José Antonio Abreu.
Christian Vásquez: from San
­Sebastián to Israel
This 26-year-old, who has among his qualities
an unassuming manner in his dealings with
people and discipline in his work, has also made
a major artistic leap: from his native town, San
Sebastián de los Reyes, in Aragua state, he
was ­recommended by Maestro Zubin Mehta
himself to be the principal baton of the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra for seven days. That
was simply the fruit of his work of nearly two
decades in the System conducting the Aragua
Youth Symphony Orchestra.
However, the Israeli orchestra is not the only
one that Vásquez has conducted beyond
Venezuela’s borders. In January 2010, only ten
days after leaving for Israel, the Youth Bavaria
Symphony Orchestra, in Munich, Germany,
had a taste of his expressive and joyful baton.
His success was to continue throughout the five
performances he gave at the Concert Hall in
Haifa, and at the Frederic Mann Auditorium in
Tel Aviv, where his clear style and well-studied
interpretations of Tchaikovsky and Schumann
won him long applauses.
Vásquez, who has been trained as a conductor
entirely by Abreu has a dream: to build up the
San Sebastián de Los Reyes Youth Symphony
Orchestra. However, owing to his i­ ncreasing
number of international engagements, he
has had to focus on studying the symphonic
­repertoire in depth, particularly the Russian
composers, his favorites. “You have to go well
prepared to stand in front of the orchestras
because good musicians quickly sense who’s
a demanding conductor and who isn’t,” says
Vásquez modestly.
Alejandro Carreño: concertino
with lineage
If there is a member of the present Simón
Bolívar Venezuelan Youth Symphony Orches-
181
soloist and also with international ensembles,
among them the Berlin Philharmonic’s String
Quartet and the Portland Quartet.
Alejandro Carreño
tra who has been nurtured from the cradle
within the System, it is the violinist Alejandro
­Carreño, the son of one of its most admired and
loved founders, Gregory Carreño, and both of
them come from a musical family. It is not that
Alejandro is the only descendant of a pioneer of
the System, but he is the one who has scaled the
highest, as he is the concertino with the SJVSB,
a position he also held when he was member
of the National Children’s Orchestra and the
National Youth Orchestra, with which he made
all the international tours since 2000.
At some of the System’s most important moments and engagements, it has been Carreño
who has represented the orchestras’ children and
adolescents, such as the performance offered
to Pope John Paul II in 1996, during which
­Alejandro was the soloist, and when he accompanied Maestro Abreu during the ceremony
at which he received the Prince of Asturias
Award in 2008, when the young man told the
media: “I’m very honored and happy to be
­accompanying Maestro Abreu, who thought up
this System and gave it to Venezuela. With this
award we continue to be committed to working
at a greater depth every day, with greater quality
and commitment in order to feel more worthy
of being Venezuelan.”
Francisco “Pacho” Flores: an endless
burst of sound
The artistic ascent, at home and abroad, of the
Venezuelan musician Francisco “Pacho” Flores
Of refined appearance, at each performance,
Carreño is the one who tunes up the orchestra
as a prologue to the conductor coming on stage.
In order to keep his position, Alejandro has
been tenacious and disciplined, an artist through
and through, but he has also had the influence
of the best teachers: Abreu himself trained him
since he was tiny; later Susan Siman and, naturally, the great trainer of violinists, José Francisco
del Castillo polished him. He perfected his art
thanks to the advice of the renowned musicians,
Maurice Hasson, Aaron Rosand, and Daniel
Strauawa, the concertino with the Berlin Philharmonic, among others.
Aged 25, Alejandro Carreño is considered one
of the most relevant talents, not only of the System, but among Latin American violinists. He
has performed with a fair number of Venezuelan
chamber ensembles and orchestras as guest
182
Francisco “Pacho” Flores
has been one of the System’s happiest events,
largely because, for a long time, the trumpet did
not figure as a solo instrument in our musical milieu as Flores is making it sound now
with his skill and great artistic gifts. “I dream
of breaking new ground for the trumpet, of
recording a ­varied repertoire written for classical
trumpet, and, at the same time, of making our
Latin American and Venezuelan music known.
However, I have to pave a way for myself and
I’m determined to enter the world circuit as a
concert player.”
And Flores is making his dream come true. In
2009, he presented his first CD, La trompeta
venezolana, which contains delightful interpretations of popular pieces by this young man
from Táchira, the only Latin American trumpet
player to have won the most prestigious European competitions, among them: the International Trumpet Competition in Pilisvörösvár,
(Hungary, 2005); First Prize at the Philip Jones
International Trumpet Competition (France,
2005); First Prize at the City of Paris’s Maurice
André International Trumpet Competition
and Special Prize for the Best Interpretation
of the Work to be premiered for the competition, composed by Salvador Chuliá Hernández
(France, 2006), and First Prize at the Città di
Porcia International Trumpet Competition
(Italy, 2006).
“Pacho” has solid musical training, which he
started when he was eight with his father Francisco Flores Díaz, who belonged to the most important martial bands in Táchira state. When he
was 16, he moved to Caracas and studied with
Eduardo Manzanilla. In 2005, he obtained his
advanced diploma from the National Conservatory for the Rueil-Malmaison Region, in France,
and joined the National Youth Orchestra. From
there he achieved the position of principal
trumpet player with Simón Bolívar Symphony
Orchestra and went on all its international tours.
He also gave performances throughout Latin
America with the Simón Bolívar Brass Quintet.
In 2007, he appeared in New York’s prestigious
Carnegie Hall, invited by the Spanish Brass
to record under the baton of the trombonist
Christian Linbert. He also performed with The
State Hermitage Orchestra in Saint Petersburg
and made his début at the prestigious Caramoor
International Music Festival in New York. In
2008 and 2009, he gave concerts and master
classes in Germany, Croatia, France, Spain, Italy,
the United States, Japan, and Russia.
As an all-round musician, “Pacho” Flores has
also let himself be tempted by teaching and is a
pioneer teacher at the Latin American Trumpet
Academy; at the same time he is creatively active with personal projects, such as the program
of organ and piano recitals he is putting on with
the Venezuelan maestro, Pablo Castellanos.
Angélica Olivo: with the mettle
of a soloist
If something is immediately apparent in
­Angélica Olivo, it is her mettle of a soloist and
her demeanor of someone who has been a
Angélica Olivo
violinist from the cradle. Because that is how this
young girl from Barquisimeto feels and that is
how she sounds. “I believe that my strength as a
violinist comes from transmitting the power of
the sounds to those who listen to me,” she says
with the conviction of someone who, at barely
17, aims to go far. At least that is the belief of
Maestro Abreu and her tutors José Francisco del
Castillo, Abbado, and Dudamel, who began to
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train her at the tender age of ten and select her as
the soloist for important concerts, while arranging for advanced training with Marylou Speaker
Churchill, Felicitas Hofmeister, Roberto Valdéz,
Sophia Vilker, Francesco Manara, Ivry Gitlis,
and Salvatore Accardo.
Olivo has talent to spare, which is why, once
she started her studies at Vicente Emilio Sojo
Music Conservatory in Barquisimeto, she was
transferred to Caracas so that she could also join
the Teresa Carreño Youth Symphony Orchestra,
where she has been second concertino since 2007.
Venezuela’s medal during the 35th Anniversary
Concert in 2010, held in the Simón Bolívar
Concert Hall at the Center for Social Action
through Music. On that occasion she wore
her candid smile, which, together with her
­impeccable technique and passionate playing,
is a passport to certain success.
Lila Vivas: a perfectly tuned leader
She has made her way through all the stages of
the System because, since she arrived at Montalbán Children’s Academic Center, Rubén Cova
and Susan Siman were certain that this little sixyear-old had what it takes to become a magnifiAngélica Olivo started her national and
cent violinist. So began the marvelous transforinternational training in depth and running: in
mation that happens to the children who join
2008, she was invited to the Ecuador-Venezuela
the System as they progress year after year. First
Young Violinists Festival, accompanied by the
Lila was chosen for the Mozart Orchestra, then,
Philharmonic Orchestra of Ecuador; in 2009,
when she was eight, she joined the Pre-school
she interpreted Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 1 in D
major, under the baton of Abbado, together with Orchestra and later moved on to the Children’s
the Teresa Carreño Youth Symphony Orchestra; Orchestra, finally making the jump to the Teresa
in 2008, she was chosen to join the SJVSB on its Carreño Youth Orchestra, which, under the
tour of Europe and Asia; and in 2010, she went to guidance of Ulyses Ascanio, has become one of
the System’s star ensembles. It is with this same
Bologna at the invitation of Abbado himself to
take part in the season of the Mozart Orchestra. orchestra that Vivas has performed at major
and successful concerts conducted by Gustavo
Dudamel and Claudio Abbado.
Olivo was chosen to present Maestro Abreu
with the Youth and Children’s Orchestras of
Lila Vivas
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Lila Vivas’s outstanding performance has earned
her the place as first concertino with the Teresa
Carreño Youth Orchestra. She herself confesses
that you have to have leadership qualities in
order to perform the responsibilities of first
concertino. “Standing in front of the concertino’s
music stand is a major commitment, because
it forces you to be three times better than
everyone else in the orchestra, you have to study
a lot, and, if the conductor doesn’t turn up, you
have to guide the rows of instruments and know
how to tune up the orchestra. And while you get
lots of praise, you can’t let it go to your head; you
have to focus firmly on the responsibilities you’re
assigned… We learn all that in the System from
the time we’re very young,” says Vivas.
Lila confesses that “it’s easier to achieve success
than to keep yourself there,” that is why she does
not let up in her efforts to always do better. She
divides her time between her violin studies,
currently with Luis Miguel González, her
classes at UNEARTE (National Experimental
University of the Arts), and, of course, rehearsals
and concerts with her orchestras, which are as
intense as ever. And when she is chosen, she also
goes to the rehearsals for the international tours
of the Simón Bolívar Venezuelan Youth Symphony Orchestra, with which she has already
traveled to Europe, the United States, and Asia.
So, he formally started his music studies at the
Miranda Symphony Orchestra Nucleus and, when
he was 14, he went to the Latin American Cello
Academy to study under Valmore Nieves and
William Molina. Later, after participating in a fierce
competition under the baton of Ulyses ­Ascanio,
Daniel won the place of associate principal
cello with the Teresa Carreño Youth ­Symphony
Orchestra, which has allowed him to display his
top-notch playing and resulted in ­Maestro Abreu
giving him the opportunity to take part in some of
the SJVSB’s international tours.
Daniel is already making a career for himself
with his international performances, such as
the one he gave in 2010 at the Domaine Forget
International Music Festival in Quebec, Canada.
That same year he gave a demonstration of his
talent during the System’s 35th Anniversary
Concert that was much applauded. However,
Arias has another goal in his sights. “I see myself
in the future as a great maestro of the cello and
I’m studying hard to achieve that goal, and I’m
also preparing myself to be a soloist with the
great orchestras of the world, because I want to
be acknowledged internationally.”
Daniel Arias: a top-notch cello
How Daniel Arias came to reveal his musical
talent was somewhat less conventional, albeit
delightful. This outstanding cellist tells that
singing was his first passion. “My father has been
a teacher of Venezuelan popular music for many
years, so I started to learn music when I was a kid.
I love to sing and I used travel around Venezuela
playing the typical music of the Llanos (plains
region) at parties and musical encounters. I’d
also take part in festivals in Guárico, Aragua,
Cojedes, Portuguesa, and Barinas, and I always
won the competitions.” But his true calling was
symphonic music and his instrument, the cello.
Daniel Arias
185
With his mother, Morella Derruelles, who’s idea it was to encourage Edicson to assume the discipline of his music studies
Edicson Ruíz: A tremendous leap from San Agustín to Berlin
While his family and friends in
Caracas were crossing their fingers
and praying, thousands of miles away,
in Berlin, a name that could have
belonged to a contestant from Spain
or Latin America stood out on all the
jury’s lists. The contest among more
than a hundred musicians, most of
them Japanese, Chinese, Europeans and North Americans, was an
engagement of talent and yet more
talent, all of them competing for a
chair and music stand in the doublebass section of the most demanding
orchestra in the world, the Berlin
Philharmonic.
That name belonged to none other
than the Venezuelan Edicson Ruíz,
the youngest of all the contestants.
186
So young was he, barely 17, that he
did not even meet the minimum
age to join the German orchestra,
according to the organization’s
regulations.
But that was not what counted that
afternoon in Berlin, what mattered
was the magnificent training, the
blooming talent, the magic of his
performance and the heavenly
sounds pouring from his double-bass.
That afternoon, the name of that
young man from Caracas, who had
been educated at one of the System’s
nuclei attended by students from
San Agustín, a lower income district
of Caracas, was announced as the
winner by the directors of the Berlin
Philharmonic. Edicson Ruiz became
that orchestra’s youngest member
ever since it was founded in 1887.
“That day,” recounts Edicson, “both
my Venezuelan professor, Félix Petit,
and Professor Klaus Stoll, main
bass of the Berlin Philharmonic
who trained me there a few months
before, told me that the purpose of
this audition wasn’t about winning
but was part of something very
important for me: experience. It had
nothing to do with winning or losing.
So, I decided to show who I was and
where I came from during those two
days of auditions... I prepared myself
to play the best I could, using everything I’d learned so far, keeping my
own personality. My only concern
was to play well. I never thought I’d
win. How could I win if the best in
Europe were there? But God blessed
me, and I also had a lot in my favor:
my age, my talent, my desire to
learn, a good level of training, and
of course, what the possibility of
training and polishing me over time
represented for the Philharmonic.”
How did you end up at the San
Agustin center, where did you come
from, what were you doing at that
point in your life?
I got involved with the System of
Youth and Children’s Orchestras
of Venezuela thanks to a comment
made by one of my mother’s friends.
Her children were studying music
and she told my mom she should try
and see if I liked music and maybe
that would calm me down. I was
almost ten and I liked the group
Maná a lot, besides I was in primary
school, my grades were not the best
but they were OK, I played a lot of
football and baseball with the kids on
the block. I’d tried karate, swimming,
ceramics, and singing, and music was
far from my mind. It was really my
mother who insisted, she said to me:
“If you don’t like it, you can quit”. As
soon as I started, from the very first
day, I was drawn by the double-bass.
I was motivated by it in a very special
way. I began taking classes with Félix
Petit, the best teacher on the planet,
the best guide, the best professional
I’ve ever met.
What were your studies like at the
System of Youth and Children’s
Orchestras of Venezuela and what
were your goals?
I never set out to join the Berlin
Philharmonic. God put me on this
path, just like everything else that
has happened to me. As for my
goals, I can say that there are a lot of
opportunities to grow in the System.
Deep down, I’ve always wanted to
play, that was my goal. But, thanks
to God, I had the opportunity to
travel abroad and was able to see
and analyze other possibilities in
the best music centers in the world,
and that helped me dream about
Berlin. However, I have to say that I’d
be nothing if I hadn’t had Maestro
Abreu’s support and vision, or my
mother’s drive, or Professor Petit’s
wisdom, or my training in the System. Why? Simply because Abreu
created and gave us a style of music
teaching where the youngster is faced
with a score, live and direct, learns
how to read it and how to play the
instrument at the same time, whereas
everywhere else in the world you’re
expected to study music theory for
at least three years and only then do
you start with an instrument. Take
me, for example, I remember when I
was invited to my first rehearsal with
the National Youth Orchestra when
I didn’t even know how to really hold
the bow, much less where to put my
left hand -obviously, because I’d had
it explained to me only a short time
before-, and I was in front of a music
stand holding Tchaikovsky’s Fourth
Symphony. That allowed me, the same
as all the other children and youngsters in the System, to fly, to learn
very quickly; it helped me to learn to
read scores faster and develop speed
in the left hand and the right. I’ve noticed that many of my colleagues still
have problems of that type. What I
mean is that our teaching method
is the most direct, fastest and most
efficient in the world. The professors at the Berlin Philharmonic and
other music centers of the world
are amazed by the System’s wealth
of talent and the good training its
youngsters have.
What’s your experience at the
Berlin Philharmonic been like, and
what demands have been made on
you workwise?
The Berlin Philharmonic expects me
to be a real musician, something I
haven’t managed yet because I’m still
in training. They demand total dedication in order to reach each of the
objectives they set me rehearsal after
rehearsal, program after program,
concert after concert. Every week it’s
a new experience, performance after
performance, season after season,
it’s always different, and at the same
time you learn a lot of things. Whole
days are given over to music. I’m at
the Philharmonie from ten in the
morning to seven at night. I also
have the opportunity to try new
double-bass works that haven’t been
played before, such as the ones written for me by Arturo Márquez and
Blas Atehortúa, which I’ve been able
to play in Caracas with the Simón
Bolívar Symphony Orchestra. Also
I’ve been fortunate enough to have
been invited by important musicians
like Heinz Holliger to play Baroque
and Renaissance chamber music. I’ve
been invited to play as soloist with
European ensembles as well. God has
made my life better. I’m very grateful
for all the opportunities. Because
of that, I allow myself to dream of
becoming better every day. I want to
be a complete man; I’m here on this
earth to evolve in every way.
the Venezuelan Youth Symphony
Orchestra on a yearly basis since
2001. In Europe, he played as ­soloist
with Portuguese orchestras in
2005. In 2006, he made his début
as a soloist at the Lincoln Center in
New York with the Philharmonic
Orchestra of the Americas. He has
given recitals at the 2006 Lucerne
Festival, for the Berlin Philharmonic
in 2006, 2007, and 2008, and also at a
number of chamber music, modern,
and vanguard music festivals in the
Azores, Switzerland, Italy, Germany,
Spain, and Russia, presided over by
Heinz Holliger, Andras Schiff, and
chamber ensembles of the Berlin
Philharmonic. He is a member of
the Berlin Philharmonic’s Double
Bass Sextet and is also involved in
the education project proposed by
Simon Rattle and carried out by his
orchestra since 2002.
Author’s note: This interview with
Edicson Ruíz done in 2004 has
been taken from Venezuela bursting
with orchestras and updated for this
publication.
Remarkable success
Since winning the first prize at the
International Society of Bassist’s
competition in Indianapolis in
2001 at a very young age, Ruíz has
enjoyed remarkable success and
been tirelessly pursuing his artistic
career. He has played as a soloist with
187
Claudio Abbado:
a maestro seduced by the tropics
n tune with his elegant, unhurried gate, the
famous conductor Claudio Abbado
always appears before his interlocutors with
a demeanor worthy of a wise maestro. When
greeting the Venezuelan children and youngsters, he shakes their hands with the warmth and
confidence of someone who considers himself
one of them, just another musician. Interviews
with ­journalists are definitely not the preferred
medium for conveying his ideas and opinions,
but he is aware that it is part of the job he has
been doing in Venezuela since 2005: making
people around the world aware of the merits of
the National System of Youth and Children’s
Orchestras of Venezuela and its wealth of talent.
Abbado starts off this conversation with a confession. “Five years ago, when I came to Caracas
for the concerts given by the Gustav Mahler
Youth Orchestra, I was fortunate enough to hear
the National Youth and Children’s Symphony
Orchestra of Venezuela, which was already being
conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. Quite simply,
I was extremely excited by the idea of this organization, this marvelous initiative to help young
people and children, those youngsters who come
from the barrios. This has been done by means
188
of an effective musical and cultural method
that has managed to rescue more than 300,000
young people in recent years. I immediately said
to myself: ‘I’m witnessing something unusual;
I haven’t seen this anywhere else in the world.’
That was when I invited the Youth Symphony
Orchestra of Venezuela to Berlin and got the
sponsorship of the Berlin Philharmonic, which
immediately welcomed the sponsorship project
and has become an ­enthusiastic supporter of José
Antonio Abreu’s project.”
Now, Abbado is a member of the System’s
family and his presence is always expected and a
reason for celebration in the orchestras. In 2010,
Abbado spent a long time in Venezuela: weeks
of intense rehearsals and communion with the
youngsters of the Simón Bolívar Symphony
Orchestra, which he conducted in March that
year in Lucerne, obtaining high praise from
the critics. Abbado also conducted the Teresa
Carreño Orchestra, one of the most brilliant
ensembles of the new generations and where he
found very special talents, such as the violinist
Angélica Olivo, whom he has invited to go to
Italy to play with the Mozart Orchestra, not to
mention his close relationship with the young
conductor Diego Matheuz, who is his assistant
in Italy and takes his place at many international
engagements.
Maestro, what’s your opinion now after those
first years of close association with the System
and the Youth and Children’s Orchestras?
I’m delighted. I’ve been so excited since I arrived
because what Maestro Abreu has done and continues to do is something great, fantastic, something musically, culturally, socially, and humanely
unique. Already the System does not belong to
Venezuela alone. All countries, even those with
major musical and artistic capitals, are getting
to know it and want to imitate it because there
is no program of these dimensions and with
such noble purposes anywhere else in the world.
It moves me deeply to see how these young
Venezuelan talents have developed after working
with the SJVSB for the past five or six years, both
here in Venezuela and at major world venues
where we’ve performed together. I feel that there
is excellent communication and understanding
between the youngsters and myself.
How would you classify the level of the Simón
Bolívar Venezuelan Youth Symphony Orchestra today?
The level of the SJVSB has risen amazingly. Now
it has a broader and richer sound. It’s an orchestra
that displays a most unusual enthusiasm and joy
for making music. Every time I come I find they
have raised their standard; I love it. I work section by section and then we put all the sections
together and listen to the achievements. That’s my
method for making chamber music, which I want
to develop more intensely with the ­Venezuelan
talents. The Simón Bolívar is already a major
orchestra in the world of symphonic music.
Formidable growth
For those who are familiar with Claudio
­Abbado’s career, the passion that this acclaimed
conductor gives to his performances and
professional challenges comes as no surprise,
particularly his efforts to support young talents
or tear down the barriers of artistic isolation. His
résumé abounds with examples, such as when
he resolved to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic
Orchestra on October 8, 1989, right in the
middle of the fall of the Berlin Wall, or the times
he has donated his prizes and awards to musicians who needed special support in order to
continue their musical careers.
Abbado is the founder of the European Community Youth Orchestra and the Gustav Mahler
Youth Orchestra. Although in 2000 he decide
to take on fewer public engagements, this has
not stopped him from promoting musicians
that he, with his expert artistic eye, considers
should be brought to the public’s notice, either
by getting them to record a CD or by inviting
them to play as soloists at his concerts with the
most sublime orchestras or by offering them
new opportunities of work by founding new
ensembles, among them the Mozart Orchestra,
whose home is in Bologna. It is to all this that
Abreu refers when he says: “Abbado is devoting
all his efforts, at the height of his career, to help
the world’s children and young people; that is
the most noble and significant gesture than any
artist can make for mankind.”
During rehearsals in Caracas
and in other cities around the
world, Maestro Abbado counts
on the collaboration of the young
Venezuelan conductor Diego
Matheuz
At this point in your artistic career, what does
making music with children and young people
mean to you?
We musicians have other ways of communi­
cating with people. It’s a deeper communication,
through our hands and eyes, through something
more transcendental: music. That’s why I’m
­happy to know that I can work with young
189
people because, to me, they represent new
energy; it’s a new emotion in my career.
Maestro, how much is there left for the
System to do?
I’ve seen nothing else like it anywhere else in the
world. The work that’s being done in Venezuela
is exemplary and we’ve started to do the same in
Italy and in the United States as well; and that’s
how it’s going to be in the rest of the world. This
is work that is highly beneficial, particularly
for the nations of Latin America and of other
continents. My humble contribution consists
of ­telling the whole world about it, as I’ve been
doing since 2005. We have to support them as
much as we can because, in each of these orchestras and in each of these young Venezuelan
musicians, beats the hope of a better world.
What’s your view of Venezuela from the
cultural point of view?
Venezuela is not just an oil country; it’s not
just a nation that has soil rich in energy. There
is so much here: the vegetation, the light, the
generosity of its people. There is something
much bigger, and for that reason we can say
that Venezuela is a cultural power: the talent
of its artists, the passion of its musicians, from
the youngest to the best trained, is something
that one doesn’t easily find in the most reputed
capitals of the music world.
What most impresses you about the Program
created by Maestro Abreu?
That it cultivates the love for music in children
and young people; that is something you don’t
often see nowadays. For me it’s an honor and
a pleasure to be able to share this ­experience.
What impresses me about the System’s
Program is the social line and profile that has
been given to this project, seeing how music
can help poor children, enrich them spiritually,
seeing how it can turn them into better human
beings and ­capable individuals. It’s wonderful to
be a witness to this work that my friend Abreu
has done. It’s something unique because, with
this program, it’s possible to give back to these
young people a more humane, a pleasanter life.
This work that is being done with people who
190
come from sectors that have very few economic
resources, from families who struggle hard to
survive, and who are being given the opportunity to study and have a musical instrument, to
learn about culture and have a normal life, is an
example for the rest of the world. Another aspect of the System that delights me is that these
young musicians have managed to rapidly become music teachers, true music professionals,
without abandoning their careers as soloists and
orchestra members or as university students,
even studying for other careers. Besides that,
one perceives that they are very proud when
they’re able to get a job in the capital, but, at the
same time, they have no objection to working in
their hometowns or in towns in the provinces.
That I find quite simply marvelous.
What do you think of the System’s Special
Education Program that won the Nonino
Risit d’Aur Prize in Friuli, Italy, with your
support?
A miracle. From the social point of view,
it’s a miracle what this System of Youth and
Children’s Orchestras can do and has already
achieved with the handicapped. It’s moving.
That’s why you have to experience it in person
to convince yourself that in the 21st century
you should be working along these lines. I’ll take
these musicians to Rome, to Paris, and to the
most important music festivals so that the world
learns about this great richness of talent that
Venezuela and Latin America have. And I was
very moved to receive the gloves of the White
Hands Choir from the hands of the children,
young people, and directors of this program;
I will treasure them. Apart from that, I’m so
delighted to have this program in Italy as well,
because work is already being done to implement it there, under the direction and with the
advice of its Venezuelan creators, naturally.
Simón Bolívar Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra “A”
Founding Director
José Antonio Abreu
Acting Executive
Director
Eduardo Méndez
Deputy Executive
Director
Valdemar Rodríguez
Musical Director
Alfredo Rugeles
General Manager
Víctor Rojas
Assistant Manager
Mirley Sánchez
FIRST VIOLINS
Ramón Román
( concertino)
Joel Nieves
Igor Lara (Assistant
concertino)
Eddy Marcano
Luis Jackosch
Borgan Ascanio
José Scolaro
Ollantay Velásquez
Mercedes Salazar
Miguel Nieves
José Otero
Cecilia Gómez
Orlando Gómez
María Cecilia Tuesta
Víctor Vivas Vanessa
Garrido
Lorena Ródenas
192
María José Ramírez
Mario Quiñones
Elayza Pérez
Eddie Cordero
Luvin Villasmil
Marian Gutiérrez
Rhomy López
Corina Álvarez
Laura Osuna
José Laurencio Silva
Iraida Mora
SECOND VIOLINS
Peyber Medina*
Efraín Lara**
Luis Hernández
Maribel Serna
Norma Molina
Yda Palavecino
Hisvett Garrachán
José Pereda
Mery Orozco
Evelio Barazarte
María Antonieta
Belmonte
Daniela Pinzón
Jesmar Jatar
Armando Núñez
Alessandro Lugo
Alexander González
Andrea Lares
Manuela Pagliuca
Miguel Ravago
VIOLAS
Frank Di Polo *
María Beatriz Cárdenas *
Luis Bohórquez **
Richard Urbano
Gisela González
Javier Mora
Jesús Pérez
Luis Felipe Molina
Rosa María Barrios
Mónica Gómez
Carmelo Méndez
Gilmer Mendoza
Heidy Roa
Antulio Duboy
Ricardo Narváez
Ana Patricia Liendo
Antonio Malavé
Iván Sánchez
Joyce Blanco
Cristina Alvarado
Félix Barradas
CELLOS
William Molina *
Valmore Nieves **
Juan Pablo Méndez **
César Noguera
María Eugenia Prado
Franklin Altuna
Argelia Martínez
Roy García
Samuel Pérez
Darlenys Zamora
Mónica Frías
María G. Figueroa
Walter Carbonara
Kenny Aponte
Viviana Kasas
María José Romero
Manuel Hernández
Vicente Moronta
Brayahan Cesin
DOUBLE BASSES
David Carpio *
Néstor Blanco
José Gregorio López
Jesús Zambrano
Néstor Pérez
Miguel Segovia
Marcos Romero
Abraham Maduro
Ikser Mijares
Jorge Luis Leal
Juan Manuel Guevara
Gerald Ruiz
CLARINETS
Valdemar Rodríguez *
Jorge Montilla *
Gorgias Sánchez **
Carmen Borregales**
Oscar González
Demian Martínez
TROMBONES
Guillermo Alquati *
Miguel Sánchez *
Eliel Rivero
Melissa Sánchez
Salvador Sáez
FLUTES
José García *
Víctor Rojas *
Raimundo Pineda **
María José León **
José Medina
Enver Cuervos
Ana Paola Rincones
Edgardo Caraballo
Eric Chacón
PICCOLO
Raimundo Pineda **
Enver Cuervos
OBOES
Andrés Eloy Medina *
Víctor Morles **
José Gregorio Sánchez**
Fernando Álvarez
Maya Rodríguez
BASSOONS
Omar Ascanio *
Leonardo Deán *
Héctor Barrios
Jesús Acosta
Carlos Adarmes
Marcella Frías
HORNS
Francisco Javier Aragón *
Fernando Ruiz *
Rafael Cantor *
Ulises Aragón *
Juan Carlos Maldonado *
Henry Quintana
Kleiberth Mora
José Flores
Edgar Pulgar
Andrés Aragón
TRUMPETS
Alexander Barrios *
Francisco Flores **
Gaudy Sánchez
Giancarlo Castro
Hernán Quintero
Edwin González
BASS TROMBONES
Duvardo Echarry
Oscar Mendoza
José Zerpa
Franklin Moreno
TUBAS
Ángel Linares **
Romaing Poleo
Alexis Urbina
PERCUSSION
Edgar Saume *
Yván Hernández **
Margarita Carreño
Alberto Vergara
María Eugenia Vásquez
Carlos Mosquera
Jesús Pérez
José Alberto Márquez
KEYBOARD
Vilma Sánchez
General Services Chief
Luis Velásquez
Technical Staff
Marfrank Heredia
Darwin Rangel
Rafael Rodríguez
Emmanuel Méndez
* Principal
** Assistant
Academic Orchestral Program
Simón Bolívar Venezuelan Youth Symphony Orchestra “B”
Founding Director
José Antonio Abreu
Acting Executive
Director
Eduardo Méndez
Deputy Executive
Director
Valdemar Rodríguez
Musical Director
Gustavo Dudamel
General Manager
Víctor Rojas
Assistant Manager
René Pirotte
FIRST VIOLINS
Alejandro Carreño (
concertino)
Eduardo Salazar
Jesús Pinto
Boris Suárez
Amanda Ochoa
Anna Virginia González
Carlos Vegas
Douglas Isasis
Ebert Ceballo
Emirzeth Henríquez
Felipe Rodríguez
Héctor Robles
Janeth Sapienza
José Laurencio Silva
Luis Adolfo González
Luis Barazarte
María José Oviedo
Nicole Rodríguez
Oriana Suárez
Rubén López
Verónica Balda
SECOND VIOLINS
Moisés Medina
Gregory Mata
Alirio Vegas
Adriana Von Bouren
Anderson Briceño
Carlos Luis Perdomo
Daniel Herrera
Daniel Marín
Daniel Riera
Daniela Díaz
Edgar Piñero
Eduardo Gomes
Enrique Carrillo
Imanuel Sandoval
Israel Méndez
José Guédez
Juan Pérez
Oswaldo Martínez
Patricio Meriño
Ronnie Morales
William González
William López
VIOLAS
Ismel Campos
Luis Aguilar
Carlos Corales
Carmen Gragirena
David Peralta Fabiana
Álvarez
Greymar Mendoza
Jhoanna Sierralta
Juan Chacón
Luís Velásquez
Luz Cadenas
Mary Francis Alvarado
Miguel Jeréz
Oriana Loaiza
Pedro González
Samuel Jiménez
CELLOS
Edgar Calderón
Aimon Mata
Abner Padrino
Benito Liendo
Carlos Ereú
César Giuliani
Enn René Díaz
Jean Carlos Coronado
Jhonn Rujano
José David Márquez
Juan Stabilito
Leandro Bandres
Luis Mata
Maricmar Pérez
Mónica Frías
Ricardo Corniel
Yackson Sánchez
DOUBLE BASSES
Claudio Hernández
Antonio Camacho
Daniel Pérez
Freddy Adrián
Hecmary Barroso
Jorge Alí Moreno
Luis Peralta
Oscar Luque
Vanessa Matamoros
Yholmer Yépez
Zahira Guaramatos
FLUTES
Katherine Rivas
Gabriel Cano
Aron García
Diego Hernández
Emily Ojeda
Engels Gómez
Etni Molletones
Fernando Martínez
Mariaceli Navarro
Yaritzy Cabrera
OBOES
Frank Giraldo
Elly Saúl Guerrero
Alvaro Manzanilla
Ely Molletones
Hairin Colina
Jhon Escobar
Néstor Pardo
ENGLISH HORN
Elvis Romero
CLARINETS
David Medina
Carlos Escalona
Daniel Jaimes
Jesús Antón
Ranieri Chacón
Rebeca Ascanio
Raphael González *
Henry Pérez *
BASSOONS
Gonzalo Hidalgo
Daniel García
Alexander Ricaurte
Crisbel Maucó
Edgar Monrroy
Mowgli Bello
Víctor Caldera
Werlink Casanova
Wilfrido Galárraga
TROMBONES
Pedro Carrero
Alejandro Díaz
Edgar García
CONTRABASSOON Jackson Murillo
Aquiles Delgado
Joel Martínez
Jonathan Salazar
HORNS
Leudy Inestroza
Rafael Payare
Lewis Escolante
Kaylet Torrez
Mayerlin Carrero
Danny Gutiérrez
Alexander Urbina
BASS TROMBONES
Edgar Aragón
Alexander Medina
Favio Giraldo
Francisco Blanco
José Melgarejo
Jhonder Salazar
Luis Castro
Lisandro Laya
Reinaldo Albornoz
TUBAS
TRUMPETS
Lewis Pantoja
Tomás Medina
Christian Delgado
Gaudy Sánchez
Andrés Ascanio
PERCUSSION
Andrés González
Félix Mendoza
Arsenio Moreno
Ramón Granda
David Pérez
Acuarius Zambrano
Gerald Chacón
Edgardo Acosta
Jonathan Rivas
Juan Carlos Silva
Leafar Riobueno
Luis Trejo
Luis Alfredo Sánchez
Luzbel Jiménez
Miguel Albonoz
Matías Azpúrua
Miguel Taglia!co
Sergio López
Oscar López
Simón González
Román Granda
Víctor Villarroel
HARPS
Galaxia Zambrano
Rodolfo Sarabia
Adel Solórzano
Xavier Perri
PIANOS
Vilma Sánchez
Coordinación
César Marval
Joel Betancourt
Secretary’s Office
Andreína de la Hoz
Lisbeth Olivares
Technical Staff
Ramón Vega
Edgar Camacho
Danny Castillo
José Campuzano
Naudy Nares
Reproduction
Richard Santafé
* Guest
193
Chapter
VIII
Venezuela
planted with choirs
and orchestras
I want to be in you, beside you, on you, Venezuela,
even despite yourself.
I want to stay here, unwavering and forever,
giving neither a step forward nor a step back.
I must love you for all I’m worth,
and the love I have for you, Venezuela,
dissolves me in you.
Antonio Arráiz
The country of music
here is a country rich in oil, islands, multiazured seas, melodious rivers, and generous
mountains studded with exotic trees and
spectacular flowers that grow only there; a land
where tiny tots jump from their cradles singing
and playing violins, pianos, flutes, cellos, harps,
cuatros, maracas, and drums; where its men and
women live and work in numerous orchestras
and choirs producing the spiritual sustenance
for millions and millions of happy souls who
inhabit its every corner… they are the musicians of the north and of the south; they live in
the east and in the west too. There is no other
country like it, where the inhabitants sow symphony orchestras from the great mouth of the
­Caribbean to the entrance of its deep Amazonian jungle and from its westernmost point on
the Paraguaná Peninsula to Guasdualito on its
most remote frontier. It is the country of music
and it is called Venezuela.
That is the map of our country at the start of
the 21st century: a splendid hive of more than
196
300 pre-school, children’s, youth, and symphony
orchestras concentrated in some 230 regional
centers located in 24 states of the country,
where 300,000 Venezuelan pupils and musicians
coexist, with no distinction as to age or social
class. But building up this enormous orchestra
network has required time and ministry. Igor
Lanz tells us of the early years of this country
that is an orchestra.
“The start of the National Network of Youth
and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela
involved a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, because
founding the first Youth Orchestra required
the participation of musicians from all parts of
Venezuela; some were from the Andes, others
from Lara, a fair number from Aragua, and also
from the Llanos (the central plains). Once that
first orchestra had been formed and its impact
throughout Venezuela demonstrated, many
of those pioneer musicians went back to the
provinces to found new nuclei or centers, and
they were able to break with another paradigm:
that the capital was the only place it was possible
to study and make music. The principle of the
System is equality and opportunities for all, and
that was achieved through the process of decentralizing and deconcentrating teaching and the
practice of music undertaken by José Antonio
Abreu. In the early 1980s, there was an orchestra
functioning in every state, and today, to our
great satisfaction, we not only have orchestras in
all the towns of Venezuela, but several orchestras in the same region,” tells Lanz.
There are many examples of the System’s
­founding musicians who have done admirable
work so that, today, the towns where they were
born could enjoy a first class musical movement. Henry Zambrano is a case in point. After
­spending some time in Caracas as a doublebass player with the Simón Bolívar Symphony
Orchestra, he went back to the Llanos, where he
founded the first music centers in Portuguesa,
Barinas, and Apure states.
Henry Zambrano
“I was in Caracas up until 1981. At that time,
everyone was coming to Caracas, while the
children in the provinces were left without
teachers. So, I went to Guanare and founded the
Portuguesa Youth Symphony Orchestra with
100 kids, and today it has more than 300 musicians. Then I went to San Fernando de Apure
and founded another orchestra. After that I
was in Miranda to reorganize the children’s and
youth orchestras in Los Teques; and I also stayed
a while in Barquisimeto and I set up a center
there. The biggest problem was the distances
between one place and the next; even so,
I covered those routes twice a week for 25
years running so that the centers in Portuguesa
and Apure would flourish. Then I devoted my
time to founding the centers on the border,
around Guasdualito and later in Puerto Ayacucho. There’s still a lot to be done, but I think
it’s precisely that that keeps me young and keen
to carry on working,” comments Zambrano.
A center for every town
How did they organize the transfer of the
System to all the states of Venezuela? Practically from the start of the program, a functional, educational, artistic, and administrative
structure called a “Nucleus” was created, which
performed a wide variety of functions. All
the teaching, orchestral, choral, and artistic
programs, plus the promotional, and cultural
dissemination programs of the local communities, are carried out at these nuclei or centers
under the same administrative-educational
scheme, which follows the general guidelines
laid down by Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s Nuclei Management Office.
Ángel Linares and Francisco Ces,
FundaMusical Simón Bolívar’s
Nucleus Coordinator and Director
Francisco Ces, the Nuclei Management
Office’s Director, explains: “The Nucleus is a
model and an unbeatable school for living in
society, where teachers, cultural managers, children, adolescents, workers, and volunteer families interact. They function autonomously and
have independent legal status, but they all work
towards achieving a single goal: excellence
and music leadership in their region. There are
cases of regions that have centers very near one
another, only 100 kilometers apart, and they
are different because the demands made on
each are different and respond to the needs of
the population they cater to.”
The way the centers have multiplied in recent
years is amazing, says Ces. In 2005, the System
had 96 centers around the country and in April
2010 they came to 230, and it is estimated that,
by 2011, there will be around 250 catering to
a population of 300,000 children and young
people who make music in 396 orchestras.
197
“The proliferation of the centers has been
an exceptional and unique phenomenon in
­Venezuela. Every week, we get requests to
open new centers from all the regions, barrios,
communities, state governments, mayoralties,
municipalities, and populations of Venezuela that want to get their children and young
people into the orchestras. This extraordinarily
high demand, from both parents and regional
authorities and cultural promoters, has had
two very positive results: 1) it has favored and
achieved self-management at many centers,
because it is the entrepreneurs, civil society, and
organized communities that work, together
with Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation, to set
up these centers in the regions; and 2) there is
growing encouragement, support, and proposals
from the authorities in each region for creating
new centers, which prompts us to form strategic
alliances, because we need one another: the regional authorities want to implement solutions
and carry out cultural and educational plans, and
we, in line with our objective, continue expanding the virtues of the System so that they reach
all the country’s children and young people.”
Rafael Elster
198
A number of examples illustrate what Ces is
saying. In Trujillo, the state authorities have got
involved in setting up six new centers in just one
year; and the eight nuclei that had been opened
up until 2005, are to be joined by 17 centers for
the System of orchestras starting in 2010. As
for the speed with which the centers have been
multiplying since 2009 in some states, the numbers speak for themselves: Aragua, went from 4
nuclei in 2005 to 12 in 2010; Miranda from 10
in 2005 to 20 to date; Yaracuy had 6 in 2005 and
now has 17; Monagas had 2 in 2002 and today
has a total of 11; Táchira went from 3 in 2005
to 15 in 2010; Vargas had 3 in 2005 and today
has 9; Zulia went from 4 in 2005 to 13 today;
Carabobo had 2 in 2005 and now has 8; Mérida
jumped from 3 nuclei in 2005 to 13; and Capital
District had 6 in 2005 and today has 16.
Anzoátegui Children’s Orchestra
pils, but come to take part in the choirs, student
folk groups, bands, special education programs,
and lutherie workshops. The states that benefit
the largest number of children and adolescents
are: Capital District (more than 32,000), Miranda
(more than 10,000), Aragua (more than 6,000),
Guárico (more than 7,000), and Yaracuy and Trujillo (with more than 5,000 each), explains Ángel
Linares, the National Nuclei Coordinator.
Strengthening the most remote nuclei
The social awareness of many of the System’s
musicians contributes to a large extent to the
development of the nuclei that are located a
long way from the towns or in places with very
needy child populations. Rafael Elster is a case
in point. This former trumpet player at the
Miranda Nucleus and with the Gran Mariscal
de Ayacucho Orchestra, who has a degree in
music and has studied at the Juilliard School and
Queens College, New York, explains: “It’s very
important not to lose sight of the nuclei that are
a long way from the towns; the area of the Llanos
(the central plains region), where we now have
the valuable support of Fernando Ruíz, requires
priority attention. We’ve also got tremendous
growth in Guárico and also in Ciudad Bolívar
now with the Upata Nucleus, and we are deterAnother special feature of the centers is the large mined to cover the needs in Amazonas with the
Puerto Ayacucho Nucleus, because we have a
number of children and adolescents they take,
duty to help the children and youngsters who
not only to join their orchestras, but also, a fair
number who are not necessarily strictly music pu- live in the country’s most depressed areas.”
Elster has already devoted himself body and soul
to this line of work for ten years directing one of
the most demanding and socially complex centers, the Sarria Nucleus located in the José Martí
Bolivarian School in Caracas, where the child
and youth population faces serious problems
of poverty, marginalization, and drugs. He is
also the projects coordinator for Simón Bolívar
Musical Foundation’s Executive Office and supports Eduardo Méndez with new undertakings
and initiatives and helps to channel donations
for The System’s thousands of children
and youngsters.
and interpreters in order to produce sounds
with different “energies.”
Diversity that resounds
Each region of the country has managed to
develop its music potential. Even though the
Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra brings
together the best players and has its unique
sound, the sound of musical Venezuela, each
orchestra plays the sound of its state because
one of the virtues of the nuclei network is that it
has encouraged and consolidated not only the
decentralization of music, but also the idiosyncrasies of the people in each region. Henry
Zambrano describes the “energies” emanating
from the System’s regional orchestras.
In the interior, Venezuela is a hotbed of musicians, instruments, and countless ensembles and
Venezuelans full of artistic projects and making
their way with the best tool they’ve managed to
find: being daring, ingenious, and skilled players
“The Llaneros (people from the Venezuelan
plains region) are easy-going, open, they win
you over in no time at all; their musicians and
their orchestra are like that: they have an open,
friendly sound; the Zulianos (from Zulia state)
Puerto La Cruz Nucleus gives
­Maestro Abbado a great reception
199
are more focused on themselves and so is their
orchestra, proud and energetic; the Larenses
(from Lara State) are great artists, they’re born
with a unique musicality, their orchestras are
melodious and of a high musical caliber; the
Andinos (from the Andes) find it more difficult
to communicate, they’re more reserved, introverted, so their orchestras have a more serene
temperament; the Orientales (from the eastern
region) have vast beaches and that burning sun,
so their orchestras are warm, the beauty of their
music is infectious and cheerful; whereas the
men and women from the capital are always
more daring, besides being more elegant, and so
are the orchestras from the capital states: they’ll
risk everything to get the best sound, the best
interpretation, and they always maintain
a certain elegance at the concerts.”
Music leaders from the regions have also made
a tremendous contribution to the development
of their home states. They do not forget where
they come from; while many have stayed in the
places where they were born or have gone back
there after consolidating their professions as
musicians in the capital, others live in Caracas
but maintain contact with their home states
and help them out by taking on management
or artistic activities. Examples of this abound
in the System: Valdemar Rodríguez looks out
for Yaracuy, Gregory Carreño for Trujillo and
Miranda, Rubén Cova for Zulia, César Iván Lara
for Mérida, and even Gustavo Dudamel for his
beloved Lara. Two more artistic emblems from
the regions are Tarcisio Barreto, from Barquisimeto, and Eddy Marcano from the island of
Margarita. The former is the director of Lara
Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Barquisimeto Nucleus’s Conservatory and also one of
our country’s most experienced conductors; and
the latter is the first violin with the Simón Bolívar
Orchestra, a teacher, the guest conductor of a
number of orchestra ensembles, and an outstanding Venezuelan musician who has undertaken
the task of reviving Venezuelan music.
A commitment to Lara
Tarcisio Barreto was born in Barquisimeto and
continues to live there promoting the land
where he was born. His entire training, both as
a violinist and a conductor, was with the System
and his disciplined talent has allowed him to
perform a variety of functions without abandoning his artistic career as a soloist. Thanks to
his inspiration and dedication, the Lara Youth
Symphony Orchestra is considered, together
with the Anzoátegui Youth Symphony Orchestra, to be the most brilliant and international of
all the regional orchestras. Barreto comments
on the growth of his state and, in general, on the
impact the System has had in the provinces.
“Today we can say that, when it comes to music,
we are a first-world country and a world re­
ference. The know-how is in Venezuela and in all
the nuclei in the provinces. Every one of them
performs an exceptional function, whether in
providing artistic training or in connection with
social work. But what has been achieved with
this immense network of orchestras and nuclei
is, above all, a method that is tailored to the
idiosyncrasies of the Venezuelan people and of
each region: we are talented, quick, and lively.
And that’s how the System is. We learn to play
by playing, to sing by singing, and to conduct
by conducting. And there are plenty of people
willing to help; Dudamel, for a start, and the
Tarcisio Barreto and Luis Giménez, teachers
and pillars of Barquisimeto Nucleus
200
many good musicians and teachers that Lara has
produced, which has also allowed us to develop
a deeply rooted connection with our musicians.
That’s why we have an enormous commitment:
the commitment to grow and meet the heavy
demand we have in Lara, and to continue to be
proud to be the System’s second oldest nucleus,
and to carry on harvesting artists and happy
Venezuelan citizens,” concludes Barreto.
women, keeping them away from bad habits. At
the same time, thanks to music, the people of
Margarita have become a better audience, with
a high level of sensitivity for appreciating art and
for accompanying their musicians. I’ve experienced all these changes up close and what I see
is that we’ve got a new society on Margarita, the
society forged by Maestro Abreu with his great
wisdom and boundless generosity.”
Just like Aragua state -where the first nucleus
the System set up in the provinces is located-,
Lara has a nucleus that is an unbeatable model
of organization, so much so that the majority
of international observers who visit the country
include a visit to Lara as an indispensible part
of their itinerary. Maestro Barreto has the help
of a dedicated team of teachers, musicians, and
managers, each of them leaders in their own
area: Luis Giménez, Alfredo D’Adonna, Luis
Gary Núñez, Libia Gómez de D’Adonna, Pedro
Vásquez, Jhonny Gómez, and Joél Pérez, plus
the many other people who devote time around
the clock to all Lara’s nuclei and modules.
In his capacity as the first president (until 2009)
and founder of the Nueva Esparta Youth
Symphony Orchestra, Marcano comments:
“The effects and influence of the System in
Nueva Esparta have produced unique results.
The members of Nueva Esparta’s Symphony
Orchestra have been the best students at
university, and many of them are already
professionals who graduated with the highest
honors: lawyers, teachers, administrators. And
this phenomenon, which is happening all over
the country, has shown us that Venezuelans have
considerable tenacity, discipline, and sensitivity
that have allowed them to achieve their dreams
and goals and that music has given them a vision
of their country based on overall development.
Moreover, the System has permitted the development of highly talented musicians in other
musical genres, such as salsa, jazz, folk music,
rock, and, above all, our Venezuelan music,
which has drawn on the talent of great soloists
thanks to the existence of a pool of musically
rich ensembles.”
Margarita in the heart of a violin
Anyone who listens to Eddy Marcano play his
violin, whether he’s interpreting symphonic or
chamber music or his outstanding variations
of our Venezuelan music, will realize that he is
the product of highly rigorous technical and
artistic training. It so happens that he is another
of the top level music “products” created by the
System who is enjoying growing international
prestige, mainly in the United States and Latin
America. A true son of his native island, Margarita, ­Marcano, who has been concertino in both
the Children’s and Youth Orchestras of Nueva
Esparta and has taught at the Simón Bolívar
Conservatory, tells of the strong ties he con­
tinues to have with the state where he was born.
“What’s been happening on the island is wonderful. Nueva Esparta is full of great exponents,
artists, and creators. But, with the System’s
support, it has become a social center for music
because the futures of many children have been
improved, turning them into fine men and
Alfredo D’Adonna conducts the
Barquisimeto Youth Symphony Orchestra
Eddy Marcano
San Cristóbal Youth Symphony Orchestra
201
The System
is also a choir of voices
here is another seam of talent that shines
bright when, for a special concert, any of the
System’s orchestras is crowned at the back of the
stage with choirs, a flood of talent that does not
go unnoticed in the musical footprint being left
by 21st century Venezuela.
Venezuela’s children’s choir, Los Niños Cantores de
Venezuela, is a clear example of how it is possible
to have a top notch choir with children who
are actively involved in the daily dynamic of the
System, taking part in its children’s and youth
orchestras as well as in its choirs.
This has made a number of achievements
possible: children’s choirs of excellent quality
that have received outstanding reviews from
international visitors of renown. The choirs take
part in important events, courses, workshops,
concerts, and festivals and, over the years, this
has prompted many of their members to get
interested in and take up choral singing.
202
Apart from that, outstanding youngsters have
emerged who have carried on with their studies
in singing and choral direction, which, to some
extent, has resulted in these choirs becoming
“schools” for training experienced directors and
choristers, and, more recently, thanks to the
creation of the Academy of Singing, for the
training of many youngsters who go on to study
lyrical singing.
Among the goals that the National System of
Choirs Office, under Lourdes Sánchez, has set
itself are to underpin still further the training of
choir teachers and directors, create a choral direction chair, and form new children’s and youth
choirs, all aimed at setting up a solid academic
structure for those who take up singing as profession, as well as providing logistical support for
the choral programs of Simón Bolívar Musical
Foundation’s Academy of Singing.
Planting a choral structure
The System’s choral program has expanded in
all parts of the country. It could be said that
each nucleus has at least one children’s choir.
However, states such as Lara, Guárico, Aragua,
and Carabobo have a sizeable choral structure.
Its main nuclei have an academic format that
includes pre-school, children’s, and youth
choirs, and, more recently choirs of parents and
friends. This structure has given the regions
con­siderable strength in terms of choirs, to
the point where there are already modules and
nuclei for choirs only.
“Apart from that,” explains Lourdes Sánchez, “in
the past four years we have consolidated a children’s choir project called “Music in Schools”
with the support of Bancaribe, who have helped
us to set up new choirs in elementary/middle
schools, in particular under an arrangement with
the Fe y Alegría schools network, which means
we have been able to expand our social project.
More children join this project every year. In
2009, we gave a lovely concert at the Center
for Social Action with 800 children. This year
we have 1,300 children and youngsters enrolled
following the incorporation of two new schools
in Lara and Carabobo.”
She comments that all this has been done partly
through planning and partly by happenstance,
and that the whole enterprise has been spiced
with the huge demand that makes the setting
up of so many nuclei necessary.
And adds: “We are helped by the support we
get from private organizations and government
agencies, the premises and facilities, and the labor
force we have in each region. This has produced
different results, which are adapted to each locality. The most important thing is that we have
been able to reach so many parts of the country
where children did not have the opportunity
to enrich their lives through music and where
today, through the System, we are ­offering a new
alternative for intellectual growth.”
Lourdes Sánchez
A calling that transcends
Lourdes Sánchez has worked for
the System for more than 20 years.
She started at Los Teques Nucleus
as a language and musical initiation teacher. Then she assumed the
direction of Los Niños Cantores de
Los Teques, where she stayed for 18
years until Maestro Abreu decided
to transfer her to Caracas to work at
Montalbán Academic Center. Later,
in 2007, she was in charge of creating
Los Niños Cantores de Venezuela
together with the teacher Margot
Parés-Reyna.
Her responsibilities at Simón Bolívar
Musical Foundation’s National
Choirs Office have focused on consolidating the children’s choirs.
She has attended a large number of
national and international events
with the choirs, including festivals
in Latin America and Europe. She
was a member of the team of choir
directors on the Voces Andinas a Coro
(Andean Voices in Chorus) project
undertaken by the Andean Development Corporation, the purpose
of which was to contribute to the formation and growth of and training
for choral programs in the countries
of South America. This teaching
experience with the System, together
with the experience acquired at
other educational establishments,
has given her the know how to guide
and support choir training efforts
in many places. That is how she has
come to give conferences and talks
on the Choral System in Venezuela
and Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation and also training talks for choir
directors.
“Having been at FESNOJIV –now
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation– for more than 20 years was a
great learning experience for me,
both in terms of managing people
and from the artistic viewpoint. I’ve
learned to live with a child’s need to
learn, a teacher’s need to have more
teaching tools, and with the need
to strengthen the system of choirs
and to collaborate to consolidate it.
I have a lot of ideas for bringing that
about, and firm convictions as well.
Everyone’s time, help, and collaboration, the experience of many, teamwork, and the desire for intellectual
sustenance will give us the strength
to carry on this wonderful work
that Maestro José Antonio Abreu
has placed in our hands,” concludes
Lourdes Sánchez.
203
A song that multiplies
“The relationship our choirs have developed
with the Venezuelan choral movement has
brought about a mutually beneficial exchange;
receptivity and acceptance have meant that this
has been an enriching experience for everyone.
Today, Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation
­National Choir System joins the movement
started in the 1930s with the founding of the
Lama Choral Society. That is the movement
led by Vicente Emilio Sojo, Juan Bautista Plaza,
and the students of the Santa Capilla School of
Composition that, for approximately 40 years,
turned out great maestros who wrote beautiful
Barquisimeto Nucleus Children’s Choir
Parés-Reyna: an academy to grow singing
With his all-encompassing vision
of artistic creation, Maestro José
­Antonio Abreu has opened a new
window for forming Venezuelan
children and youngsters and keeping
them healthily occupied: FundaMusical Simón Bolívar’s Academy
of Singing, which takes youngsters
between the ages of 13 and 21.
Under the musical direction of
Margot Parés-Reyna and with the
collaboration of Juan Mateo Rojas,
the pupils receive a musical education –geared not only to training
soloists but future teachers as well-,
which covers voice technique (given
by Parés-Reyna), repertoire (with
Franca Ciarfella), history and general
knowledge (with Fernando Lleras),
and style and interpretation (with the
singer Isabel Palacios).
One choir to emerge from the
­Academy of Singing was Simón
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Bolívar Musical Foundation’s Metropolitan Youth
Symphony Choir, which
is appearing throughout
the country with productions such as Cumpleaños
de Leonor, a zarzuela by the
Venezuelan composer José Ángel
Montero, Mozart’s Così fan Tutte and
The Marriage of Figaro. Moreover,
its members have received master
­classes from outstanding inter­
national maestros: Gerald Wirth
(Director of the Vienna Boys Choir),
Bernhard Kerres and Michael
Pinkerton (both directors of the
Conservatory of the City of Vienna),
as well as from international artists
such as Laura Claycomb, Renée
Morloc, Cybele Gouverneur, and
Markus Marquardt.
Margot Parés-Reyna, an o­ utstanding
Venezuelan soprano who has received the highest level of vocal and
artistic training both at home and
abroad (she studied with Herta Glaz
in Los Angeles and with Schuyler
Hamilton in Paris), has made her
dream come true: that of seeing
the first generations of singers and
choristers develop in Venezuela, with
the idea of not only enhancing the
staging of symphonic choral works
by the System’s orchestras, but also of
promoting a sizeable group of singers
with whom to form a major opera
movement.
Commenting on these goals,
­Parés-Reyna says:
“It’s a privilege to be part of the
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation
team, because, during the many
years I worked in Europe, I always
had a dream in mind: of returning to
Venezuela to give back to my country the many things it gave me that
allowed me to be successful in my
career as a vocalist and opera singer.
Maestro José Antonio Abreu, with
his customary generosity, has offered
me a fantastic platform from which
I’m able to contribute to the development of a major choral movement
that is being formed in the System of
Youth and Children’s Choirs.”
Margot, who has won an important
place on the opera stages of Europe
(she has sung at the opera houses of
Marseilles, Strasbourg, Montpellier,
Toulouse, Lyons, Liège, Lausanne,
Metz, Nantes, and Nancy, and also
at the International Festival in Jerusalem and at the Teatro del Maggio
Musicale Fiorentino), explains that
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s
Academy of Singing is patterned,
throughout the country, on the same
system as the orchestras: “Right
from the time they are very tiny, the
children take part in pre-school and
children’s choirs such as Los Niños
Cantores de Venezuela. Then, when
they are older, they learn about
the correct physical coordination
for producing vocal sounds of the
highest quality. After that they
continue their training in different
youth choirs and they continue their
development in that fashion until
they become exceptional singers
and upright and happy individuals
besides.”
With the idea of creating a choral structure in
Venezuela, Maestro Abreu considered ­forming
the Youth Symphony Choir of Venezuela,
which, from the start, was made up of the
symphony choirs of Lara, Aragua, Guárico,
Carabobo, Falcón, and Zulia states. This important national choir was born with a delightful
repertoire of Venezuelan madrigals and has also
taken part in major symphonic-choral works,
among them Antonio Estévez’s Cantata Criolla,
Gustav Mahler’s Symphonies I and II, Mozart’s
Requiem and his opera Don Giovanni, La Bohème
by Puccini, Carmen by G. Bizet, Villalobos’s
Choro Nº 10 and Floresta Amazónica, The Planets
by Gustav Holst, Zadok The Priest, The King
Shall Rejoice, and Dixit Dominus by Handel,
Inocente Carreño’s Réquiem, and Venezuelan
première of Seven Gates of Jerusalem, Hymn to
Saint Adalbert, O Gloriosa Virginum, and the
Eighth Symphony by the notable Polish composer Krzysztof ­Penderecki, under the batons
of Gustavo Dudamel, Krzysztof Penderecki,
Isaac Karabtchevsky, Nicolas Kraemer, Sir
Simon Rattle, Alfredo Rugeles, Felipe Izcaray,
Inocente Carreño, Christian Vásquez, and Pablo
­Castellanos, to name but a few.
Libia Gómez de D’Adonna
choral works. With the System’s choral program
we have joined this movement and, today, we
want to continue to contribute to the growth
and strengthening of the capacity of our singers
and choir directors in every region of the country,” Sánchez insists.
An entrepreneur in a major key
Libia Gómez d D’Adonna exudes
enthusiasm from every pore, it shows
in her smile and is even reflected in
her voice with its Lara accent. And
the personality of the woman who
managed to get the System of Choirs
up and running in all the nuclei in
Lara as productively and successfully
as she has done could not but be
open, dynamic, and cordial. And the
numbers and facts give testimony
to that: by 2010, Lara had a total of
38 pre-school, children’s, youth, and
adult choirs, and even one made up
of parents of the young musicians
who attend the Barquisimeto
Nucleus. Libia, whose entire family is
involved in the System (her husband
is Alfredo D’Adonna, a member of
the Lara Symphony Orchestra and
the System’s coordinator in Lara,
and her two children, who are also
musicians) started to sing with the
Youth Choir but never imagined she
would take on the role of musical
director for all the choirs she has
founded with the support of seven
coordinators.
Abreu, I accepted the job and I love
it. I’m in love with my “baby choir,”
the tiny tots of between 4 and 5, and
with all the choirs we’ve managed to
form in each of the Lara nuclei, in
particular La Camerata Larense.
But it’s not just a question of singing.
In the past seven years, Libia has
had to work on training the choir
coordinators who look after Lara’s
choir network, not only in voice
techniques, but also in the repertoire,
which encompasses major symphonic choral works such as Mahler’s
Symphony No. 2 and Venezuelan and
Latin American folk and popular
songs, including her own arrangements and adaptations for the
different voices. “My constant dream
is that all the singers, from the tiny
tots to the adults, have the wonderful
experience of sharing and being
happy through music, regardless of
where they’re from or to which social
stratum they belong because, in a
choir, all the voices are important and
make up the whole,” she says.
“I knew nothing about choral direction, but thanks to my music studies
and the encouragement of Maestro
Lara has more than 30 choral groups
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Los Niños Cantores de Venezuela
“In capital region, the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Choir is shaping up as one of our major
choirs. We are planning its academic and professional training by getting them to continuously
take on challenges of extremely demanding
musical works both a capella and works with an
orchestra,” explains Lourdes Sánchez.
As a result of the reorganization of the choir, in
January 2010, it had the opportunity to take part
in the Training Workshop given by ­Maestro
­Gerald Wirth, at which they studied W. A.
Mozart’s Mass in C and his motet Regina Coeli
together with the Simón Bolívar Symphony
Orchestra, besides the staging of motets by
Anton Bruckner, all under the baton of the
Austrian maestro.
Los Niños Cantores de Venezuela, a choir that
has been functioning for three years, has been
fortunate enough to come under the supervision and receive the guidance of Maestro Wirth
at three workshops, with notable results in its
artistic development. Worthy of mention is the
staging of Benjamin Britten’s Missa Brevis for
boys’ voices and organ.
Following the orchestras’ example
The choral program has drawn on many of
the youngsters who started off in the children’s
and youth choirs and who have found in the
choral world a place for developing as musicians. The choirs have been the training ground
for some youngsters who have later taken up
choral direction. Moreover, the need to train
thousands of youngsters has made in necessary
to set up cooperation networks with institutions to organize the attendance of international
and Venezuelan maestros and prepare courses
and workshops through the National System
206
of Choirs Office and the Nuclei Management
Office’s Academic Training Division. This
expansion, which involves about 30 directors
in Caracas alone, has drawn on the experience
of renowned maestros who have visited us. For
example, in 2007, Maestro Gerald Wirth’s first
visit was extremely well attended by 120 directors from all parts of the country, who took full
advantage of the opportunity.
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation has already
started its course in choral direction studies under Maestro César Alejandro Carrillo. This year
it is also to commence a national training plan
drawing on the experience of Argenis Rivera
and Juan Carlos Bersague, two choral leaders
who are coordinating the choral program in
Mérida and Zulia states. These are merely the
beginnings of an academic structure that offers
in-house training in other aspects of choral
work for Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s
choral directors. They also have universities and
conservatories that offer the necessary training
for choral directors.
Mention should also be made of the accomplishments of the choral coordinators who have been
doing an excellent job of teaching and training
choirs in their respective states: María Contreras,
who has trained a large number of leaders in
Guárico; Iraida Pineda, who has been training
youngsters in Aragua for the past 30 years; and
Libia Gómez in Lara, who has been setting up a
network with nearly 60 choirs, from pre-school
to adult. And there are other regional choir coordinators who have started to do important work
in their states: Aura María Ríos in Carabobo,
Juan Carlos Bersague in Zulia, Rafael Silveira in
Anzoátegui, Ricardo Navas in Falcón, and Cruz
Taylor Almao in the Llanos.
The Vienna Boys Choir with Maestro Abreu
A single song from Vienna to Caracas
The Austrian professor Gerald
Wirth is enchanted with the voices
of the National System of Choirs of
Venezuela. He has paid three visits to
Venezuela, most recently in 2010,
to give workshops and share his
sound and extensive experience in
choral work with Venezuelan singing
teachers and choristers. He is the
principle director of the Vienna Boys
Choir, with which Maestro Abreu
has had agreements since 2005 to
exchange teaching experiences.
“Exchange” is precisely the term
Wirth prefers to use to describe
the work he has done in Venezuela
together with Simón Bolívar Musical
Foundation’s teachers Margot
Parés-Reyna and Lourdes Sánchez.
“When Margot spoke to us in
Vienna about what the System of
Orchestras is, it sounded to us like a
very good program. But when you
come to Venezuela, you find that her
words fell short: we discovered something incredible, musically speaking,
and so, of course, we justify the goal
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation
has of transferring its success with the
children’s and youth orchestras to the
choirs, because it’s very important to
create a balance between music and
singing. Apart from that, the System’s
orchestras, particularly the Simón
Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, put on
major symphonic-choral works, and
developing the vocal component is
extremely important. But the work
here is shaping up extremely well,
particularly with Los Niños Cantores
de Venezuela, as they are working very
hard on voice technique with Margot
and Lourdes. That’s why I say that
I’m only here to reinforce what they
already know how to do.”
Wirth comments that the Vienna
Boys Choir, with a tradition of more
than 500 years, has something in
common with the System, in the
sense that their small boys and
adolescents follow a demanding program of vocal studies to achieve the
exquisite level that has maintained
them as a “vocal jewel” for so many
years. “However,” notes Wirth, “it is
in no way comparable to the social
work that the System does with
Venezuelan children from poor backgrounds, which offers a possibility for
saving other children at risk in many
parts of the world. I’m thinking, for
example, of the children in Serbia or
the children who are in warzones.”
Gerald Wirth
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Brass Ensemble conducted
by Thomas Clamor
Springboard
to the vanguard of music
he explosive music dynamic that the System
of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela
has produced has invaded stages the length and
breadth of the country and is giving birth to such
a solid, professional, and rich movement that
everyone is saying: “That musician comes from
the System,” regardless of whether they hear him
playing Venezuelan or Latin American music,
urban or folk music, rock, salsa, or chamber
music. Apart from belonging to their orchestras
and interpreting symphonic repertoires, these
musicians form groups to play other musical
genres or to explore the repertoire of the instrument they play –strings, wind, woodwind or per­
cussion- in greater depth. Many are developing
interesting musical projects that are different or
experimental and are even managing to produce
CDs, besides playing with other groups that do
not belong to Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation. The result: they are nurturing the musical
vanguard that Venezuela has become.
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation has ensembles of different musical tones: countless
208
quintets, quartets, trios, and bands, and 363
chamber music ensembles, among them the
Brass Ensemble of Venezuela (under the baton
of the German maestro, Thomas Clamor, who
has conducted it at major international festivals
such as The Proms in London); the Trumpet
Quartet of Venezuela; the Millennium Quartet;
the Simón Bolívar String Quartet; the Ávila Trio;
the Epic String Quartet; the Atalaya Percussion
Ensemble; the Lara Brass Ensemble; the Simón
Bolívar Big Band Jazz (under Maestro Andrés
Briceño); the Simón Bolívar Youth Symphonic
Band (created by Valdemar Rodríguez and Jesús
Ignacio Pérez Perazzo –its conductor- to foster
the talent of the System’s most outstanding wind
instrument players); the Francisco de Miranda
Youth Symphony Orchestra (conducted by
Maestro Andrés González); the Caracas Youth
Symphony Orchestra (under Maestro Dietrich
Paredes), and the Teresa Carreño Youth Symphony Orchestra, which has attracted some of
the System’s emerging talents and, under Maestro
Ulyses Ascanio, is offering concerts at home and
abroad that are having a considerable impact.
The Polyphonic Bell Choir of Venezuela, the only one of its kind, with headquarters at El Tocuyo Nucleus
Festivals, an opportunity to shine
The contingent of musicians receiving training
in the System also has a wide range of possibilities for demonstrating their virtues and level of
artistic development at numerous music festivals
and encounters that become attractive programs,
which audiences throughout the country thank
by turning out en masse and offering their
enthusiastic applause. The Mozart Festival, the
Verdi Festival, the Mahler Festival, the Vivaldi
Festival, the Villa-Lobos Festival, the Beethoven
Festival, the System in the World Festival, the
­Spain-Venezuela Arts Encounter Festival, the
Bancaribe Youth Festival are all put on with
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s conceptual
and logistical support. Other festivals are devoted
to specific instruments and are international in
scope, such as the International Oboe Festival,
the International Violin Festival, the International
Clarinet Festival, the International Flute Festival,
and so on.
One of the recent initiatives for fostering the
talent of musicians in the Andean states was held
in January 2010 as part of the 15-day Mérida
Music Festival put on at different venues in the
city, among them the Universidad de Los Andes’s
Main Lecture Hall. With Eduardo Méndez at its
head, this festival was a new opportunity for the
System’s most outstanding musicians, particularly
the players of stringed instruments, to show the
public what they can do, as the Mérida Symphony Orchestra did at its first appearance with
Simón Gollo (violin), Horacio Contreras (cello),
and Jhonny Viloria (viola) under the baton of
Maestro César Iván Lara; and also the Mérida
Youth Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Jesús
Morín. Prestigious guests appearing at this event
included our double-bass player Edicson Ruíz,
the Venezuelan bass singer Iván García, and the
pianist Rhodri Clarke.
Horacio Contreras, Gerardo Vila,
and Simon Gollo (below), Mérida
Music Festival
209
A stage for
celebrating splendor
f the 1990s saw a great musical blossoming
in Venezuela, the first decade of the 21st
century was no less promising, thanks to new
spaces and initiatives that give free rein to the
multiplicity of artistic talents that have been
forged within the System.
A case in point is the Música Bancaribe program –an alliance between Bancaribe and
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation–, which
has opened up a whole series of possibilities for
­
supporting the System. The Bancaribe Music
Festival is one of those alternatives for giving
back to ­Venezuelans the top-notch concert
agenda they have set their hearts on while, at the
same time, allowing them to enjoy international
artists of renowned prestige and emerging
national talents.
The format used by the Bancaribe Music
Festival encompasses more than concerts with
soloists, guest conductors, and our Simón
Bolívar Venezuelan Youth Orchestra, as it also
offers master classes, open rehearsals, and other
activities. During the first festival, held in 2005
to mark Bancaribe’s 51st anniversary, the public
was able to enjoy five concerts in the Teresa Carreño Theater conducted by ­Gustavo Dudamel,
210
who alternated with the guest international
baton, Robin Ticcitati, the musical and artistic
director of Sweden’s Gavie Gavie Symphonic
Orchestra. The soloists were no less prestigious:
Andrea Griminelli (flute), Joshua Bell (violin),
Kirill Gerstein (piano), Daniel Blendulf (cello),
and Sylvia Schawartz (soprano).
In 2006, Universidad Central de Venezuela’s Main
Lecture Hall and Teresa Carreño’s José Félix Ribas
Concert Hall were the venues for the second
festival. This time our young baton in ascent,
Gustavo Dudamel, alternated with the ex­
perienced conducting of Maestro Claudio
­Abbado and the SJVSB accompanied renowned
Venezuelan and international figures such as Aldo
López Gavilán (piano), Hélene Grimaud (piano),
Maurice Bourgue (cello), and the Venezuelan
Kristhyan Benítez (piano).
Sir Simon Rattle, already much loved by the
Venezuelan public, graced the third festival, in
2007. Dudamel and the director of the Berlin
Philharmonic shared a repertoire consisting of
works by Brahms, Berg, and Shostakovich. Once
again, the SJVSB conquered the public that filled
the Main Lecture Hall, where the guest soloist,
the Czech mezzo soprano Magdalena Kožená,
also appeared. Dudamel conducted in the Teresa ­Carreño
Theater again in 2008, for the eighth festival, alternating
with the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, who
conducted the première of his own works: Largo, for cello
and orchestra and Symphony N° 2 for Orchestra, the “Christmas
Symphony.” The soloist was the Finnish cellist Arto Noras.
In 2009, the name was changed to Youth Festival and, that
year, it had the conductor Wayne Marshall as a special
guest, who took turns with Dudamel in conducting the
Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and the Teresa
­Carreño Youth Orchestra at the Ríos Reyna Concert Hall.
The soloists were Jean Yves-Thibaudet (piano), Emanuel
Ax (piano), and Kirill Gerstein (piano). On that occasion, the box office takings were donated to the Hospital
Cardiológico del Oeste and the audience was able to hear,
among other pieces, Symphony No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra,
“The Age of Anxiety,” written by Leonard Bernstein in 1949.
Schools filled with song
Besides the Youth Festival, each year the Música
­Bancaribe program puts on a Children’s Choir Festival,
which is part of the Music in Schools project, also
created by Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation and
Bancaribe, and which has been held three times to date.
A large number of popular institutions, educational
establishments, and the System’s nuclei have taken part
with their choirs, among them: the Carlos Delfino
Foundation (La Vega), La Rinconada Nucleus (Las
Mayas), Los Salesianos Module (Sarría), Gustavo H.
Machado Complex (Los Chorros), The Children’s
Foundation (Propatria), Fe y Alegría’s Abraham Reyes
Elementary/Middle School (23 de Enero), Pedro
Felipe Ledezma Elementary/Middle School (Carapita),
Jesús Enrique Lozada School (Chapellín), San Agustín
Nucleus (Parque Central), María Taberna Educational
Establishment (Caricuao), Carmen Maizo de Bello National Bolivarian Educational Establishment (El Valle),
San José de Calazans School (Propatria), La Auxiliadora
Children’s Home (San Bernardino), and Fé y Alegría’s
Virgen Niña Elementary/Middle School (Casalta).
a study p­ rogram together with the schools’ directors.
Under this program, which seeks to form well rounded
children and youngsters of pre-school and school age,
alliances with some schools have also been formed to
gradually set up the teaching of symphonic music.
Moreover, the music and education activities undertaken
jointly by Bancaribe and the orchestras are not concentrated in Caracas, they also benefit several regions of the
country through the holding of concerts at the nuclei in
major cities in the provinces, such as Barquisimeto, Maracaibo, Puerto Cabello, and Valencia.
Finally, another way that Bancaribe supports Simón
Bolívar Musical Foundation is by equipping the System’s
nuclei that have the largest number of pupils with instruments. Also, as part of the Música ­Bancaribe program, a
special line of credit with ­preferential interest rates has
been opened so that advanced musicians and teachers
and professional musicians who are members of the orchestras can acquire their own instruments and continue
with their artistic careers.
Thanks to the Children’s Choir Festival, music and
­singing are reaching a large number of schools and
a sizeable student community. To this end, Simón
Bolívar Musical Foundation and the singing and
music teachers who have been trained by the System
guarantee the e­ xcellence of this program by setting up
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Edgar Dao, the president of the Association of the Youth and Children’s Orchestra of Venezuela
“When I mention the orchestras my heart is filled with stars”
Paraphrasing Aquiles Nazoa, the director
of Bancaribe, Edgar Dao, emphasizes
the importance of the program of Youth
and Children’s Choirs for 21st century
Venezuela.
as the Liberator said, that of Citizen.
Simply that: a Citizen who abides by
the law, is concerned for his country,
and has a demanding conscience and
an explicit will to work and serve.”
the continuation of the passion to
be an editor inculcated in me by my
father. He insisted that one always
had to leave testimony of the best of a
country’s memory.”
In every age, long before the times
of Leonardo da Vinci, the patron has
been one of the key figures that
allowed artists’ creations to come
to the notice of society. Down the
centuries, they have gone under
different names: philanthropist, patron, sponsor, cultural promoter. But
regardless of the name they are given,
what is important is the vocation,
spirit of understanding, and passion
that inspire these men, women, and
companies as well as their convictions,
to elevate these artistic talents.
It is that very same philosophy that
has inspired him throughout his
working life, from when he was
young to his consolidation as a
successful businessman, the one he
has transferred to Bancaribe and his
staff during his 20 years as the bank’s
president, “besides,” as he says, ”the
modern concepts of business or
corporate social responsibility.”
“I’ve always had a special interest in
Bancaribe not being merely a financial
institution, but in it also assuming its
responsibility as a good corporate
citizen. In line with that same premise,
and as has happened with other
initiatives that we’ve undertaken in
different spheres of national life, we
set out, more than ten years ago now,
to support the youth and children’s
orchestras, which, from our point of
view, has been a true privilege rather
than a duty. In this case, we are the ones
who have a debt of gratitude with
Maestro Abreu, who, with his imagination, with his youngsters and musicians,
with his orchestra conductors and
managers, has allowed us to take part
in his great undertaking, helping with
what falls within our sphere of competence and where we can,” explains Dao.
But there is one thing about which
the president of Association of the
Youth and Children’s Symphony of
Venezuela, Edgar Alberto Dao, is
quite certain: his categorical rejection
of the label of “patron.” “I’m not, nor
do I consider myself to be, a patron,
nor do I want to be so considered. The
only title I’d wish to be worthy of is,
212
That is why, one day more than six
years ago now, when we first met
Edgar Alberto Dao, we found that he
was interested in consolidating still
further the support that
Bancaribe had started to formally
give the National System of Youth
and Children´s Orchestras in 2000.
That interest found an outlet in
the book Venezuela bursting with
orchestras, published in 2004, and
about which he says with pride: “It’s
A work for
Venezuela’s soul
Edgar Alberto Dao (Puerto Cabello,
Venezuela) recalls his first contact
with the System’s founder and the
smallest musicians of the National
Children’s Orchestra of Venezuela
15 years ago, when he was invited to a
concert in honor of his friend Aníbal
Latuff. Those were the years of artistic
splendor in Venezuela, in the 1990s,
and Maestro José Antonio Abreu
was –as he is today- tirelessly making
known the benefits that his musical
and social program offers children
and young people.
What struck you most about that
concert?
I’d already heard people talk about
Abreu’s orchestras, but it wasn’t until
then that the profoundness of his
music had a great impact on me. I
remember that that evening they
started the concert with Tchaikovsky’s
1812 Overture and ended with the
National Anthem. Their playing was
remarkable. Such intensity and force,
such powerful and majestic sounds
came as a surprise because of the contrast between those robust sounds
and the bodies of children who were
so tiny that their feet didn’t reach the
floor; little ones who were at the same
time fragile and powerful; tiny virtuosi angels. To my mind, there could
have been no better calling card.
Apart from the impact of your first
contact with this education and
cultural program, how would you
assess it?
The day after the concert I looked for
Maestro Abreu’s phone numbers, and
I called him and said: ‘I want to talk to
you. I think you’ve found a great admirer of your work. I’d like to find the
way to contribute and to participate in
whatever way you consider necessary,
both personally and on the corporate
level.’ Then I continued to develop
that relationship and I have been able
to observe the System’s virtues up
close, both its artistic and educational
aspects and its social side. To my mind,
Abreu’s work is the most important
thing that has been done in Venezuela
in the 20th century. That is why the
System is universal, because it makes
it possible to improve the quality of
education for children and young
people to a level that is far superior to
any standard. Besides that it is a program that enriches the soul of a nation
and its present and future values. This
unique, incomparable undertaking of
Abreu’s is Venezuela’s great contribution to the rest of the world.
The pride of Venezuelans
Obviously there are other initiatives
in Venezuela geared to inculcating
values in children and young people,
however, Bancaribe created the
program “Música Bancaribe,” which,
systematically and without interrup-
tion, meets important requirements,
on many fronts, of the 300,000 musicians who are part of the orchestras.
It is true, there are many different
initiatives in Venezuela worthy of
­support, because the needs are many
and are becoming more acute. For
reasons of efficiency, one has to
concentrate one’s support and participation: some are called on to think
up initiatives, others to carry them
out, and the rest to cheer them on,
because you need a lot of shoulders to
push the cart. With that in mind, we
sought out the System to do our part.
It is only fair to recognize the continuous support that our administrations
have given the System over the past
35 years, the same length of time that
it’s been in existence. It is one of the
national programs that have merited
uninterrupted support.
The System is the most polished
expression of Venezuela and her
people; it’s the best we have to offer
the world. Let me recall here, if I
may, a verse that my much admired
poet, Aquiles Nazoa, dedicated to
his platonic love, Teresa de la Parra, to
whom he wrote: “I name Teresa de la
Parra and, in naming her, my heart is
filled with stars”; and I, paraphrasing
those words with the utmost respect,
apply it to the System and say: “I name
the Orchestras, and in naming them,
my heart is filled with stars.”
What, in your opinion, are the most
outstanding virtues that the System
contains and, on the personal level,
what prompted you to chair the
­Association of the Youth and Children’s Symphony Orchestra
of Venezuela?
The System not only has virtues from
the artistic and cultural viewpoints,
it also makes contributions of
great quality for the betterment of
Venezuelans. As a matter of fact, the
way in which its conductors conduct
the orchestras is a clear example of
humility, good teaching, and intimate
spiritual communication with those
who are being conducted. I find that
they also practice certain virtues that
we Venezuelans don’t cultivate as
often as we should, teamwork, for
example, and I also observe order and
discipline in the System. I admire how
responsibly they organize their tours
so as to fulfill the delicate respon­
sibility of taking care of so many
children and adolescents, leaving no
detail to chance and eliminating the
possibility of incidents of any kind.
Discipline, order, responsibility,
planning, communication, humility,
solidarity, in addition to its sublime
musical training, those are the virtues
I appreciate in the System.
The country we want
to listen to
What’s your vision for the country?
Would it be the vision of a Venezuela
completely in tune, with all its citizens pointing in the same direction
and aiming for the same goals, as
happens in the orchestras?
Exactly. In the System of Orchestras,
we have a scheme of values and virtues
that we can develop in all spheres
of national life. I would like for
­Venezuela, which I’ve always considered to be the country of hope, not to
be condemned to being a country of
hope forever, but for it to become the
country of hopes come true. Besides,
I think that we Venezuelans are very
well equipped on the spiritual side
and in terms of our natural ­kindness,
our innate happiness, hospitality,
generosity, and our sense of solidarity.
All those values are to be found in the
System and also in the orchestra nuclei planted in all the country’s towns.
Thousands of children, adolescents,
and adults are preparing themselves
to become more than musicians;
they are learning to become good
citizens. Like them, we can learn to
behave with discipline, humility, and
responsibility.
What great challenge do you
think the System is facing, bearing
in mind how developed it has
become and the impact it is having
­internationally, and, on the other
hand, what is the commitment
Venezuelans should make in view
of this great achievement?
The System has performed its function impeccably. It has give much
more than could possibly have been
imagined and has become a source
of inspiration for the entire country.
And it gives me great satisfaction to
publicly acknowledge the tenacity
and will of Maestro Abreu and of
those who accompany him in the
System. The important thing is that
the country and we Venezuelans see
the System as a reflection of what we
can be as a nation and as citizens.
213
The country is one big orchestra
Total number of
nuclei and modules
Zulia
13
Lara
10
Falcón
5
Carabobo
8
Yaracuy
Aragua
12
Distrito Capital
16
Vargas
9
Miranda
20
Guárico
Anzoátegui
Sucre
Monagas
11
9
17
Trujillo
9
16
1
13
Total
230
Táchira
15
6
5
Delta Amacuro
Mérida
Apure
Nueva Esparta
11
Barinas Portuguesa
3
5
Total nuclei
nationwide
Cojedes
3
Number of orchestras (youth, children’s, pre-school): 396
Number of youth
and children’s choirs:
Number of youth orchestras: 146
342
Bolívar
Number of children’s orchestras: 150
5
Number of pre-school orchestras: 100
Number of teachers
in this musicians’
army:
Amazonas
Total student population catered to (children, adolescents, young
people, and adults): 300.000
3.500
1
Total nuclei nationwide
Capital District
Latin American Academies (HQ:
Center for Social Action through Music)
Montalbán Children’s Academic Center
Luthery Academic Center
Simón Bolívar Conservatory
Núcleo Carapita
Núcleo Chapellín
Núcleo La Rinconada
Núcleo La Vega
Núcleo Propatria
Núcleo San Agustín
Núcleo Sarría
Módulo Caricuao
Módulo San Bernardino
Módulo Los Magallanes
Módulo Catia
Módulo Antímano
Módulo Casalta II
Módulo Fuerte Tiuna
Módulo Propatria
Módulo El Valle
Módulo Carapita
Módulo Las Acacias
Núcleo Cantaura
Núcleo El Tigre
Núcleo Lecherías
Núcleo Santa Ana
Núcleo Puerto Píritu y Píritu
Núcleo San Mateo
Núcleo Achaguas
Núcleo El Amparo
Núcleo Guasdualito
Núcleo San Fernando de Apure
Núcleo San Juan de Payara
Núcleo Biroaca
Aragua State
Cojedes State
Children’s Choir Program
Youth Choir Program
Amazonas State
Barinas State
Anzoátegui State
Núcleo Anzoátegui
Núcleo Anaco
Núcleo Aragua de Barcelona
Núcleo Barinas
Núcleo Real
Núcleo Socopó
Bolívar
Núcleo Ciudad Bolívar
Source: Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s Nuclei Division and Regional Nuclei
214
Carabobo State
Núcleo Carabobo
Núcleo Belén
Núcleo Las Brisas
Núcleo Puerto Cabello
Núcleo Tocuyito
Núcleo Valencia
Núcleo Mariara
Núcleo Los Lanceros, Puerto Cabello
Apure State
Núcleo Maracay
Núcleo San Sebastián de los Reyes
Núcleo San Casimiro
Núcleo Camatagua
Núcleo Taguay
Núcleo La Victoria
Núcleo Colonia Tovar
Núcleo San Vicente
Núcleo Tejerías
Núcleo Cagua
Núcleo Turmero
Núcleo El Consejo
Núcleo Amazonas, Puerto Ayacucho
Núcleo Guasipati
Núcleo Puerto Ordaz
Núcleo San Félix
Núcleo Santa Elena de Uairén
Núcleo San Francisco de Tiznado
Núcleo San Gerónimo de Guayabal
Núcleo San Juan de Los Morros
Núcleo Valle de la Pascua (has
5 Módulos)
Núcleo Tucupido
Núcleo Zaraza
Lara State
Núcleo San Carlos
Núcleo Tinaco
Núcleo Tinaquillo
Núcleo Barquisimeto
Núcleo Programa de Educación Especial
Núcleo Cabudare
Núcleo Carora
Núcleo Duaca (Special Education Program)
Núcleo El Tocuyo
Núcleo Sanare
Núcleo Sarare
Núcleo Quíbor
Núcleo Santa Rosa
Delta Amacuro State
Mérida State
Núcleo Tucupita
Falcón State
Núcleo Coro
Núcleo Cumarebo
Núcleo La Vela de Coro
Núcleo Mirimire
Núcleo Punto Fijo
Guárico State
Núcleo Altagracia de Orituco
Núcleo Calabozo I ( has 2 Módulos)
Núcleo Calabozo II (has 2 Módulos)
Núcleo Camaguán
Núcleo El Sombrero
Núcleo Bailadores
Núcleo Chiguará
Núcleo El Vigía
Núcleo Fe y Alegría de El Valle
Núcleo La Zulita
Núcleo Mérida
Núcleo Mucuchíes
Núcleo Santa Cruz de Mora
Núcleo Tabay
Núcleo Tovar
Núcleo Tucaní
Núcleo Ejido
States with the largest number of orchestras
Miranda
38
32
Gran Caracas
Mérida
28
Zulia
26
Lara
25
Trujillo
Nueva Esparta
20
Sucre
20
Academic Centers
and Luthery Workshops
Total Nº
of centers
Special Education
Program
20
Anzoátegui (Puerto La Cruz)
Aragua (Colonia Tovar, Maracay)
Bolívar (Ciudad Bolívar)
Delta Amacuro (Tucupita)
Distrito Capital (Caricuao -National
Luthery Academic-, Center Propatria,
Montalbán and San
Agustín del Sur)
Guárico (San Juan de Los Morros)
Miranda State
Núcleo Baruta
Núcleo Carrizales
Núcleo Caucagua
Núcleo Chacao
Núcleo Charallave
Núcleo Cúa
Núcleo El Hatillo
Núcleo Guarenas
Núcleo Guatire
Núcleo Higuerote
Núcleo Julián Blanco de Mariche
Núcleo Los Chorros
Núcleo Los Teques
Núcleo Mamporal
Núcleo Ocumare del Tuy
Núcleo Petare
Núcleo Río Chico
Núcleo San Antonio de los Altos
Núcleo Santa Lucía
Núcleo Santa Teresa del Tuy
Monagas State
Núcleo Mangosal de La Puente
Núcleo Caripito
Núcleo Maturín
Núcleo Monagas
Núcleo Santa Bárbara
Núcleo Punceres
Núcleo Caripe
Núcleo Indígena de Buja
Núcleo Jusepín
Núcleo Morichal
Núcleo Caicara
Virgen de la Esperanza Misionera
Children’s Home Module
22
Total
1
(with 12 nuclei nationwide
and 25 music ensembles)
Prisons Academic Program
and Prison Orchestra Network
Total
of nuclei
5
Capital District
Falcón (Paraguaná and Punto Fijo)
Guárico (Calabozo)
Lara (Aroa, Barquisimeto, Duaca
and San Felipe)
Mérida (Pueblo Llano)
Miranda (Los Teques and
Los Chorros)
Nueva Esparta (Porlamar and
La Asunción)
Sucre (Güiria)
Táchira (San Cristóbal and La Grita)
Trujillo (Valera)
Vargas (La Guaira)
Mérida (Andean Region Penitentiary)
Táchira (Western Region Penitentiary)
Carabobo (Carabobo Penitentiary /
“Mínima de Tocuyito”)
Miranda (National Orientation
Institute for Women, INOF)
Falcón (Coro Penitentiary
Community)
Nueva Esparta State
Núcleo La Asunción
Núcleo Porlamar
Núcleo Tubores
Núcleo Juan Griego
Núcleo Jóvito Villalba, Isla de Coche
Núcleo San Pedro del Río
Núcleo Táriba
Special Education Nucleus
Núcleo Seboruco
Núcleo Capacho de Independencia
Núcleo CANTV, San Cristóbal
Yaracuy State
Portuguesa State
Trujillo State
Lara (Barquisimeto)
Mérida (Mérida)
Miranda (Guarenas, Chuao,
Chacao and Los Chorros)
Monagas (Maturín)
Sucre (Cumaná)
Táchira (San Cristóbal)
Yaracuy (San Felipe)
Núcleo Carúpano
Núcleo Cariaco
Núcleo Cumaná
Núcleo Güiria
Núcleo Marigüitar
Núcleo Río Caribe
Núcleo Tunapuy
Núcleo Yaguaraparo
Núcleo Cumanacoa
Núcleo Betijoque
Núcleo Boconó
Núcleo Carache
Núcleo Escuque
Núcleo La Puerta
Núcleo Sabana de Mendoza
Núcleo Trujillo
Núcleo Valera
Núcleo Monte Carmelo
Núcleo Sabana Grande
Núcleo El Dividive
Núcleo Candelaria
Núcleo Santa Ana
Núcleo Motatán
Núcleo Carvajal
Núcleo Pampanito
Táchira State
Vargas State
Núcleo Acarigua-Araure
Núcleo Guanare
Núcleo Turén
Núcleo Guanarito
Núcleo Agua Blanca
Sucre State
Núcleo Idena
Núcleo La Grita
Núcleo Michelena
Núcleo Palmira I
Núcleo Palmira II (Diócesis of de
San Cristóbal)
Núcleo Puente Real, San Cristóbal
Núcleo San Antonio del Táchira
Núcleo San Cristóbal
Núcleo San Juan de Colón
Núcleo Caraballeda
Núcleo Maiquetía
Núcleo Playa Grande, Catia La Mar
Módulo Naiguatá
Módulo Uramarí
Módulo Tarmas, Carayaca
Módulo Tropicana
Módulo La Guaira
Módulo Todasana
Núcleo Albarico
Núcleo Aroa
Núcleo Boraure
Núcleo Chivacoa
Núcleo Cocorote
Núcleo San Felipe
Manuel Rodríguez Cárdenas Pre-school
Orchestra Nucleus
Independencia Youth Orchestra Nucleus
Núcleo Nirgua
Núcleo Sabana de Parra
Núcleo San Felipe
Núcleo Veroes
Núcleo Yaritagua
Núcleo Yumare
Guama Youth Orchestra Nucleus
San Pablo Youth Orchestra Nucleus
Special Education Program Nucleus
Zulia State
Núcleo Cabimas
Núcleo Costa Oriental
Children’s Fundation Nucleus, Maracaibo
Núcleo Lagunillas, Ciudad Ojeda
Núcleo La Guajira
Núcleo Maracaibo
Núcleo Puertos de Altagracia
Núcleo Santa Rosa de Agua
Núcleo Maracaibo Centro
Núcleo El Laberinto
Núcleo La Chinita
Núcleo La Cañada, Urdaneta
Núcleo San Carlos del Zulia
215
The Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation team, the musicians of
the SJVSB, and Dudamel at the Luis Aparicio Stadium during a
rehearsal for closing concert of the national tour, Maracaibo 2010.
cultural enterprise
Art is not a mirror in which we contemplate ourselves
but a destiny in which we become fulfilled.
Jorge Luis Borges
IX
Chapter
A flourishing:
How great
the management ensemble
sounds!
hen the applause becomes the concert’s
closing work and the entire orchestra
celebrates its triumph in the dressing rooms,
behind the scenes an army of men and women
breathes a sigh of relief, because it is they who,
day and night, have been rehearsing a score of
organization, logistics, and complex artistic
production, tenaciously playing the best instruments they have to achieve perfection: love for
their boys and girls, devotion to and limitless
faith in the System, and a fierce conviction that
all their efforts contribute to the progress and
glorification of a great Venezuela.
Together they make up an incredibly energetic
piece of machinery called Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation. And it is that enthusiastic troop
of workers that takes the pulse and monitors
the life of the orchestras; looks after the physical and psychological health of thousands of
young Venezuelan musicians, both children and
adolescents; makes sure that the rehearsals are
held in safe, well-equipped locations; and makes
every effort to ensure that the national and
international tours go off with their customary
efficiency, without the slightest hitch.
Thanks to this finely tuned “management ensemble,” today, Venezuela has enviable experience in
organizing and putting on artistic events. Simón
218
Bolívar Musical Foundation has brought together
a multidisciplinary team of professionals that has
grown and developed alongside the orchestras.
Many of the founding musicians have taken the
reins of the orchestras and others, from the new
generations, are already training as managers, because, after all, who is in a better position to know
about the needs, fears, anguishes, joys, and goals of
the System’s boys and girls, if not those who went
before them and lived the same experience of
“playing and fighting”?
Working for the most forgotten
A violinist since he was a child and a social
manager since he was a teenager, if his achievements are anything to go by, those two p­ assions
have always beat in the breast of Andrés
González, a young musician who was born in
Guatire, ­Miranda state, where he started to show
aptitude for heading up initiatives in the most
needy communities of the socio-economic
pyramid. From being a member of the National
­Children’s Orchestra of Venezuela and the
Simón Bolívar Venezuelan Youth Symphony
Orchestra, he went on to become the director of the Guarenas and Guatire Nuclei and
founder and director of the Francisco de
Miranda Youth Symphony Orchestra. But his
social conscience prompted him to do more:
Andrés González
Proof of what González is saying is the funding amounting to $4 million that his office has
­managed to get with the support of the Communal Councils and the Ministry for Communes
in order to make inroads into needy regions that
are a long way from the capital. “Those projects
are: equipping with instruments all the nuclei in
Sucre, Trujillo, Guárico, and Mérida states that
need them; building a new System headquarters
for Portuguesa state; and setting up a very large
nucleus in the Guajira, Zulia state, and another
one in the southern part of Lara state”.
today he is Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s Director for Social Development and,
besides that, the Acting Director of Montalbán
Children’s Center.
“We’re taking the social work that the System
has been carrying out for so many years to a
deeper level. That’s my challenge, the challenge
of everyone at the System. At the Office for
Social Development, there are no limits on the
work we have in mind; it involves completely
opening up to, communicating with, and getting
closer to the communities, the Communal
Councils, and the cells in the barrios or shanty
districts so as to set up nuclei there for children
who don’t have access to the cells that already
exist and for youngsters who’ve never left their
neighborhood and who live practically hidden
and forgotten,” explains González.
However, setting up one of the System’s nuclei
or centers in a depressed neighborhood means
more than just imparting the music teaching
philosophy. González is fully aware of this, and
adds: “The boys and girls who are already part of
the System and who live in barrios lack housing,
food, and instruments and, for that reason, the
social improvement plan contemplates economic aid and help with solving their housing
problems, quite apart from providing musical
training. ­Others suffer from malnutrition, so we
provide them with ongoing medical care on a
case-by-case basis. Besides that, we want to reach
to farthest flung parts of Venezuela, the southern
region and Bolívar and Sucre states, for example.
Bolivia Bottome
Experience and charm
The responsibility of heading up Simón Bolívar
Musical Foundation’s Institutional Development and International Relations Office is a
“perfect fit” for Bolivia Bottome. She is elegant,
speaks several languages, and has solid public
and cultural relations know-how. After working
for the System for 29 years, her experience is of
219
key importance, given the tremendous interest
that has been generated by the bounties of the
Venezuelan musical-social program, which are
reaching other continents, even Africa.
“Here in this office I attend to all kinds
of requests from individuals, institutions,
­government agencies, and foundations, and also
from journalists, writers, reporters, musicians,
researchers, and moviemakers wanting to make
contact to come to Venezuela and/or to meet
Maestro Abreu to interview him or to take part
in seminars, conferences, and forums. I also get
requests for the orchestras to give performances,
which I send on to the other office. When I go
on tour, I have to be present when agreements
and arrangement are being made, and I’m also
responsible for representing and monitoring
seminars, symposia, and talks, activities in which
Maestro Abreu and Gustavo Dudamel are
involved,” explains Bottome.
However, quite apart from the System’s current
boom, Bottome is amazed at the musical level
achieved by the orchestras, simply because she
witnessed the SJVSB’s first international steps.
“The System has evolved enormously; not only
because the number of orchestras has grown,
but also because of the orchestra’s constantly
growing artistic status and the ever increasing
musical demands that are being made on it.
Each generation that joins the orchestras comes
with a better level of informal preparation than
the one before. They don’t start at zero; on
the contrary, now the boys and girls join with
knowledge of music in their heads.”
Leonardo Méndez
of the different areas at the Center for Social
­Action through Music.
“As envisaged by Maestro Abreu, the best things
in music are happening at the Center for Social
Action. It’s the epicenter of an effervescent
cultural activity of an extremely high international standard that few music centers in the
world can equal. On a typical day we have, for
example, one of the largest concert halls being
used for a rehearsal with Maestro Abbado and
the Teresa Carreño Youth Symphony Orchestra,
while Dudamel and the SJVSB are recording
for Deutsche Grammophon, and at the same
time, an international seminar on choral singing
is being held with the Austrian professor, Gerald
Equilibrium at the epicenter
Wirth and more than 30 directors of the System’s choirs. As though that were not enough,
Among the cultural managers to have emerged more than 250 pupils are in the classrooms
from the orchestras, Leonardo Méndez is one of and more are in the library. In other words, in
the most remarkable. A trumpet player trained one day we might have more than 700 people
at Barquisimeto Nucleus and later a member
engaged in some kind of activity; and that does
of the SJVSB, he has held a number of posts
not take into account the Saturday program,
at the System, where he has always demonwhen, from eight in the morning, a fair number
strated an amiable disposition, composure, and of musicians, students, and teachers from all
­equilibrium. But one of the tasks he has found
over the country meet here to take classes at the
most demanding has been the coordination
Latin American Academies.”
220
Some members of Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s Audiovisual Center, among them the photographer Nohely Oliveros and Sergio Prado
Planning and drawing up the schedules of activities that are carried out at the Center for Social
Action through Music’s 14,000 square meters is
no easy task. “We love what we do and we know
how hard we have fought to have a modern
music center and a new concept of conservatory
such as this one. That is why we all respect this
­infrastructure and its schedules, although the
truth is that the musicians and teachers like being
here so much that we often have to reprimand
them because they stay past opening hours and
we are late in closing,” notes Méndez.
Amassing visual and sound memories
If there is an area that has become vitally important for Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation, it is
the Audiovisual Center. At the height of the era
of communications and globalization, audiovisual media and new technologies are vital for
disseminating the System and making it available
to the masses. And, thanks to the foresight of
Maestro Frank Di Polo and the pianist Beatriz
Abreu, the System’s visual and sound memories
have been systematically recorded and preserved
right from the orchestras’ early years.
Today, the Audiovisual Center, located in the Center for Social Action through Music, shows tremendous potential. A group of communications
professionals plan and execute large-scale projects.
Thanks to the latest technologies and equip-
ment, they are able to turn a rehearsal room into a
re­cording studio, a classroom into a movie room
where pupils and musicians watch videos, take part
in video-conferences, and use the tele-workshops,
or a conference room into the ideal location for
filming interviews and television programs.
The Center’s technical director, Sergio Prado,
a communications major who has spent more
than 18 years at the System, tells us about the
work they do there. “We now have 35 years’ of
activities assiduously recorded and preserved.
We perform a variety of tasks, but there are two
I consider fundamental: 1) making audiovisuals
for promoting the System worldwide, where the
main inputs are the successful concerts and the
national and international symphonic-choral
concert mises en scène, and 2) the production
of music tele-workshops, which are audiovisual
classes for each instrument that talk about and
describe it from its history to technical aspects
and issues of interpretation. Those CDs are distributed to approximately 90 nuclei throughout
the country, and that supports and has an amazing multiplier effect on the teaching function.”
At the Audiovisual Center, Sergio Prado
works with a large team. One of its outstanding
members is the Venezuelan photographer and
communications major, Nohely Oliveros, who,
with the support of Frank Di Polo, performs the
titanic task of keeping a photographic record,
221
both in Venezuela and in the countries where the
System’s orchestras and soloists make appearances. Thanks to her creativity and dedication, the
entire world has been able to appreciate the most
beautiful and moving pictures of our musicians,
as well as the faces of thousands of children and
adolescents from all the country’s nuclei.
Music is the best medicine
Yolanda Baroni
Liliana Arvelo
An indispensible team for Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation is the medical team because, as
the System’s population grows, taking care of
the health of the children and youngsters at all
the nuclei throughout the country becomes a
huge responsibility. Dr. Yolanda Baroni, who
heads up the medical team, explains: “We’ve had
to grow in every way, from expanding the size
of the team to broadening our concept of what
constitutes a health service, which is becoming
increasingly more comprehensive.” Baroni is
accompanied by specialists in general and occupational medicine, pediatricians, radiologists,
physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians,
physiotherapists, and psychologists.
The medical care provided by Simón Bolívar
Musical Foundation consists, essentially, of
monitoring the sick children who belong to
the System, providing care during seminars
and tours, and, among other things, organizing
­vaccination campaigns, talks on nutrition and sex
education, as well as seeking donations of medicines for the student and teacher population.
“When we go on tour, we take our first aid kit
with all the medicines for the most common
illnesses and complaints. We doctors always stay
in the hotel to be available around the clock. If
a child or adolescent requires medical supervision, we set up a room and give him treatment;
and we look in on all the rooms before bedtime,”
explains Baroni.
The most unusual aspect of the service provided
by the System’s doctors is the type of patients
they care for: children who may regularly suffer
from nerves or stress before the concerts and
aches and pains from excessive use of bones and
222
muscles. But Baroni reveals that, “owing to the
social strata from which a fair number of the
System’s children and adolescents come, some of
them are anemic and/or show signs of undernourishment or sometimes the parents, either
from ignorance or carelessness, don’t realized
that the child is sick. There are also youngsters
with emotional problems, either because they
come from broken homes or because of the
economic problems they have. In these cases,
they are given support and a sympathetic ear, but
the best therapy for them all is definitely music.
Keeping up with the maestro
Keeping up with José Antonio Abreu is not
precisely the right phrase for defining the
attitude and capacity that those who work
directly with Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation must have. As Liliana Arvelo, the Director
of Abreu’s Office, would say, the phrase would
be: “keeping three steps ahead of any situation
and any responsibility he assigns them.” And it
is precisely because of her understanding of the
processes and solutions that she occupies one of
the key positions in this foundation, with which
she has been involved for eight years.
“Working alongside Maestro Abreu, keeping
his daily agenda, prioritizing his commitments,
audiences, and meetings, liaising with the
government and Venezuelan and international
bodies and foundations, as well as paying attention to all the proposals he makes has given me
a broader and more comprehensive vision of
cultural and social management. He surprises
us every day, at every meeting, with the capacity
he has for putting together functional strategies.
J.A.A. always accepts suggestions, listens, and
evaluates, but he encourages us to think big and
to act with a broad vision.”
In permanent contact with the Maestro, Liliana,
who was also the Coordinator of the Carabobo
Nucleus, thinks a moment when we ask her what
it is that she most admires about her boss.
“I marvel at his grasp and his response capacity
and his equilibrium. For the Maestro, every situation is important and needs attention, whether it’s
a request from a minister or one from a child who
needs social, artistic or family assistance. And,
naturally, his feeling for the problems of children
and young people impresses me,” she says.
Ana Cecilia Abreu
The children are the miracle
“When we started everything, there were just a
few of us and we didn’t have material resources.
The only resource we had was our love for what
we were doing, mystique, and energy,” recalls
Ana Cecilia Abreu, who, since the System was
born, has been involved, essentially, in dealing with logistics, a job she still holds today in
­Maestro Abreu’s Office. She is no stranger to the
rushing around involved in putting together a
tour, organizing a concert, setting up a rehearsal
or dealing with anything that might come up at
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation.
“When the System was created, we started to
grow, organizationally speaking, with a platform
that was perfectly planned by José Antonio
Abreu and, while the way of working has
changed and despite the growth in resources,
we learned to always work under pressure. We
often spend more time with the children of
the orchestras than with our own children.
Some seasons we see the sun come up planning
activities, not having slept all night; but then it’s
time for the concert and, when the orchestra
goes out onto the stage, we forget about the bad
times, the tiredness, and the late nights, and we
see the sense of it all. What fuels our efforts are
the children. They are the miracle of the System,
because many of them have absolutely nothing
that will give them a chance in life, they only
have their orchestra.”
The platform for “Playing and Fighting”
The State Foundation for the
National System of Youth and
Children’s Orchestras of ­Venezuela
– FESNOJIV– was created by
Ministry of Youth Decree No. 3,093
on February 20, 1979. By means of
this decree, the Venezuelan State
gave its unrestricted backing to the
music project that had started to bear
fruit on February 12, 1975, when the
first youth orchestra was founded.
And over a period of thirty-five years,
this Foundation has become a dynamic operational and administrative
platform, whose first mission is the
pedagogical, occupational, cultural,
and ethical rescue of Venezuelan
children and young people by teaching them music and getting them to
play music together.
Legally speaking, since March 1st
2011, FESNOJIV -through Presidential Decree Nº 8.078- became
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation
and now is currently attached to
the Presidency of the Bolivarian
­Republic of Venezuela. It is an institution that is open to society in general
and has a flexible, novel, and dynamic
structure that is perfectly designed
and adapted to the System’s philosophy and objectives. This makes it
the ideal scenario for musicians and
professionals to personify the motto
“Play and Fight” that has led them to
approach music as a constant quest
for excellence and to persevere to
make their dreams come true.
ment agencies in Venezuela, foreign
government agencies, and private
companies are carried out and
funding from the Venezuelan State
and from national and international
bodies is obtained. Moreover, the
foundation has set up a managerialadministrative model throughout
the country that governs the huge
network of youth and children’s
orchestras and choirs, all the nuclei
and teaching centers, and a team
of ­teachers and administrators, res­
pecting the idiosyncrasies of
each region.
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s
Personnel Director, Lope Valles, a
founder of the System, a member
of the first orchestra, and today still
an oboe teacher, explains: “Four
years after the first orchestra started
to function, it became necessary to
create this institutional platform to
provide a service to the orchestras
and to the constantly growing population of children and adolescents
who were joining and continue to
join, because here our slogan is: not
to discriminate against anyone; our
loadstar is to make music available to
the masses. That means that Simón
Bolívar Musical Foundation’s staff
grows every year, and to date we
generate 7,000 direct jobs.”
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation
is the organization through which
all the programs, arrangements,
exchanges, and agreements with
central, state, and municipal govern-
223
Norma Méndez
Liddye Faustinelli de Pérez
Méndez and Alfredo Delgado with their team from the Center
for Social Action
Managing information
The orchestra’s mum
One might think that Communications Coordinator Norma Méndez’s task has been made
easier because, in the past decade, the successes
of the System and, in particular, of our SJVSB
“sell” news on their own. However, the avalanche of activities generated by the orchestras,
as well as the tremendous interest that they
awaken in the media at home and abroad is such
that the work has tripled.
No one can take away her well-earned title of
the “orchestra’s mum” from Liddye Faustinelli
de Pérez (Madame Pérez). The reason is that
this very loving woman, who is always ready to
solve any problem at any time, has accompanied José Antonio Abreu and the System since
1975. Since then, she has performed a variety of
functions: assisting the director-founder, being
in charge of public relations, acting as promoter,
passport agent, and tour coordinator, being in
charge of receiving international guests, settling
them in their hotel, and even reassuring them
and offering them kindness when they most
need it.
Méndez, who has been with FESNOJIV and
now Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation for
15 years and has an associate degree in adver­
tising, skillfully multiplies the hours in order to
cope with all her responsibilities. “The media’s
support of and receptivity to the System have
always been excellent and grow as we gain
more recognition; they always look for a way
to report on our activities, even though they
don’t have enough room. I’ve found my work
here to be very enjoyable, despite all the stress
we work under, because no sooner have we
finished one program than there are five more
that need to be promoted. That’s why, every day,
I’m more surprised at all that can be achieved
through music. When we think we’ve reached
the limit and that it’ll be a good long time before
we launch another program, then the Office
for ­Social Development comes along with its
program for making inroads in the barrios, for
example. It’s hard work but extremely satisfying.”
224
Liddye recalls that, at first, she thought that
Abreu’s whole dream was crazy and that it
would come to nothing. “It was very hard work,
but I learned to love this job and working with
the System has been a fabulous experience.
Maestro Abreu is a unique human being and I
think he must have five brains. He never tires;
he invents something new every day and makes
it happen. I adore my musicians. I’ve seen them
grow up, I’ve attended their weddings, and
now I’m watching their children grow. I’ve not
only heard them play; I’ve also listened to their
­problems, needs, anxieties, sorrows, and joys.
I want to carry on working here until I’m no
longer able to. If God gives me 80 years of good
health, I’ll still be here, because this is the best
thing that has happened to me in my life, apart
from my children and my husband.”
María Angelina Celis
From left to right: Lope Valles, Yolanda Baroni, Susan Simon,
René Pirotte, and Dr. Rafi Kiledjan
Luis Velásquez
Musical diplomacy
The officiator of the concerts
At FESNOJIV’s Production, Promotion, and Development
Office was headed during the early years by a most valuable
person and a highly competent cultural manager, María Angelina
Celis. A great deal of the organization and image of the concerts,
tours and other artistic and educational programs carried out by
FESNOJIV fell on the shoulders of María Angelina Celis. She
is a woman who has not only handled her difficult job for many
years, but has gained a lot of experience in public relations and
diplomacy. Precisely this last area is fundamental in the work
carried out by the Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela,
which has, among other duties, the mission of serving as cultural
ambassador of our country.
The musician who does not know Luis Velásquez is a musician
who has never appeared at the José Félix Ribas and the Ríos
­Reyna concert halls in the Teresa Carreño Theater Cultural
Complex or at the new Simón Bolívar Concert Hall at the
­Center for Social Action through Music, because without him
and the work he does, there would be no seats or music stands
or music scores nor would the basic technical requirements be
covered in time to put on the concerts. He has been the head
of General Services since 1977 and has a skilled, dynamic team
made up of Joel Betancourt, César Marval, Ramón Vega, José
Campuzano, Edgar Camacho, Richard Santafé, Leonardo
­Torres, and Alexis Velásquez.
The friendship between María Angelina Celis and José Antonio
Abreu started in 1966. However, she did not join the System until
1988, after having wide-ranging experience as diplomatic adviser,
a position she had in the Venezuelan embassies in Belgium,
France, Holland and Luxembourg.
His loyalty to this grand undertaking has allowed Velásquez to
learn all the secrets of the ritual that has to be performed before
any concert, besides earning him the privilege of being entrusted
with the SJVSB’s Music Archives where the original music scores
and the copies are kept. He also has two sons who are musicians
in the System and has watched how they have progressed since
they were tiny and comments: “In this job, you have to have a
good memory and pay close attention, because, as a general rule,
precisely on the day of the concert, the kids forget or lose their
scores, and then I have to rush to the music archives to get the
scores that are missing. But I’m happy and proud to do it. I do
everything I possibly can so that they triumph, as they’re doing
now all round the world.”
“Before I went abroad,” she explains, “I had a company called
María Angelina Celis and Associates which organized many
events, some of them with the System, for example an inter­
esting recording productions at the beginning of the ’80s. When
I returned to Venezuela, maestro Abreu asked me to work for
the orchestras, and that’s how I created the Promotion, Production and Development Department. Our work was to provide
support for all the events of the Simón Bolívar Orchestra and of
the youth and children’s groups. We set up festivals and programs
for the orchestras from the interior of the country. We prepared
everything that had to do with promotional materials. Today I am
still support and believe in the System.”
225
as a result of having taken on a variety of responsibilities, among them, the Nuclei Management
Office, heading up the Academic Office and the
Executive Office, of which he is currently acting.
Méndez started his music studies when he was
six, in Mérida, his home town. Later he went to
the Latin American Violin Academy and studied
under the guidance of José Francisco del Castillo,
and, in 1997, he joined the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra. Parallel to his music activities,
he was studying law and, in 2000, he graduated in
law at Universidad Católica Andrés Bello.
We’ll continue to grow
without sacrificing quality
duardo Méndez is not an atypical manager at
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation. What
makes him one of the most remarkable among
the new generations who are taking the reins
of the institution, however, is that he joined the
System with a very clear goal in mind: to become
a musician and a lawyer without sacrificing either
of his dreams. And he managed to do just that:
today he is a violinist with considerable managerial ability who today has an excellent track record
226
How did music help you do your job
as cultural manager at Simón Bolívar
Musical Foundation?
Only a musician can really identify all the needs of
other musicians and of the orchestras. I’d say it was
the very philosophy of the System that helped to
form me as a manager. I and other ­colleagues have
been educated in the System since we were children, so now we have a very good idea of what’s
needed, what’s good, what’s bad, and what things
we can improve on and ­visualize for the future.
And there is definitely a new institution with a
group of managers who have to respond to all the
projects that are emerging as a result of the tremendous growth in the orchestras and, mainly, of
the solid internationaliza­tion of the SJVSB. There
are a lot of musicians with evident leadership skills
who are emerging and joining the ranks of the
managerial and ­teaching staff. A fair number are
taking part in new programs to promote other
genres of music and create orchestras that will
give an opportunity to musicians who want to
tackle other styles, while others are determined to
become leaders in their community and devote
their efforts to the System’s social programs in
the country’s poorest shanty districts. In line with
Maestro Abreu’s vision, many musician-managers
are bringing to fruition new projects that are
responding to the growing demand we have at
home and abroad.
How have things evolved within Simón
Bolívar Musical Foundation bearing in mind
the enormous number of children and young
people who want to join the System?
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation has grown
without sacrificing quality and excellence in
terms of music, teaching or our social function,
and we’ll continue to do so. We’ve had to expand
our sphere of action, and by that I mean on the
academic level, where we’ve grown based on
clear ideas, skill, and planning. We have teaching
staff with considerable teaching experience and
who are impeccably trained; we have teachers
of the stature of Valdemar Rodríguez who is
both our deputy executive director and the
director of the Simón Bolívar Conservatory, and
others such as Ulyses Ascanio, William Molina,
and Francisco Flores. Moreover, we’re putting
emphasis on creating more children’s orchestras,
and now the preparatory course for the tiny tots
only is for one year and we ­immediately give
them their instrument. The quality of education
is becoming increasingly important for the System, because it makes it possible for increasingly
younger and better trained youngsters to spur
on the new generations throughout the country.
This progress on the generational front has been
occurring at the same time as the transformations and changes that the System has been
experiencing in both its internal and external
structure.
How do you visualize this process of growth
and how it’s going impact the quality of the
artistic and musical product?
We are actors and witnesses of a dynamic of
change towards excellence. This boom of the
Venezuelan Youth Symphony Orchestra has
allowed us to reach higher, to set our sights
on more demanding challenges. All this has
­developed very fast. I’d say that the corpus exceeded the operational capacity of the System’s
management. For that reason our responsibility
is greater now; every day the social commitment,
not only to Venezuela but also to the world,
is greater. And in order to keep up with the
demand that the System itself has generated, we
have methods and new initiatives, because the sin
is not to grow. Many more orchestras will spring
up in ­Venezuela, with a life of their own, particularly regional orchestras that will be as important
as the Simón Bolívar, and other orchestras that
become part of all the new urban movements,
which is why we are promoting the creation of
popular music nuclei throughout the country
specializing in jazz, salsa, reggae, Venezuelan
popular music, in short to expand our network
and make room for all the talent in the country
and in the System.
How has the international boom of the
Simón Bolívar Venezuelan Youth Symphony
­Orchestra affected the System’s management
and its growth as an organization?
It’s had a big impact in many ways, first because
we’ve had to prepare ourselves to meet international demand and the avalanche of commitments the SJVSB is called upon to attend, and
that means increasing Simón Bolívar Musical
Foundation’s staff, for example. We’ve worked
very hard to cope with everything that those ovations of more than 30 minutes generate, which,
in turn, has had repercussions and a huge media
impact in the countries where we’ve appeared;
that madness in the streets of the cities where the
orchestra appears, the tickets sold out months
before, all this has had a tremendous impact on
the organization, as it brings with it a commitment to Venezuela and to all those children the
System it takes in.
What’s the biggest challenge in the
­organization and what’s the biggest
satisfaction that being part of it has
brought you?
The challenge is to continue supporting the
exemplary work of Maestro José Antonio Abreu
and to help consolidate the success we have
obtained thus far, which is nothing to what it will
be. And I can say that, apart from my career as a
musician, the greatest satisfaction is the wonderful feeling I get when I see a child who has the
opportunity to do something and be someone
through music and that he takes advantage
of it, feels proud, and sees himself as an active,
participative, useful citizen for our society. That
is something that is priceless and that we owe to a
sterling Venezuelan, Maestro Abreu.
Frank Di Polo and Eduardo Méndez
Igor Lanz, Valdemar Rodríguez,
and Eduardo Méndez
227
A tireless and enthusiastic
artistic promoter
f Maestro José Antonio Abreu did not have intuition and a gift of vision, he would not have
been able to discover the places where the talent
was; and, as a consequence, very few of the System’s musicians would have also become magnificent cultural entrepreneurs and ­managers. A
good example of what we are ­talking about is the
Venezuelan flautist Víctor Rojas, who, in 1977,
only two years after the National Youth Orchestra was founded, joined its flute section not only
to contribute his best musical interpretations,
but also to become a tireless and enthusiastic
promoter of Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s artistic production.
Víctor Rojas started his music studies with Luis
Ochoa in Valencia, Carabobo state, where he
was born. However, it was Glenn Egner from
whom he received most of his instrumental
instruction and training, which were later
strengthened by Pedro Eustache, Raymond
228
Guiot, Ida Nels Lindeblad, Jean Pierre Rampal,
and Auréle Nicolet, the last two in Paris, as well
as his tutors Alain Marión, Raymond Guiot,
and Peter Lukas Graf, with whom he took
advanced classes.
In 1980, he joined the Simón Bolívar Venezuelan
Youth Symphony Orchestra and obtained the
position of soloist in 1982. Wasting no time, in
1995, together with a group of outstanding flautists, Rojas created the National Flute Orchestra,
the first ensemble of its kind in Venezuela, with
which he has organized several festivals and concerts and also recorded CDs. He has also ­carried
on teaching. He was the coordinator of the
University Music Education Institute and ­today
continues at the head of the Latin American
Flute Academy.
Despite his numerous artistic commitments,
quite some time ago Víctor Rojas took on the
General Management Office of the Simón
Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and, thanks to his
magnificent achievements in artistic production, he is also in charge of Simón Bolívar
Musical Foundation’s Production, Promotion,
and Development Office, where he is responsible for the enormous task of advertising the
activities of SJVSB “A” and “B,” as well as of all
the other groups that emerge from the System:
ensembles, chamber orchestras, trios, quartets,
the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra, and the
newly-formed Children’s National Symphony
Orchestra of Venezuela, to name but a few.
How have you approached your managerial
and artistic production duties?
I knew very little about management and
artistic production. But right from the start,
Maestro Abreu encouraged us –the founding
musicians who were dealing with the work
behind the scenes- to be ourselves. So, by being
tolerant and patient and with a lot of dedication,
we gradually learned how to organize. I discovered that the key thing in this job is to preserve
one’s calling to serve intact; without that we
wouldn’t have been able to achieve the successes
we have. Besides, we have a duty to give other
kids the opportunity to experience and achieve
the goals that we did. That’s why, from the start,
we have to understand that everything we do in
the System must have a social element, and that
what we are doing is the key to opening up paths
to personal and professional advancement for
many Venezuelan children and adolescents. It’s
what we’ve called “music for salvation.”
What is the next challenge after all these years
of success with the Simón Bolívar Symphony
Orchestra?
We have to continue getting our musical groups
to dream big. Of course, we’re ready and on the
alert for the challenges that are coming, that are
already here, because the System is already a program that is being implemented throughout the
world. Apart from that, more and more musically
talented youngsters are joining our orchestras
every day, and we have a duty to channel, guide,
and promote them so that they shine beyond our
borders. So, the work we are doing, day and night,
at Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s Production, Promotion, and D
­ evelopment Office is
on a large scale and, as the years go by, it will
become even more consolidated. But neither
tiredness nor the late nights are important here,
much less when we proudly watch those jackets
sporting the national flag held triumphantly
aloft in the world’s great theaters and before
widely different and discerning audiences that
give our youngsters standing ovations. That feeling and having ­Venezuela’s name held in such
high esteem makes everything worthwhile.
A solid team behind the ovations
The person responsible for drawing up the
entire musical program for the orchestras in the
Capital District and other ensembles, together
with Rojas, is Carolina Márquez de Massiani,
the Programming Coordinator, who has extensive experience in cultural management and has
been a very important acquisition for Simón
Bolívar Musical Foundation. She also coordinates the appearances of Venezuelan soloists
and foreign conductors who come to work with
the System.
Pedro Núñez, Division Chief, who has been
working at Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation
for more than ten years, is in charge of everything having to do with contracting international artists, once it has been decided to include
them in the artistic program. Núñez’s responsibilities include covering everything involved
in their stay in the country, in other words, the
logistics of air travel, accommodation, per diem,
fees, protocol, and liaison.
Mirley Sánchez and René Pirotte are the
­deputy managers of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestras “A” and “B,” respectively, and
between them they coordinate all the orchestras’
programming, activities, seminars, and rehearsals. They are both musicians from nuclei in the
provinces and have been totally trained inside
the System. Sánchez is a flautist, a pupil of Víctor
Rojas, has a degree in music and an associate degree in administration; she is in charge of, among
other things, the tickets for the concerts given
229
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s Production, Promotion, and Development Team
at the Center for Social Action through Music,
the Teresa Carreño Theater Complex, and in any
other concert hall or stage in Caracas or Miranda
where these orchestras make an appearance.
Pirotte is a violinist and former member of the
Chacao Youth Orchestra; she is largely to thank
for the impeccable organization and logistics of
the SJVSB’s international tours.
Norma Núñez performs the indispensable task of
liaising with all areas of the Production, Promotion, and Development Office. She works directly
with Pedro Núñez in contracting the soloists and
conductors who come to Venezuela. She is also
in charge of the pre-production, production, and
post-production of the orchestras’ concerts in
Venezuela and helps with simultaneous translation, legal documents, and monitoring the artists.
Jioeyan Adreda does an extremely important
job. She is the producer of the social programs
for the Capital District’s orchestras and she
also coordinates the appearances and activities
of the chamber ensembles and orchestras in
schools and nuclei throughout the country.
Besides that, she schedules the artistic activities
of the orchestras’ soloists and conductors when
they are invited to play with other orchestras or
ensembles that do not belong to the System, at
nuclei in the provinces or abroad.
230
Clarimar Herrera is the person responsible for
writing up the information and contents of the
programs handed out to people who attend
the concerts given by the Caracas orchestras,
whereas Mildred Pérez is the Public Relations
Assistant who sends out the special invitations
and keeps track of correspondence.
How is a tour organized?
A woman of firm character carries out the
complex task of organizing the SJVSB’s national
and international tours with the support of
all the offices and areas of Simón Bolívar
Musical Foundation. She is Arlette Dávila,
the Deputy Director of Production, Promotion and Development, who, besides having a
degree in psychology, possesses considerable
experience in managing artistic institutions and
groups as she has been the General Manager of
the National Flute Orchestra, the University
Institute for Music Studies (IUDEM) –now
National Experimental University of the Arts
(UNEARTE)-, and the Chacao Youth and
Children’s Orchestra. She has also been the
Head of Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s
Nuclei Events and Academic Training Office.
Dávila gives an overview of the sequence she
follows when organizing a tour. “Now we are
getting more frequent invitations for our SJVSB
to appear from different international festivals
and foreign theaters and cultural institutions.
We immediately forward these invitations to
Askonas Holt, the agency that represents our
orchestra abroad and takes charge of putting
together the tour schedule, fitting in each of the
invitations that have already been approved by
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation, the venues,
countries, etc. At that point, we start to work
here on organizing the trip: selecting flights
and overland transportation, organizing hotels,
meals, shipment of cargo (in musical instruments, music scores, and other technical equipment alone, we have about four tons of cargo),
and scheduling rehearsals, activities for the
chamber ensembles, forums, and press conferences. As each of the logistical aspects is defined,
we start to draw up the detailed ­itinerary
of activities.”
Dávila explains that one of the most difficult
parts of putting together a tour is coordi­
nating the work of each of the areas involved:
technical production (which is in charge of the
­scenery, technical requirements, instruments the
­orchestra will be taking, and instruments that will
have to be hired at each of the venues); logistics
(which deals with drawing up lists of orchestra
members and travelers, passports, visas, accommodation, meals, travel); audiovisual (shipment of video equipment, recording permits);
property (responsible for the temporary export
of musical instruments, customs permits); press
and communications (coverage of the tour, press
conferences, and interviews); and international
relations (in charge of the signing of agreements,
encounters, conferences, and forums); and we
mustn’t forget the area of medical care and other
offices of Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation
that cover other requirements.
Despite the experience in organization acquired
from the numerous trips made by our SJVSB
over the last thirty years and more, the tours in
2007, 2008, and 2009 were practically a master’s
course in the subject, mainly because of the
large number of people that had to be mobilized
(more than 350, including musicians, ­teachers,
journalists, and staff ) and the fact that the
destinations were so far away, China or Japan,
for example, and finally because of the length of
time the tours lasted. On this last aspect Dávila
comments: “The 2009 USA-Europe Tour was
extraordinary and also very complex owing to
the length of time it took (26 days) and because
it involved traveling across two continents. We
had concerts in Houston, Washington D.C.,
and Chicago, and then we traveled to London
and from there on to several cities in Spain
and to Lisbon, appearances that required very
careful logistics. Then again, the first stage of
the National Tour A
‘ l Encuentro con Venezuela’
(Going to Meet Venezuela) this year (2010)
was our first experience with mass audiences
(in Barquisimeto we had 14,000 people and
10,000 in Mérida); but it was most stimulating,
both for the musicians and for everyone one
of us involved in this difficult challenge, which
demanded much dedication and a lot of effort
for it to go off as successfully as it did.”
Above: Arlette Dávila and Francisco Ces during a national tour. Dávila surrounded
by piles of passports on his desk. Below: René Pirotte giving instructions to the
young musicians
231
It just goes
to show
t the entrance to the most traditional and
emblematic hotel of the flourishing city
of Maracaibo, the erstwhile Hotel del Lago,
there is a far from customary to-ing and fro-ing.
They are expecting someone to arrive, someone
famous or a reguetón or rock group, if the crowd
of youngsters, the fans, who’ve been there for
hours dodging the National Guardsmen on
security detail is anything to go by. There is an
infectious nervousness in the air, the kind that
doesn’t let anyone work, not the receptionists or
the ­cleaners, much less the shop attendants who,
despite the late hour, have kept their stores open.
“This is just great! Do you know who’s getting
out of the SUV? If you don’t, you’re not into
anything… it’s Gustavo Dudamel with his Simón
Bolívar Symphony Orchestra.”
“Of course I do! What’s wrong with you? What
makes you think I haven’t seen them on the
telly? Besides, look at the poster I brought for
them to sign it for me, because they’re my idols…
they play music they call classical, no vallenato
or ­reggaeton, but they do put in the mambo
232
because I saw them in a video on YouTube when
they were in London.”
That conversation between two of the hotel’s
security guards not only impressed me but
it was the first sign of what was to come later
during the SJVSB’s and Dudamel’s 36-hour stay
in ­Maracaibo to bring to the national tour to a
close at the Luis Aparicio Stadium, on January
28 and 29, 2010.
“Hey, stand here. You’ve got to have your
’cell phone ready to take a photo of you with
Dudamel and the musicians,” a mother told her
beautiful daughter, all decked out in her finest
clothes to look stunning for her favorite artists
and who was pushing and shoving along with
other young girls who had the same idea. Inside,
in the rehearsal room, there was no containing
the large number of people who wanted to pay
their respects and express their affection. One of
the hotel’s chambermaids fought tooth and nail
with the security guards so as to be able to take
proof back to her sick son that she had, indeed,
met Dudamel. “Gustavo… Gustavo… Gustavo,
give me a minute, take a photo with me… The
thing is, if I don’t take it to my boy, he’s not going
to get better, because you don’t know how much
my son loves you; I’m certain that he’ll just get
up out of that bed out of pure excitement…”
And Gustavo, with his characteristically sweet
disposition, shared a smile and his face with the
hundreds of admirers who wanted to take a
picture with him.
The next day was a glorious Friday. As early as
three in the afternoon, neither the blazing sun,
nor the problems with transport nor the fact
that it was payday prevented the areas around
the stadium from filling up with endless lines of
people who, for weeks, had dreamt of attending
the concert widely promoted by the regional
media and announced on huge banners put up
all over the city.
Dudamel posing for a photo with a fan in Maracaibo
Above: Putting on the concert in
Maracaibo. Below: two takes of the
musicians as they make their way to
the dais
233
One of the two screens decorating the stage at Luis Aparicio Stadium in Maracaibo
After enjoying some typical local dishes with his
grandmother Engracia, who accompanies him
on many of his national and international tours,
Gustavo Dudamel arrived at the Luis Aparicio
Stadium bursting with happiness and with the
energy of a bullfighter sure of his triumph. He
knew that this concert would be a milestone in
the history of performances in Venezuela: a true
phenomenon of the masses, with more than
20,000 people (an even bigger audience than at
the Barquisimeto concert a few weeks earlier,
when 14,000 people turned up), among them
lots of children, entire families, personalities
from all walks of life, and a large number of local
musical groups; an experience only comparable
to a playoff between the local baseball team
­Águilas del Zulia and their long-time rivals
Leones del Caracas.
A standing ovation lasting for more than five
minutes was the welcome given by the people of
Maracaibo. Multicolored confetti rained down
on the orchestra’s 220 souls, as Dudamel raised
his baton. Then, a silence that seem impossible to
achieve with such a multitude, was the miraculous opening for a select repertoire destined
234
Members of the Wayú tribe crowning Dudamel
after the concert
to reach the hearts of the masses: Wagner,
Tchaikovsky, and Santa Cruz de Pacairigua by the
­Venezuelan Evencio Castellanos emerged from
the very soul of the orchestra with decanted
sounds and nuances and utterly sublime moments, such as that offered us by the young local
cellist, Enmanuelle Acurero during his performance of Dvorak’s Concerto for cello and orchestra.
At the end, everyone exploded in a burst of
euphoria… Dudamel gave free rein to his passion for Venezuelan and Latin popular music…
the musicians danced with their instruments.
A potpourri of jazz and fun-packed mambo
set us all dancing for joy, and tears of thanks
flowed for our moving Alma Llanera. There was
nothing superfluous and nothing lacking in that
­unprecedented finale to the fiesta in the Luis
Aparicio Stadium: the replica of La Chinita was
there from the start, facing the huge stage where
a choir of mothers and children from the Wayu
tribe crowned Gustavo with a beautiful tiara of
feathers from blue-headed parrots of the High
Guajira, as is fitting for kings and prophets in the
land where they were born.
The triumphal shower of tricolor
rain that always accompanies
Venezuela’s young musicians
235
Chapter
X
The future
of music is here
I couldn’t believe I was in the Teresa
Carreño Theater. I thought I’d gone to
heaven when I heard those celestial choirs
and orchestras. I’d never experienced
such intense, such overwhelming
emotion. I cried because I couldn’t help
but be moved watching those children
and young people make music. That’s
something great anywhere in the world.
Placido Domingo
The jubilation of the musicians of the Zulia
Children’s Symphony Orchestra is totally in
keeping with their temperament
The dawning of a new generation
of musicians
o more appropriate time than the summer
solstice –when, in traditional cultures, men pray
for a good harvest- to baptize the new generation
of Venezuelan musicians, who, with their training
and talent, have been the driving force behind the
future of the our continent’s music movement.
And nothing more appropriate for the debut
of this new National Children’s ­Orchestra than
the celebration of the ­bicentennial of Venezuela’s
Declaration of Independence as an expression
of the libertarian spirit that music bestows on
thousands of children and ­adolescents who are
being educated and cultivated within the System
as well-rounded citizens.
In July 2010, J.A. Abreu’s futuristic vision was
confirmed yet again, when he presented a
selection of the children who had worked hard,
almost from the cradle, in all of Venezuela’s
orchestral centers to acquire the discipline
that studying music demands. Once again, we
see how the Venezuelan maestro undertakes
another cultural feat by launching onto stages
at home and abroad an orchestra that will be
the best compost for plowing back into the
ranks of the constantly renewed Simón Bolívar
­Venezuelan Youth Symphony Orchestra.
The boys and girls who are part of the new
wave of the System of Youth and Children’s
Orchestras of Venezuela enter the artistic
world with all found: a practical and theoretical training that is three times better than that
238
received by preceding generations; training
and permanent support from their demanding
Venezuelan teachers; having been the stars and
pioneer pupils of the modern music teaching
methods from a very early age –practically from
the cradle-, as many of them joined the System
at the preparatory or pre-school orchestra
levels, between three and five years of age;
­enjoying the best that the SJVSB’s successes
have brought; traveling around the world and
all over V
­ enezuela; national tours; seminars with
major international maestros; attending the best
concerts and events; taking part in competitions
and festivals; being fitted out with instruments;
provided with transport to their homes; and,
besides all that, the support and help of their
families. All of this thanks to the tremendous
organizational strides made by the System.
Competing for a music stand
Today, being a musician in Venezuela, belonging
to one of the country’s 250 youth and children’s
orchestras, in any of its towns or villages, is a
mark of distinction. For a child to be identified
as a member of the new National Children’s
Orchestra of Venezuela is already synonymous
with having a qualification, a certain level of
culture, and a magnificent reputation and ­image.
The thing is that, for a child or adolescent to
be able to get to the point where he shares a
music stand in that orchestra, he has to be an
­exemplary student, both in his nucleus-orches-
tra and at school. But not only that, that child
or adolescent harbors the aspiration of flying as
high or higher than his predecessors, of attaining
the stature, no less, of a Gustavo Dudamel, an
Edicson Ruíz or one of the many others who
are covering with glory the artistic name
of Venezuela.
When it is time for the auditions, competition
among the orchestras’s children and adolescents
throughout the country gets extremely fierce.
That is what happened in February and March
2010, when more than 4,000 children between
the ages of 7 and 15 responded to the System’s
call to audition for a place in the latest National
Children’s Orchestra of Venezuela, which has
already been in existence for fifteen years and
enjoys well earned international prestige.
Starting out under the big league
For six days in April 2010, at Montalbán Children’s Center, the 357 children and adolescents
selected to become members of the National
Children’s Orchestra of Venezuela had their
first encounter and seminar with the System’s
­maestros and leaders to work eight hours a day
on a technically highly demanding repertoire
that was to be included in the first music programs of the System’s new pampered ensemble.
Always under the guidance of Maestro Abreu,
the twenty-seven teachers and Gustavo
­Dudamel arrived at Montalbán Academic
Center. Dudamel, as a former member of this
orchestra and today as the principal conductor of the Simón Bolívar Venezuelan Youth
Symphony Orchestra and world leader of the
Rubén Cova, a musician from the second
System, invited this contingent of young musi­generation of the SJVSB and a pioneer in
cians, who applauded him euphorically, to con­methods for teaching music at an early age, betinue “playing and fighting,” the motto that has
sides being the director of the Zulia Nucleus, was accompanied this social initiative for 35 years.
the coordinator of the recent auditions to select
350 musicians for the new orchestra. ­During the During the rehearsals, the boys and girls who
course of his career he has participated in more
had been selected went over a repertoire
than 14,000 auditions and has been responsible
consisting of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1,
for selecting the boys and girls who today are
­Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, and the symphonic
members of the Simón Bolívar “B” Orchestra,
poem Francesca da Rimini, under the daily
from which Dudamel and many others, such as
­guidance of Maestro Abreu.
the concertino Alejandro Carreño, came.
Moved by the expressions of respect and
“The level of the young musicians has risen with ­affection from the debutants, Dudamel
the passing of the years,” he explains, “and now
­commented during the seminar: “This reperthe expectations are much higher, a result of the toire you are rehearsing today is nothing like
generational dynamic and the musical aptitude the one we worked on in 1994, when I, 12 at the
cultivated in the System from an early age. What time, was a member of the National Children’s
was a challenge in 1995 today is the norm. In
Orchestra. You, whom I’ve had the fortune to
fact, the works set for the auditions are much
conduct today, are truly bright young hopes of
more complex than those required in previous
music. It’s already possible to gage the high level
auditions, Francesca de Rímini by Tchaikovsky for you’ve reached by the fact that you’re playing
all the instruments of the orchestra, for example, these pieces, which, when we were in the orcheswhich means that, later, each young musician is
tra, we played four years after we’d joined, and
able to play his instrument’s part in works such
you are doing it well from the start,” enthused
as Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture or Gustav Holst’s the young conductor, the idol of the world’s new
The Planets.
generations of musicians.
Under the guidance of Maestro
Abreu and the teacher and
percussionist Iván Hernández, the
new orchestra is born with great
expectations
Enmanuelle Acurero, a talented
cellist from Zulia and a member of
the Children’s Orchestra
239
“The most important developments in symphonic music
are happening in Venezuela”
e took a few sips of aromatic Venezuelan
coffee and immediately launched into the
usual greetings, directed at his Venezuelan
hosts. Only a few minutes after getting off the
plane that brought him to Caracas from Berlin,
accompanied by his two children, he heard
the joyful performance of a choir of children’s
and adolescents’ voices and the SJVSB’s Brass
Ensemble. The impromptu musical festival
­during his event-packed week in our country
had started with applause.
It was on July 18, 2004, when the sixth conductor
of the Berlin Philharmonic kept the promise he
had made the boys and girls of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, after ­listening
to them in amazement, in Germany in 2000.
Then and there, the famous British conductor,
Sir Simon Rattle, suspected that something very
important music-wise must be happening in
Venezuela. And he not only confirmed it with
his own eyes and ears, but he was also present and
played an important role at a very important moment for the System: the start of the celebrations
marking its 30th anniversary.
240
Simon Rattle took a ten-day break from his
packed artistic agenda to learn firsthand about
the “secret” of the Venezuelan music model about
which he had heard so much from colleagues in
several European cities. But he never imagined
the intense program of activities that ­FESNOJIV
had organized for him, which was to enable
him to become thoroughly familiar with the
­enormous musical and artistic potential harbored
within the System, as well as its benefits as a social
program and as a program for rescuing children
and adolescents.
A mountain of sounds
Simon Rattle’s first day in Caracas was a real
­“marathon.” He arrived bright and early at the
Teresa Carreño Theater, where a large orchestra
made up of dozens and dozens of musicians
from the youth orchestras of Lara, Aragua, and
Carabobo, under the baton of Maestro Ulyses
Ascanio was waiting for him; just a step away, in
the José Félix Ribas concert hall, he found the
energetic Gustavo Dudamel and his Mahler
Orchestra; and to round off this “mountain of
sounds,” musicians from the Caracas and Los
Teques youth orchestras bestowed on him the
lively Popurrí by Pérez Prado, which was to be
the prelude to an exquisite evening performance
where everyone was carried away by the energy of
Estévez’s Cantata Criolla, matchlessly interpreted
by the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and
its founding musicians under the baton
of Dudamel.
Rattle’s visit was in crescendo. A culminating moment was, undoubtedly, the musical offering the
British maestro received at Montalbán Children’s
Academic Center. In my opinion, that afternoon
was as memorable as it was instructive for everyone who witnessed that “madness” of orchestras
and more orchestras, boys, girls, and adolescents
making music. No sooner had he alighted from
the minibus, than Rattle settled down in a corner
at the entrance to the building to listen to the first
offering, given by the Brass Ensemble and which
elicited the first “Bravo!” of the afternoon, putting
a smile of illuminated joy on Rattle’s face that did
not leave it until the performances were over.
Next, we heard the Deaf Children’s Percussion
Ensemble, which includes the Coro de Manos
Blancas (White Hands Choir). Visibly moved,
Rattle seemed to be holding back tears, because
other marvels were still in store, such as the
immense Metropolitan Pre-school Orchestra
conducted by Susan Siman and made up of 300
children of between 5 and 10 years of age, to which
the distinguished visitor only managed to murmur
“I’m so impressed.” The Montalbán Chamber
Orchestra, conducted by Dietrich Paredes, gave
way to the closing piece: Tchaikovsky’s Slavonic
March and Arturo Márquez’s Danzón, played
by the 800 precocious musicians of the Children’s Symphonic Orchestra under the baton of
Dudamel, “staggering” both Rattle and his entire
international entourage with their performance.
Simon Rattle conducted in Venezuela for the first time in 2004
Symphony No. 2, a huge mise en scène with some
350 musicians plus a large choir of more than 400
voices conducted by María Guinand.
Rattle arrived, somewhat circumspect, placed
the score on his chair, the baton on the music
stand, and addressed the orchestra: “Boys and
girls –he said- I don’t know what I’m going to
do with you.” Immediately, all the musicians
were on guard; they thought some mistake had
annoyed the maestro. However, their exciteFifteen minutes after the end of the program at
ment and ­happiness returned when Simon
Montalbán Academic Center, the Ríos Reyna
Rattle ­continued: “Forgive the delay, but they’ve
concert hall was also swarming with anxious
musicians waiting for Rattle: the musicians of the been showing me more and more music. I was
­National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, who were in Montalbán, and there I wanted to cry like a
baby in front of that great children’s orchestra of
about to have their second rehearsal of Mahler’s
241
800 kids, but there were too many cameras and I
thought it would look very bad. But I have to tell
you that there is nothing more important in the
world of music today than what is happening here
in Venezuela.”
Confessing out loud
Rattle set aside the day before he was to conduct
his first work in Venezuela, Mahler’s Symphony
No. 2, “The Resurrection,” for a press conference
with the Venezuelan media. There was no reason
to think that he would be prolific in his statements, but neither was there anything to lead
one to assume that he would be so careful not to
offer opinions off the top of his head, without first
having personally formed an idea of the System
of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela.
The questions from a large audience of journalists
were not long in coming.
242
floor, literally speaking. We saw a marvelous choir
of blind children accompanied by a beautiful
choir of white hands. I heard the smallest orchestra in the world conducted by one of the world’s
greatest conductors, Gustavo Dudamel, playing
the Slavonic March. We British are supposed to
be very controlled, so I was very proud I didn’t
cry like a baby in front of the orchestra. But I
have to tell you that, when we all got back into
the minibus that was taking us around, we were
moved to tears; my teenage children had to ask
for handkerchiefs because we were extremely
moved. Those orchestras have been marvelously
prepared, like a dream. Listening to 800 musicians
as I heard them, not only playing Tchaikovsky,
but all phrasing the same way, communicating
with one another backwards and forwards, was
a rare experience. I saw in the faces of those little
children what I have always believed the purpose
of music to be: communication and pure joy.”
Why did you choose Gustav Mahler’s
Resurrection to conduct for the first time
in Venezuela?
Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 is the piece that made
me want to be a conductor. It’s the piece that
changed my life. And when I first hear the Youth
­Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela in Berlin, it
was very clear to me that this was also a resurrection. What’s happening here in Venezuela is so
important that, perhaps, it should be identified
with this piece. If anyone were to ask me, where
is something really important going on for the
­future of classical music? I’d simply have to say
that the future is here in Venezuela. You have
been watching this happen for nearly thirty
years, and you are most likely used to it; but for
someone from outside it’s an emotional force
of such ­power that it may take us some time to
believe what we’re hearing. And I would have
liked Mahler to have been alive to see it and to
listen to it.
A priceless gift
Without pausing, Simon Rattle told the
­Venezuelan and foreign journalists what he’d
experienced the previous day at Montalbán
­Academic Center: “Yesterday I went with my
family to Montalbán and we saw an orchestra
in which none of its members’ feet touched the
What made you decide to come to Caracas?
I didn’t care for Wagner’s Rienzi Overture; I’ve
always had problems with it. But when the Youth
Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela interpreted
it in Berlin, I said to myself, “Ah, here’s something
miraculous.” When the piece ended, one of the
What can young Venezuelan musicians teach
the world?
I’ve always thought that music is not a luxury but
a necessity for the lives of everyone. For many of
us, it’s the air we breathe. But I see that, here, it’s
not just a question of music as art, but that, in the
deepest way, it’s a social program. And I know that
it has saved many lives and will continue to save
many more. But it also offers people another way
of communicating, another way of understanding
the world, and another form of happiness. Nowadays we need art, all the arts, to save ourselves. The
System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras is a
great structure where everyone helps everyone
else: the older ones teach the little ones; the
14-year-olds teach the 11-year-olds, the 11-yearolds teach the little 8-year-olds. It’s a miracle; it’s
like a blood system that will bring about many
generations of musicians.
principal violins of the Berlin Philharmonic came
up to me and said that we had a lot to learn from
these children. So I felt that one day I ought to
come to Venezuela to conduct them. The chance
came sooner than I expected. On the first day of
rehearsals with the Youth Symphony Orchestra
of Venezuela, some of the players of the Berlin
Philharmonic who’ve been here for a couple
of years giving intensive seminars and who are
accompanying me on this visit, told me several
things. One said: “Actually, I haven’t taught; I’ve
only helped.”
Based on your experience in orchestral conducting, how would you describe the level of
the players of the Youth Orchestra of Venezuela
you’ve been working with in Caracas for a week?
I have to say –particularly with regard to the string
section of the Youth Orchestra- that, musically,
there are many things I would be capable of
achieving here that I haven’t been able to do with
professional British orchestras. Naturally, there
are some details that have to do with dexterity,
­experience or with the instruments, but many
of the difficult things we have overcome with
the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra are easy to
achieve with these young Venezuelan musicians.
The boys and girls of the Youth Orchestra of
­Venezuela are incredibly disciplined and pick
up what is asked of them very quickly. Here
you don’t have to motivate anyone, because if
there is something that prevails, it’s the culture of
motivation and not of criticism. If they don’t get
something right or someone makes a mistake,
they all laugh and say: “OK, that sounded terrible,
but we’ll get it better next time.” This attitude
took me back to when I was young and reminded
me of what I always believed and dreamt with
regard to music: joy. And what one can see in the
people in this country is, quite simply, joy.
learn just how much meaning can be given to
each note. That’s a never-ending field of study,
enough for a lifetime. In Venezuela, you have the
most extraordinary infrastructure for just that
and I believe you’re giving people a gift that is
priceless. In Europe we have the benefit of a long
musical tradition. But that benefit carries a risk:
we rely on that tradition and we don’t see what’s
happening in other parts of the world. That’s why
we have to look at what’s going on in Venezuela.
We came here initially with the idea of teaching
and helping, but I would now say that 70% of our
mission here is to learn how these young musicians assume their artistic work.
Do you know anything about the Venezuelan
musical repertoire?
I’ve just been introduced to the music of Estévez
in a wonderful way, but I know there’s much to
explore. The world is changing and the marvelous
thing about this is that we’re able to realize that
there are important musicians and composers in
other continents. If anybody still holds to the old
ideas, I’d tell him to come to Venezuela. It will be
a great joy to see how Venezuelan musicians are
going to develop and how, bit by bit, they take
over the world of international music.
Rattle astonished by the energy of
the young musicians
Author’s note: This interview and the report of events
that occurred over a period of a week were done entirely
by the author in 2004. In this book, we offer a new version
of that interview.
What do these youngsters need to learn in
order to improve?
I’d like to use my favorite quote of Brahms to
answer that. Once, a group of music students
asked the composer how they could play their
music better, and he replied. “Practice one hour
less every day and read a good book instead”. The
important thing for these young musicians is to
243
The 21st century
conservatory
ust as he marked a ‘before’ and ‘after’ in
the history of orchestral teaching and
practice, José Antonio Abreu also dreamed of
transforming the concept of the conservatory,
not only from the theoretical and organizational
viewpoints, but also with regard to its mission
and function. That is why planning and building
spaces and infrastructures where children and
young people can feel they are surrounded by
the magic and joy of music, where all national
and international musical flavors and talents
converge, and where all artistic manifestations
throng like a great cultural choir is fundamental
for the System.
With the leafy greenness of Parque Los Caobos
as a backdrop, near the Caracas Mosque and
­opposite Casa del Artista in the Caracas neighborhood of Santa Rosa de Quebrada Honda,
this other dream has come true. This is the
setting of the System’s new home: a luminous
building designed as a unique, modern, and
dynamic music and cultural center and that was
built patiently, floor by floor, brick by brick, to
raise and develop to the maximum all the potential and teaching, artistic, and social experience
of Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation.
José Antonio Abreu baptized it “Center for
Social Action through Music” and two highly
talented and experienced Venezuelan architects
gave life to Abreu’s idea: Tomás Lugo, the man
who designed it and made sure of its quality
–and who also has experience in successfully
designing cultural spaces, including being the
co-designer of the Teresa Carreño Cultural
Complex-, and Marco Pitrelli, who, among
244
other things, monitored all phases of the center’s
construction until its successful completion.
A home for innovations in teaching
Through a project called “The Center for Social
Action through Music Support Program,” the
Inter-American Development Bank sought
(from 2001 to 2002, approximately) to support
the consolidation of the System of Youth and
Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela’s academic
program by granting it financial assistance,
and it was joined in this effort by the National
­Housing Institute, which made an important
contribution by donating the land. Between
them, the IDB and FESNOJIV designed this
first space as great open university for specialized music teaching, where the biggest musical
and artistic exchange in Latin America has
started to take place and will be stepped up in
the next few years; but there is no one better
than José Antonio Abreu himself, the heart
and mind behind this new goal, to explain the
essence and contents of this innovative center.
“The Center for Social Action through Music
is a project through which the System’s social
dimension takes on priority. Everything that
has to do with the use of music in education
and the rescue and rehabilitation of children,
particularly those with some kind of handicap,
will be dealt with here. Music therapy will be
another area of action at this center, as well as
the t­ raining of teachers who attend to children
at risk. Along the same lines, there is the project
for introducing the System of Children’s Orchestras into the regular school system, and that
is a short-term priority: training teachers who
can teach the children music, both instruments
and choral singing, from pre-school.”
“The other aspect that we’ll encourage at the
Center for Social Action through Music, and
that will become an increasingly important
part of its programming, is artistic integration
so that children and adolescents can learn to
relate to one another in the arts, through dance,
theater, opera, singing, photography, and video,
as though it were a melting pot where all the
creative tendencies meet and merge,
with music as the common element,”
explains Abreu. Of course, from the
time it started to operate, its main
function has been to win a name
internationally for music, our orchestras, and our virtuoso musicians, and
to be a place where leaders of children’s and youth orchestra and choir
systems throughout the continent
should come together, permanently.
“Put briefly, it’s a platform for Latin
American cultural integration.”
A unique architectural structure for a music teaching center
A magic building
The Center for Social Action through Music,
which started functioning in 2009, has an area of
14,750 square meters and is a functional and austere building, but built using high t­ echnology
that, according to Tomás Lugo, synthesizes
–from the conceptual and physical viewpoints–
the many positive experiences that the National
System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras
of Venezuela has accumulated over the past
thirty-five years. “To some extent,” comments
Lugo, “the building pays tribute to the efforts of
245
thousands of people throughout Venezuela who
have worked at FESNOJIV and Simón Bolívar
Musical Foundation over many years, but, at
the same time, it will provide support for the
needs and requirements of the new generations
of musicians and teachers who are being trained
and will continue to be trained in the System.”
Obviously, as it is building given over mainly to
music activities and to the activities of musicians, the structure (and even the materials used)
was designed bearing in mind special acoustic
requirements. It has several spaces (more than a
hundred defined locations) broken down into
areas for music teaching, rooms for instrumental
rehearsal and choir practice, a library, concert
halls and a theater, chamber music rooms, and
an open-air acoustic shell on the south side of
the building, which will gradually be integrated
into Parque Los Caobos; it also has areas for
musical instrument fabrication workshops, the
headquarters of the National Audiovisual Center, recording booths, dressing rooms, cafeterias,
administrative services, and toilets. It has special
equipment, such as a mechanical theater system,
professional lighting, sound and video systems,
and servers and networks with national and
international connections.
The architect considers that the main challenge
posed by the project was putting together
and training a work team that understood the
essence of a project of this type. “Techniques
not normally used were employed in this
building, which meant I had to convince many
­professionals of the need to use special supports
for different technical requirements. The Center
for Social Action through Music is a building
that tends to procure silence. Its acoustical needs
and its enormous diversity of environments
prompted us to employ different insulating
materials, such as rubber flooring and fiberglass
practically throughout the entire structure,
which has ten floors: seven above ground,
including the ground floor, and three basement
floors,” explains Lugo.
Of course, the building’s complexity stems from
the special noise and sound treatment, as each
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area has to be independent, sound-wise, from
the next so as to offer different environments
where it is possible to concentrate, which is one
of the indispensable requirements so that musicians can do their work. So, the walls, floors, and
ceilings of most of the floors were worked with a
special acoustic system to avoid vibrations in the
structure and to ensure that noise in the rooms
does not contaminate the building’s outdoor
areas, and vice versa.
“The large number of rooms that the Center
has and where studying, montages, rehearsals
or performances are carried out simultaneously
obliged us to treat the walls, floors, and ceilings
with insulating materials. Besides that, all the
installations throughout the building for water,
electricity, air conditioning, and so on are also
insulated, and all the floors, with the exception
of the sixth floor, which is exclusively for ad-
A work specially created and donated by the maestro of kinetic art, the Venezuelan Jesús Soto, gives an air of freshness and modernity to the building that
houses the Center for Social Action through Music
ministrative offices, were worked with a special
acoustic system.”
Owing to the diversity of techniques used and
from the engineering viewpoint, this ­building
is unique in Venezuela, so far. “I would dare
to say that this infrastructure is unique in
Latin ­America, just as the National System of
Youth and Children’s Orchestras of ­Venezuela
is unique. It is, undoubtedly, a building
­constructed in accordance with the social and
collective criterion that inspires the Venezuelan
orchestral movement, in its own image and
reflecting its futuristic potential,” adds Lugo.
Soto, Cruz-Diez and the Simón
Bolívar concert hall
Aesthetics are also important in this new
“model conservatory,” however. When you
go up the steps to the main entrance, what
first impacts you are the contributions by two
world ­maestros of kinetic and virtual art, the
­Venezuelan Jesús Soto, who donated a white and
yellow sphere (an example of his well-known
Lloviznas and Penetrables) suspended in the air
from the building’s façade, whereas the foyer
is given over to “physio-chromatics” in red,
yellow, green, and white by another Venezuelan,
­Maestro Carlos Cruz-Diez, who also donated the
design for the material used to upholster the seats
in the Simón Bolívar concert hall. The fluid, free,
daring, and always evolving creativity of these two
artists could have found no better home or use
than this center for up-and-coming youth.
Once past the foyer, the building divides up into
two large areas: the north section, which is given
over to teaching and academic activities; and
the south section, which consists of the Simón
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Bolívar concert hall (with seating for 1.100),
concert hall 2 (with seating for 400), and the
rehearsal rooms associated with each of these
concert halls.
Designed by Tomás Lugo, the immense Simón
Bolívar concert hall offers the ambience and
beauty of a vanguard theater but very much in the
Latin American spirit. It is warm yet elegant. It
also houses an instrumental jewel: the pipe organ
(a gift from Fundación Polar), which measures
11 meters high by 13 meters wide and was built
specially for the Youth and Children’s Orchestras
of Venezuela and for this concert hall by the
­German company Orgelbau Klais. Another
point of interest is that the main concert hall,
with its stage, orchestra pit, and seating, has been
designed using acoustic technology that will offer
better sound for musicians and the general public
alike and where all types of musical, operatic,
dance, and theatrical performances can be staged.
As for the rehearsal rooms, they come in all
sizes: individual rehearsal rooms for a musician and a teacher; double rehearsal rooms for
two or three musicians and a teacher; section
rehearsal rooms for wood, wind, and string
instruments; and a general rehearsal room that
can ­accommodate an orchestra of 300 or more
musicians. So, each row of instruments in a
symphony orchestra has a space that has been
specially designed to meet its needs.
Detail of the seats, which carry
a design by Maestro Cruz-Diez
Replicas throughout the country
Success multiplies in the System; and the
same is going to happen with the buildings
the System needs throughout the country: six
more regional centers emulating the Central
for Social Action in Caracas are to be built. The
new academic buildings, which will be complemented by areas for teacher training, are to be
built over the next few years, the goal being to
complete them by 2015. The states that are to
benefit are Lara, Aragua, Anzoátegui, Bolívar,
Mérida, and Zulia, and another center is being
built in Caracas, on the city’s west side.
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s Projects
Unit, whose main responsibility is to coordinate,
strengthen, and plan infrastructure, is run by
Valentina Herz (the Unit’s Coordinator) and
Gladys Melo (architect). Both work on the
strategic development and strengthening of the
System of Orchestras in everything having to do
with the physical facilities.
“The way the System has grown in recent years,
both nationally and internationally, the number
of nuclei that have been set up throughout the
country, and the demands made by children
who come to us and who are increasingly
younger are making extremely heavy demands
in terms of suitable infrastructure. So what this
unit does is to underpin Simón Bolívar Musical
Foundation`s academic efforts by designing and
creating the Teacher Training Centers, so that
places exist where the System’s teachers can prepare themselves and have the capacity to meet
the demands of the new generations of students
who are joining,” explained Valentina Herz.
The beautiful Simón Bolívar concert hall, the new artistic
home of the Venezuelan Youth Symphony Orchestra
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Venezuela, the miracle of music
Editorial Concept and Texts
Chefi Borzacchini
Editorial Coordination
Santos López
Translator
Ronald Karjala
Proofreader
Santos López
Journalistic research and documentation
Chefi Borzacchini and Carmen Verde
Administrative Assistant
Luzbeydi Balza
Graphic Design and Electronic Montage
Equis Creadores de Imagen CA
Editorial research support
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s archives and Marjorie Delgado Aguirre
Photographers
Beto Gutiérrez, Guillermo Suárez, Gustavo Marcano,
Reynaldo Trombetta, Sandra Bracho
Infography
Franklin Durán
Photographic archives
Chefi Borzacchini
Photographic Support
Nohely Oliveros
Sandra Bracho
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s
Communications Office
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s
Production, Promotions, and Development Office
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s Audiovisual Center
Amilciar Gualdrón (Prisons Academic Program)
ISBN: 978-980-7125-05-5
Iván González
Legal Deposit: if78320114283758
Juan Francisco Toro
Frank Di Polo
© Fundación Bancaribe
Larry Parra (Universidad del Zulia)
RIF: J-29439649-6
Dudamel Rodríguez family’s photograph collection
(All rights reserved)
Abreu Anselmi family’s photograph collection
This book or any part there of may not be reproduced, stored or
Archives consulted
transmitted in any form or by any means -electronic, chemical, me-
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s Production, Promotions,
chanical or optical, including recording or photocopying- without
and Development Office
the prior permission of Fundación Bancaribe.
Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation’s Communications Office
Printed in Caracas, Venezuela, 2011.
Acknowledgements and special collaborators
Eduardo Méndez, Valdemar Rodríguez, Víctor Rojas, Liliana Arvelo,
A production of Representaciones Com.Poetas C.A.
Norma Méndez, Ana Cecilia Abreu (Simón Bolívar Musical Foundation),
for Fundación Bancaribe
Gary Núñez, Alfredo D’Adonna (Barquisimeto Nucleus), Carlos Hernández
+58.212.2381701 / +58.212.2373651/ +58.412.2857468 /
Delfino, Alys de Marrero, Elba Monterola, Erika Schmid, Ana Teresa Arriaga,
chefi10@hotmail.com / santos.santisimo@gmail.com
Elide Silva (Fundación Bancaribe), Erick Zabaco, Patricia Rodríguez, and
Fundación Bancaribe
Victoria Helena López
+58.212.954.57.85 / +58.212.954.51.28
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