Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela

Gustavo Dudamel leads the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra through Tchaikovsky’s dramatic Fourth Symphony that grapples with Fate, in a nod to his mentor José Antonio Abreu. Tchaikovsky was Abreu’s favorite composer, and his music is a rite of passage for all who train in Venezuela’s El Sistema including Dudamel and the Bolívars. “I know these symphonies like I know my own hands,” Dudamel has said, and that familiarity comes through in his distillation of Tchaikovsky’s deceptively simple beauty. The evening begins with Ricardo Lorenz’s treacherous thrill ride through the South American countryside. Todo Terreno, a percussion-rich piece with unpredictable rhythms and harmonies, imitates the muddy, rocky experience of driving off-road. Pacho Flores returns to the Bowl for a brand-new concerto by Arturo Márquez for trumpet, an instrument the composer describes as “the queen in the soul of Mexico… a cry of joy and sadness.” PERFORMANCE WITH FIREWORKS