At Salzburg Fest­iv­al, Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar Youth Or­ches­tra de­liv­ers the biggest audi­ence hit of the sum­mer 2008. Rarely has an or­ches­tra reached out and grabbed its audi­ence in such a vis­cer­al man­ner; and even more rarely has such a feat been ac­com­plished by an or­ches­tra of young­sters between the ages of 12 and 26!The Simón Bolívar Youth Or­ches­tra, the Salzburg Fest­iv­al’s res­id­ent or­ches­tra of 2008, is a product of the "Sis­tema de Or­ques­tas" set up to al­low chil­dren of all so­cial levels to learn a mu­sic­al in­stru­ment and play in an en­semble.

Today, 250,000 youths are learn­ing from 15,000 in­struct­ors and play­ing in over 120 youth or­ches­tras and nearly 60 chil­dren’s or­ches­tras. Some of the Sis­tema’s finest play­ers were picked to form the S.B.Y.O. and to work in Salzburg with such out­stand­ing mu­si­cians as Martha Ar­gerich, Renaud and Gau­ti­er Capuçon. Doc­u­ment­ing their activ­ity there is the pro­gram "School of Listen­ing" fea­tur­ing works by Beeth­oven and Mahler.

Lud­wig van Beeth­oven
Triple Con­certo for Pi­ano, Vi­ol­in, Vi­ol­on­cello and Or­ches­tra in C ma­jor, op. 56

Mod­est Mus­sorgsky
Pic­tures at an Ex­hib­i­tion

Or­ches­tra Simón Bolívar Youth Or­ches­tra of Venezuela un­der the bat­on of Gust­avo Du­damel to­geth­er with the so­loists

Martha Ar­gerich, pi­ano
Renaud Capuçon, vi­ol­in
Gau­ti­er Capuçon, vi­ol­on­cello