The National Children’s Orchestra of Venezuela, made up of 357 children brought together after a national audition, will make its debut next July to mark the bicentennial celebrations of Venezuela’s independence.

As part of their preparation for the event, the members of the children’s orchestra attended – from March 27 to April 4 – an intensive seminar at the Montalbán Children’s Academic Center conducted by José Antonio Abreu and Gustavo Dudamel, among others. The seminar took place at the José Agustín Vivas Hall and was given by 27 maestros.

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The National Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela. Seminar at the Montalbán Children’s Academic Center. Caracas, March 27 to April 4, 2010.

These children aged 7 to 15 will perform a concert program that includes Gustav Maller’s Symphony No. 1, and Tchaikovsky’s  1812 Overture and Francesca da Rimini. “This concert program is totally different to the one played by the children's orchestra in 1994, when I was one of its members," Gustavo Dudamel explained, and then added, “These children –  whom I have had the good fortune to conduct –  are the bright young hope of Venezuelan music. They able to play pieces that the former National Children’s Orchestra was only able to play after four years of continued preparation.”