Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra

The Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela (Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar de Venezuela) is a Venezuelan orchestra. Named after the Venezuelan national hero Simón Bolívar, it was initially the apex of the nation's system of youth orchestras. By 2011, it was no longer officially a youth orchestra as many of its members remained with the orchestra and the average age had risen to the early 20s. It was replaced as the national youth orchestra by the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra.

The economist José Antonio Abreu established the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar on 12 February 1978. Gustavo Dudamel has been the orchestra's artistic director since 1999. The orchestra has worked with many famous conductors including Claudio Abbado and Simon Rattle.

Mission and history
Venezuela's youth orchestras are run under the auspices of the Fundación Musical Simón Bolívar (FMSB), known colloquially as El Sistema, Venezuela's social action music programme. The Guardian wrote that the orchestra represented "a message of social inclusion and the manifest power of music to bring communities together".

The orchestra consists of 180 members, who work under El Sistema’s Orchestral Academic Programme. Orchestra members have performed under Simon Rattle, Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Krzysztof Penderecki, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Lorin Maazel.

Based in Caracas, the orchestra moved its home in 2007 from the Teresa Carreño Cultural Complex to a new Center for Social Action Through Music nearby. The name of the center reflects the fact that El Sistema sees itself as a social agency. Most of its music students come from poor socio-economic backgrounds.

During his presidency, Hugo Chávez was a strong supporter of El Sistema, placing it under the executive branch of the government and providing funding of $100 million a year. As a result, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra became an essential part of national ceremonies. In 2013, El Sistema arranged for Gustavo Dudamel to conduct the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra during the funeral of Chávez, which was attended by nearly two dozen heads of state.

Gustavo Dudamel conducted the orchestra for its 2014 concerts at the Emirates Palace. In an interview prior to the performances, Dudamel said "In Venezuela we encourage what is right for the individual, but even more so what is right for the group".

Several musicians of El Sistema participated in the antigovernment 2017 protests, and in response many were detained, tortured or killed. On 3 May 2017, 18-years-old El Sistema violist Armando Cañizales was killed when he was shot by a spherical metallic projectile by security forces while participating in a demonstration in Caracas. Conductor Gustavo Dudamel condemned Nicolás Maduro's response to the protests for the first time the day after the killing, writing in social media: "I raise my voice against violence and repression. Nothing can justify bloodshed. Enough of ignoring the just clamor of a people suffocated by an intolerable crisis."

Violinist Wuilly Arteaga also participated and played his instrument during the protests that year. On 24 May, a National Guardsman officer ripped and broke his violin. His images crying over the violin went viral, and several people offered to give him a violin to replace the broken one. Wuilly was imprisoned on charges of public instigation and possession of incendiary substance. During his detention he was transferred four times and subjected to torture. When he was arrested, they burned his hair with a lighter for having very long hair, he was beaten with sticks and helmets when he was transferred to Fort Tiuna, and before arriving at the last prison he was hit in the back of the head with a metal tube, causing him internal bleeding and leaving him deaf in his right ear. During his detention he denounced that he witnessed how they raped a young woman detained on top of him inside an armoured vehicle. While he was imprisoned he had nowhere to write, it was forbidden to receive or send letters, there were no visitors, they were isolated and without ventilation. Even so, he composed the song "Cárcel de libertad" (Freedom Prison) along with his best friend Aarón, also detained.

The orchestra played three concerts at the 2023 Edinburgh International Festival.

Critical reception
In August 2007, the orchestra made its debut at the BBC Proms, to critical acclaim and an enthusiastic reception from the audience. The concert was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and deferred live on BBC Four TV.

A BBC TV documentary programme in the Imagine arts series, first shown on 18 November 2008, examined the history and ethos of the orchestra and its role in tackling the social problems of Venezuela and its success in transforming the lives of some of the nation's poorest children, including interviews with Dudamel, key members of the orchestra, and current and former students. Hosted by Alan Yentob, the film took a detailed look at the unique music education system of Venezuela, of which the orchestra is an integral part, and described a recent attempt to imitate its success in Raploch, a deprived district of the city of Stirling, Scotland.

The cellist Julian Lloyd Webber was appointed chairman of the steering group of In Harmony, a British government-led music education and community development project which is based on El Sistema and which planned a three-year project in three impoverished areas of England. It began in 2009.

In 2007, the orchestra and Dudamel appeared at Carnegie Hall. In 2012, the music critic of the London Times stated his opinion that the high international profile of the Venezuelan orchestra under Dudamel was a factor in the creation of a national youth orchestra in the United States.

Discography
The orchestra and Dudamel have made four recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, one of Beethoven; one of Mahler one of Tchaikovsky; and a collection of Latin American music.

The orchestra previously released other recordings, including several ballet pieces, in the early 1990s on the Dorian Recordings label.