Two concerts at the Konzerthaus, chamber recitals, performances at schools and the presentation of an honorary membership to José Antonio Abreu by the Konzerthaus enhanced the prestige that the youth and children’s orchestras of Venezuela enjoys in Vienna.

The SBYOV conquered Vienna, the first leg of its Europe-Canada tour, and the demanding Viennese audience.

From Venezuela to Vienna…talent, spontaneity and tradition

The orchestra gave its first concert on October 16 at the major hall of the Konzerthaus, where they performed Piotr Ilich Thaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini, and Richard Strauss’ Alpine Symphony. The performance of the abovementioned Tchaikovsky’s work surpassed all expectations, and prepared the audience to listen the orchestra’s performance of Strauss' Alpine Symphony.

Bravos and applauses broke out. The standing ovation encouraged the orchestra and its conductor to play two well known pieces to the Viennese audience: Trish-Trash Polka by Johan Strauss, and Radetzky March by Johann Strauss I. The audience, in complicity with the conductor, joined the orchestra by clapping their hands. Maestro Claudio Abbado, who was among the audiencia, expressed his admiration for the orchestra: "Every time I listen to them I feel they are improving their level of performance. They are wonderful musicians. I can not wait to go to Venezuela and work with them again."

From performance to homage

Saturday, October 17. The Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra faced another challenge: to captivate the audience at a hall that was completely rearranged so as to accommodate more people. Seats were removed from the stalls and more people came in, exceeding the audience capacity of 1,800.

In this occasion, the repertoire was made up mainly of works by Latin American Composers. The strains of Silvestre Revueltas’ Sensemayá, Antonio Estévez’s Mediodía en el Llano, Evencio Castellanos’ Santa Cruz de Pacairigua along with Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky’s Symphony N° 4 filled the concert hall.

The audience gave the orchestra a long ovation, which ceased when the Konzerthaus Director of Education, Mónika Jeschko, appeared with a guitar in hand and invited the audience to join her in singing a version of Bob Dylan’s Blowing in the wind. Jeschko explained that the song was a homage from the Viennese people to the members of the orchestra.

The concert closed with Trish Trash Polka, Mambo from West Side Story and Radetzky March, which is a work usually played on the last night of December. Someone from the audience commented that a new year began with that concert.

Jorgen Moiser, a Copenhagen Orchestra clarinetist who traveled to Vienna just to listen to the SBYOV, said it was the most amazing concert he had ever attended, and maestro Abreu deserved the Nobel Prize for his achievements in Venezuela.

For his part, the Konzerthaus Executive Director, Bernhard Kerres, expressed his surprised at the audience reaction, and said that the heart and soul that the orchestra put into every performance is what makes it different to the rest of the orchestras. He also confessed that his biggest dream is to achieve great results from the agreements to be signed with El Sistema so as to improve both countries’ musical life.