Gustavo Dudamel at TED!

Gustavo Dudamel and these amazing young musicians from Venezuela put up a jaw dropping performance at the 2009 TED Conference.

The Simon Bolivar Orchestra has an inspiring backstory; their music is clearly very good but the context of their passions is even more amazing! Members come from some of the poorest neighbourhoods in Venezuela, they have been adopted by El Sistema, ‘the system’, an organization that seeks to empower the youth through a music based vocational training program. Most of these kids had a real risk of falling to a life of crime and deprivation. Instead, they have us enthralled, that 15 year old kid on drums immersed in  Danzon Number 2.

Here, Sartorial pyrotechnics are not a prerequisite to enjoy brilliant classical music, and I think that’s the way it should be.

I bet this will have you hooked!