Enthusiasm, the irrepressible joy of making music, and breathtaking virtuosity: These are all hallmarks of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra. This incomparable youth orchestra will offer four performances during this year’s LUCERNE FESTIVAL at Easter, including a special matinee for families on Sunday, March 21.

“El Sistema”—the Venezuelan network of child and youth orchestras—fosters a notion of classical music that isn’t handed down from Mount Olympus but comes from the vitality of the streets. Today this network provides more than 300,000 school students—the majority of whom have grown up in extreme poverty—with a fundamental musical education, giving them a more positive outlook on life.
And the results have been stunning: The celebrated Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, which is the flagship of “El Sistema,” now concertizes internationally. Their charismatic principal conductor Gustavo Dudamel has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the classical music world. “Music has changed our lives—music is our life. Every performance inspires us to give our all,” remarks Dudamel about his extraordinary success.

This spring the Venezuelan orchestra will bring about 200 musicians on tour to Lucerne. Along with their three previously announced concerts, on March 21 (at 11.00 in the morning) they will offer a special family concert under the baton of 25-year-old conductor Christian Vásquez. The Simón Bolívar Orchestra will spend Sunday morning whirling with enthusiasm and passion through pieces by Latin American composers as well as Rossini’s Overture to “William Tell.” Young listeners will find an especially inspiring example here: Children and youths up under 18 years of age will be given free access to the “Children’s Corner.” Youth is an asset, for the audience as well..

The big finale, on March 22, will resound with two “heavyweight” pieces from the repertory, with 25-year-old Diego Matheuz on the podium. Kolja Blacher—well known to audiences as concertmaster of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA—performs as soloist in the Beethoven Violin Concerto. Following intermission, the players will then take on Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony—a very personal, biographically oriented work that will allow these the young Venezuelan musicians to showcase their orchestral finesse.

If you’d like to learn more about the sensational success story of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, make sure to take in one of these film showings: From March 18 until March 24 Lucerne’s stattkino will present the prize-winning documentary “El Sistema: Music For a Brighter Future.” Don’t miss our Venezuelan celebration!