How friendship – and mutual admiration – between Dudamel and Chris Martin led the Venezuelan orchestra system to play with Coldplay

“So, when my classes began, I left Barquisimeto at midnight to get to Caracas at dawn,” he said.

“I went to my classes and, at noon, I returned to my city with my mother. She was always with me, since I was a child. And I did it every week,” he said.

“For me, that was the key to being part of the orchestra,” he finished.

In other words, lack of sleep means nothing to her.

In addition to her position in the World Fame Orchestra, she is also a violin teacher, mother and chef, and recently completed a mastery in music.

But it would not be any other place in the world for the next three weeks.

“I don't know if I can say it, but I am a crazy catdplay fan, so when they asked me: 'Do you want to come to play?' I said: “No, there is anything to talk about,” he says shyly.

“I listened to the band in my house and I always dreamed of playing life. It is so iconic, and has strings from beginning to end. This is a dream come true. Totally a dream,” he confessed.

Like his companions of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Mendonça is beneficiary of the program The National System of Youth and Children's Choirs of Venezuela, which offers free music education throughout the country.

It was founded in 1975 by the late musician José Antonio Abreu, who saw him as an antidote against crime and poverty that whipped the country.

These problems persist despite the vast oil wealth of the country, but the system – as it is known nationally and internationally – has won Venezuelan musicians a place on the world stage.

For musicians, it is much more than learning to play an instrument.

“The system teaches you about the discipline of the community,” said Humberto Jiménez, a violinist who also traveled six hours to Caracas to study.

“You have to learn when to be part of the team and when to be a leader, and how to integrate all those differences into a single purpose,” he said.

“It gave me everything. I think all my life. It motivates me,” Mendonça added.

The most famous graduate of The System is Gustavo Dudamel, seven times winner of Grammy, who has been called “the happiest director in the United States” and “the closest to a rock star” in the world of classical music.

This 44 -year -old musician is currently the musical director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Artistic Director of the Simón Bolívar Orchestra. Next year, it will become the first Latin American to direct the New York Philharmonic, the oldest symphonic orchestra in the United States.

During the next three weeks, he will also be in London, convened by Chris Martin to open every night of the Coldplay residence at Wembley stadium.

“Chris is passionate about social action through music,” Dudamel said.

“When you play music, your desire is to help, heal and transform, and that connects with our values,” he added.

“I think I wanted to contribute something to the orchestra. A gift, a very generous gift, to gather us all, celebrating the power of music,” he said.

Martin met Dudamel in 2007, after the Simón Bolívar orchestra debuted at the BBC PROMS, the concert festival held in London every summer, interpreting “mambo” of the musical West Side Story.

The performance was sensational: it combined an exceptional technical skill with an exciting joy of living, while they touched their bars, turned their trumpets and sounded their cowbells, all dressed in jackets with the Venezuelan flag.

Shortly after, Martin invited the director to be part of the 2016 Super Bowl half -time show, and his friendship was sealed.

Martin's mother is also a director's fan and assists her rehearsals.

His collaboration fits perfectly with the eagerness of Dudamel for transferring the limits of classical music.

Earlier this year, the director led the Los Angeles Philharmonic to the Coachella Music Festival, where he played pieces of Wagner and Beethoven in a 50 -minute set that also included invited stars such as Dave Grohl, Cynthia Erivo and Ll Cool J.

“One thinks: 'Maybe this is crazy', but it was the most natural,” he said, remembering how the public chanted the “Da-Da-Da-Dum” initial of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony as if it were the riff of the theme of the theme Seven Nation Army.

“We live in a world of walls and borders, and that also happens with music, but one of my goals has been to break with that,” Dudamel said.

“I think young people are hungry for culture and, for us, in the orchestra, Coachella was a historical moment to connect with another audience and that it connected with what we do,” he admitted.

The director expects the concerts in Wembley, in which the orchestra will interpret the fifth Symphony of Beethoven, together with the theme of Star Wars by John Williams and “La Primavera” by Vivaldi, have the same effect.

“I want the public to be hugged by love,” he confessed.

“It is not naive to say that we live in a crisis of empathy. Music has nothing to do with that. Music has to do with creating harmony together. It is the best example of how to behave as a community,” he explained.

The director's optimism is contagious. While directing the orchestra in the trials in the Air Studios of London, its members cheer and applaud, enjoying a way that the orchestras rarely achieve.

This demonstrates the importance of the system, which turns 50, an anniversary that is commemorated with a mini -rise in the Barbican Center in London and a new album, entitled Odysseywhich mixes Latin American traditions with orchestral music.

However, the institution has received criticism. Some have accused her of being a political instrument, noting that she depends on President Nicolás Maduro, who has been repeatedly accused of repressing opposition groups and silencing dissent, even violently.

Dudamel has folvaged Maduro and asked for the end of “bloodshed” after the murder of an 18 -year -old musician in a protest in Caracas in 2017.

However, some have urged him to go further, stating that his continuous participation in the system makes him the “puppet and henchman” of the president.

However, the director has replicated by stating that his priority will always be the children whose lives are transformed thanks to the program.

“In the superpolitized world in which we live, you have to say, you have to do, you have to oppose,” he said.

“It's hard because everyone is screaming, but we need more programs like this that motivate you to discover the best of people,” he explained.

“For me, the most important thing is that this new generation has the opportunities that I had,” he finished.

More than three million children have gone through the system in the last five decades, and the program has been replicated in dozens of countries around the world.

For the next three weeks, almost one million people will see the results on the Wembley stage.

“It's the greatest number of people I have reached. It's a lot,” said Maravillada Mendonça.

“It is a way of representing my country and, in my particular case, it is a way of giving hope to all children to whom I have had the opportunity to teach,” he said.

“Sometimes, when one grows up, he doesn't know why he does what he does … but when he sees someone close to do something like that, he asks: 'If she can, why don't I?'” He settled.

Subscribe here To our new newsletter to receive every Friday a selection of our best content of the week.

And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and act.