When an orchestra is as good, malleable and precise as the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra; and when a conductor is as cultured, careful with details, and has such a charismatic personality, as Claudio Abbado, the audience is simply captivated by beauty and perfection.

Maestro Abbado has been helping to improve the standard of the SBYOV since January 2005, when he started his relation with the flagship ensemble of the National System of Youth and Children's Orchestras of Venezuela.

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Abbado and SBYOV. 24-02-2010. Photo: Frank Di Polo. Fesnojiv

Just someone like Abbado, so closely linked to the Venezuelan El Sistema, could enrich the already rich, refined and colorful orchestration of Sergéi Prokófiev’s Scythian Suite, a narration full of film flavor that has as epilogue the Departure of Lolly and the Sun's Procession.

Who else could uncover the complex harmonies of Alban Berg’s Lulu Suite, with a young English-Austrian  soprano, Anna Prohaska, (26 years old), displaying a flawless tuning and an amazing organization of dynamics and rhythms?

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Abbado and SBYOV. 24-02-2010. Photo: Frank Di Polo. Fesnojiv

What could possibly be the reaction of the audience before a homogeneous, focused, and consistent orchestra that responds effectively to Abbado’s demands?