Children of Las Brisas review – the power of music in a crumbling society
Venezuelan documentary follows three aspiring young classicists over a decade as they look to escape their crime-ridden circumstances
March 2018
José Abreu, founder of Venezuelan El Sistema youth orchestras, dies
Globally acclaimed project has saved thousands of Venezuelan children from crime and poverty
August 2017
Time to take a stand for Venezuela’s El Sistema
Marshall Marcus
President Maduro’s cancellation of conductor Gustavo Dudamel’s tour is a clear bid to weaponise the country’s greatest export, its musical education programme
November 2016
Latin America now
El Sistema: ¿podrá este proyecto de música controversial lograr armonía en Venezuela?
Latin America now
El Sistema: can the controversial music project bring harmony to Venezuela?
March 2016
From Bolívar to Super Bowl: why Gustavo Dudamel is reaching out to the world
‘The Dude’, the conductor of the LA Phil, is to bring the spirit of music-making in Venezuela to the poorest kids of LA, but how will he complete his mission of reaching the ‘99% untouched by classical music’?
February 2016
An ode to joy from our musical youth
Kevin McKenna
A project that began in Venezuela to bring music education to deprived areas is doing fabulous work in a number of Scottish council estates
May 2015
Tom Service on classical music
El Sistema Scotland: Positive outcomes across the board
The first report into the two Big Noise schemes in Scotland suggests long-term benefits across the communities, but assessing the real impact will take decades
January 2015
The Simón Bolívar Orchestra - why we should look beyond the music
Geoff Baker
Reviews of El Sistema’s flagship orchestra’s London concerts missed the bigger picture, writes Geoff Baker.
November 2014
El Sistema: a model of tyranny?
Geoff Baker
Venezuela’s El Sistema music scheme is ‘model of tyranny’, UK academic says
October 2014
Tom Service on classical music
The Ulster Orchestra: facing extinction
There’s only four weeks to save Northern Ireland’s only full-time professional orchestra
August 2014
How orchestras are riding the wave of change
From cannabis concerts to blindfolded audiences, orchestras are engaging audiences in exciting new ways
March 2013
CBSO/Matheuz – review
Diego Matheuz made Enrico Chapela's meditation on astrophysics sound easily digestible, but revealed little of himself in the programme, writes Andrew Clements
June 2012
Dudamel and Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra – live
Why Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra have a lot to prove
Dudamel and Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra – live
The Big Concert – review
Dudamel and Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra – live
Dudamel's Beethoven challenge
Charlotte Higgins on culture
Culture coach: the week's essential arts stories
Dudamel and Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra – live
Venezuela's Simón Bolívar Orchestra in Stirling's Raploch estate - video
Dudamel and Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra – live
Big Noise orchestra's classical music proves instrumental in social change
