The above video delves into the exhibition “The Venezuelan wonder – El Sistema and the power of music” that premiered at the Salzburg Festival and ran through September 1, 2013. The youth orchestra also performed concerts during the course of the festival. El Sistema offers young Venezuelans an opportunity to enjoy a free musical education, no matter what their ethnic or social backgrounds.
Leica Camera sent photographers Meridith Kohut, Oscar B. Castillo and Carlos Javier Ortiz to Venezuela to document the daily lives of the ‘Sistema’ children and their music for the exhibition. The photographs illustrated the enormous importance and unifying element of the ‘Sistema’ and music to the development of Venezuelan children and its effect on the country’s cultural climate.
Furthermore, the Simón Bolívar String Quartet is touring throughout Europe in December 2013. The quartet was created from within the Fundación Musical Simón Bolívar and is composed of principal musicians from the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. The tour dates are as follows:

  • December 2, Philharmonie in Berlin, Germany
  • December 4, Barber Institute in Birmingham, Great Britain
  • December 5, Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts; Lancaster, Great Britain
  • December 6, Royal Northern College of Music; Manchester, Great Britain
  • December 11, Konserthus; Gothenburg, Sweden
  • December 12, Musikverein, Vienna, Austria
  • December 13, Centre des Arts Pluriels, Ettelbruck, Luxembourg

– Leica Internet Team