The Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela played at the opening concert of the 2010 International Festival of Music and Dance of Granada, last June 25. Led by Gustavo Dudamel, the Venezuelan musicians played the last concert of their Europe Tour in La Alhambra, a historical and artistic place designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1984.

The concert took place at 10:30 p.m. at the Palace of Charles V, a renowned Iberian venue for symphony concerts. The orchestra opened the concert with the performance of Margariteña (symphonic variations) by the Venezuelan composer Inocente Carreño, and – for a few minutes – La Alhambra became a Venezuelan island. Then, the SBYOV played Alberto Ginastera’s Malambo de La Estancia, followed by Stravinsk’s Rite of Spring, which closed the sell-out concert (1,200).

Granada confirmed that is impossible not to surrender to the charm of a work that opens with an intriguing bassoon solo (performed in this occasion by the acclaimed musician Gonzálo Hidalgo) and follows with complex rhythms that worship nature, namely its spring season, when everything blooms.

Tickets sold out three months ago. Nuria Checa, music professor, intended to buy tickets last April and found that the concert was already sold-out. “I had the opportunity to see them last year (…) I always set them as an example to the youth and children’s orchestras we are founding in the small surrounding towns of Barcelona,” Checa commented a few hours before the concert as she came up to people who passed by trying to get a resale ticket.