The Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar (Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra) is a Venezuelan orchestra.
The economist José Antionio Abreu established the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar on 12 February 1975. Gustavo Dudamel has been the orchestra’s artistic director since 1999. The orchestra has worked with many famous conductors including Claudio Abbado and Simon Rattle.
Rameau in Caracas
The Soloists of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela invited Bruno Procopio to conduct a programme dedicated entirely to Jean-Philippe Rameau. Discovering French Baroque music was an astonishing adventure for the Venezuelan musicians, and it marks their first foray into 18th century French classical music. This recording is also a foretaste of the celebration to come in 2014: the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death.
Above all, I wanted to spark the curiosity of the orchestra’s musicians for a kind of music which they never would have discovered on their own. I also wanted to work with an orchestra that had no experience of French Baroque music, in order to build a musical identity from scratch. This allowed me to search for my own vision of this music. To my delight, I found fertile ground.
During the break at one of the rehearsals, a musician came up to me and whispered: “Maestro, this is the best music I’ve ever played!” I could not have received a better reward. B.P
