Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel

Venue: Concert Hall (National Centre for the Performing Arts)
Dates: December 11 - 12, 2008　19:30
Price: VIP　880　680　480　280　180 RMB

Programme Introduction

The Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela (SBYOV) was founded on February 12, 1975 by maestro José Antonio Abreu. The orchestra has had two principal conductors: its founder, maestro Abreu, who held the post for over two decades and maestro Alfredo Rugeles, the orchestra has welcomed notable guest conductors to its podium, whose contributions to the orchestra's artistic standards proved invaluable.

The SBYOV has performed with famous soloists and renowned ensembles. It has played in many music festivals, gala concerts, and special events in and out of the country, and it has appeared in many of the most important concert halls of Europe, Asia, and North and South America.

The SBYOV's varied repertoire includes important Venezuelan and Latin-American pieces which have won renown and popularity due to the orchestra's performances and recordings. Between 1980 and 1981, the orchestra released three albums, and in the nineties, produced some recordings for Dorian under the baton of Eduardo Mata, Enrique Diemecke, Maximiano Valdés and Keri-Lynn Wilson. In 2006, the SBYOV began to record for Deutsche Grammophone under the conduction of Gustavo Dudamel. Three compact discs have already been produced.

Since 1976 the Teresa Carreño Theater is its permanent home, wherein the orchestra's weekly performances are held and the Orchestral Academic Program is developed since 2001. Through this program, the best musicians from the Núcleos around the country join the SBYOV - led by Gustavo Dudamel - and continue their music education under the tutelage of world-renowned institutions and El Sistema's most experienced musicians.

Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel

Gustavo Dudamel, born on January 26th, 1981 in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, was ten when he took up the violin, and soon was also studying composition. Prior to his tenure as the Music Director of SBYOV, he began his conducting studies with Rodolfo Saglimbeni in 1996 and during the same year was named Music Director of the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra.

Dudamel was appointed Music Director of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela (SBYOV) in 1999, an ensemble founded by Abreu that is widely recognized for its role in transforming the lives of tens of thousands of impoverished youths. He is also in great demand as a guest conductor and has worked with the world's most renowned orchestras and musicians. Dudamel is currently Principal Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and has been appointed Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, effective from 2009/2010 season.

A highly acclaimed concert tour with the SBYOV includes appearances at the BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Schleswig-Holstein and Lucerne Festival. Honoring their first tour of North America, New York Magazine proclaimed Dudamel's debut in the Carnegie Hall with the SBYOV as "Best Performance of the Year" at its Culture Awards 2007. Dudamel and the SBYOV are scheduled to make their debut with a residency at the Salzburg Festival, return to the Lucerne Festival as part of an extensive tour of central Europe.

Dudamel received great acclaim for his recordings of Mahler's Fifth Symphony with the SBYOV and Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra with the LA Philharmonic. He has conducted numerous concerts with the Gothenburg Symphony, the LA Philharmonic, Orchestre phillharmonique de Radio France and the philharmonic orchestra among others. In June 2008, he made his first appearance with the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Berlin Waldbühne, featuring Latin-American repertoire. Furthermore, he conducted Puccini's La Bohème at Berlin's Staatsoper and at La Scala in Milan.

In May 2007, Dudamel was awarded the Premio de la Latindad by the 37 Latin American and African member states of the Union Latina organization for his outstanding contributions to Latin cultural life. His first DG release, Beethoven's Symphonies No. 5 & 7 with the SBYOV, has received to great critical acclaim and brought Dudamel an Echo Award in the category "New Artist of the Year 2007".

Programs

December 11

Ravel

Daphnis and Chloe 2nd Suite

Castellano

Santa Cruz de Pacairigua

Tschaikowsky

Symphony No. 5

December 12

Bernstein

West Side Story - Symphonic Dances

Mahler

Symphony No. 1

Please hold your applause between movements.