A Grammy nomination is nothing new for conductor Gustavo Dudamel.
The music director designate of the New York Philharmonic, who is currently concluding his 17-year-tenure as music and artistic director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, has won seven Grammys over the course of his career. This year alone, he's nominated in three separate categories. But for the first time, one of those nominations is with an orchestra born from the musical system that raised Dudamel and launched his career: the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra (SBSO).
The orchestra is the flagship ensemble of Venezuela's world-renowned music education program, commonly known as El Sistema. For decades, El Sistema has promoted classical music as a vehicle for social change and development, providing free and rigorous training to more than a million children across Venezuela, according to their own figures. It has inspired similar models and dozens of member organizations in other countries. In recent years, El Sistema has also sparked backlash for its close relationship with the Venezuelan government, which faces an unprecedented and unpredictable path forward following the recent ousting of autocratic president Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces.
Last spring, SBSO and Dudamel celebrated El Sistema's 50th anniversary with a European tour and a recording of Ravel's Boléro, which earned a Grammy nomination for best orchestral performance. The recognition from the Recording Academy may coincide with a turbulent moment for Venezuela, but Eduardo Méndez, who has served as executive director of El Sistema since 2008, says his focus is always on the music.
"This nomination, it's more than being a good recording or a beautiful recording," Méndez tells NPR. "It's really a sign of what Venezuela can do. This is the important thing — that we can see in our future how beautiful we can be and how good Venezuelans can be. We can do marvelous things."
From a garage to an international powerhouse
El Sistema began in a parking garage in 1975 with less than a dozen students. Under the leadership of maestro José Antonio Abreu, a musician and economist, it grew into a government-funded social program aiming to create a culture of musical excellence throughout Venezuela. El Sistema established a network of youth orchestras across every single state, with a particular focus on underprivileged areas.
Méndez remembers his mom taking him to the local núcleo, or teaching center, in his hometown of Merida in 1983, when he was only 5 years old. "I started going and I never stopped," he says. "I still go to the núcleo every day."
He played violin in the local youth orchestra through his teen years and stayed deeply connected to the program even as he pursued a law degree. After graduation, Abreu mentored Méndez on how to run El Sistema and take over as his successor. Méndez's story, though unique for his industry, is similar to that of many SBSO musicians. Originally the program's flagship youth orchestra, SBSO has since expanded into a professional adult ensemble, made up entirely of musicians trained by El Sistema.
SBSO violinist Pathrycia Mendonça says she was basically born into the program; she started going to a núcleo in Barquisimeto as a small child, following the footsteps of her older sister. "It's not just coming to rehearsal and sitting and playing and [leaving]," Mendonça tells NPR. "We literally are like a family. We grow up together. We have a lot of time together. I think that that is the secret."
Carlos Chirinos-Espin, professor of music innovation and social development at New York University, says El Sistema's sense of belonging is key to the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra's sound. He remembers throwing a party for SBSO's debut performance in London in 2007, and watching the musicians blasting reggaeton and dancing together afterwards.
"This Venezuelan orchestra, they hang out. They go to the bar. They eat together. They perhaps live in the same area," he says. "They have developed friendships because of the El Sistema model of education. The pedagogy and approach to building a community definitely has an impact on the quality of the performance itself. The Simón Bolívar Orchestra is proof of that."
That bond, Chirinos-Espin says, remains even as the members of the orchestra have changed over time. Dudamel, who serves as musical director of SBSO, grew from conductor prodigy of the youth orchestra into perhaps the most famous Venezuelan musician in the world, reaching bonafide rock star status in the classical music scene. Chirinos-Espin notes that while the curly-haired conductor's ascent has been the most notable and well-documented, there are plenty of other alumni who've reached prestigious positions thanks to El Sistema's training, including conductors Rafael Payare (Montreal Symphony Orchestra/San Diego Symphony), Diego Matheuz (Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Orchestra in Tokyo) and Domingo Hindoyan (Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra).
Controversies and clashes with the government
Yet for all the international acclaim for both the orchestra's performances and its educational backbone, El Sistema and SBSO have also faced controversies, including allegations of sexual abuse within its ranks. Most recently, several former students spoke out on social media in 2021, detailing accounts of sexual harassment during their time in El Sistema; the independent outlet Caracas Chronicles then interviewed several alleged victims using pseudonyms to protect their identities. Once the allegations came to light, El Sistema issued a statement on X expressing "absolute solidarity with the victims and their families" and promising to investigate complaints and enhance prevention protocols.
El Sistema has long been largely funded by the government, dating back to its earliest mission of arming children with leadership and social skills through community-oriented music programs. But as late President Hugo Chávez and his successor, Maduro, consolidated power, El Sistema shifted from the jurisdiction of several social ministries to the president's office. Although the orchestra identifies as apolitical, Abreu and Dudamel were often pictured alongside government leaders; Dudamel performed with the orchestra at Chavez's funeral in 2013. Some critics — including Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero — have accused El Sistema of serving as a propaganda tool, pushing a positive image of Venezuela even as the government faced growing accusations of authoritarianism and human rights violations.
When asked about these criticisms, Méndez would only say that his job is to put the students first and keep the educational program alive.
"We have a mission. The mission is to spread classical music, to give access [to] classical music to every child and every youth in the country and perhaps in the world," he says. "We can't stop. If you stop, you lose the children. Education can't stop. [The children] have to take two or three buses a day to get to a núcleo, but they go every day. So if they go, we have to be there to teach."
As the country's socioeconomic crisis deepened over the past decade, forcing approximately a quarter of its population to flee, a sharp dissonance came into focus: on one side, there was a social program promising to help disadvantaged youth out of poverty through the power of music. On the other, a country with crumbling infrastructure that left those same children with few prospects for their future. This is perhaps most clearly illustrated in Marianela Maldonado's documentary Children of Las Brisas, which followed the lives of three El Sistema students over nearly a decade, and captured their increasing desperation under the weight of Venezuela's conditions.
One of those musicians, Wuilly Arteaga, became a prominent face of anti-government protests in 2017, playing his violin in front of armed soldiers (later he wrote of being jailed and tortured, and was ultimately forced into exile). Around that same time, the Venezuelan National Guard killed an 18-year-old El Sistema violist named Armando Cañizales at an anti-government demonstration. The next day, Dudamel penned a statement condemning the ongoing violence, marking his first time publicly weighing in on Venezuela's political repression.
"I urgently call on the President of the Republic and the national government to rectify and listen to the voice of the Venezuelan people. Times cannot be defined by the blood of our people," he wrote. "We owe our youth a hopeful world, a country where we can walk freely in dissent, in respect, in tolerance, in dialogue and in which dreams have room to build the Venezuela we all yearn for."
He followed the letter with an op-ed in the New York Times, calling Maduro's plans to form a new legislative body and take power away from the opposition-led National Assembly "unconstitutional." Soon after, Maduro canceled the National Youth Orchestra's planned U.S. tour. The future of El Sistema and its touring orchestras hung in the interim.
"Many of us had doubts after 2017. I had doubts," Chirinos-Espin says. "Is El Sistema going to continue to be what it was? Is that legacy going to continue? Because they didn't tour and I wasn't able to go to Venezuela; I wasn't able to see."
After Abreu's death in 2018, the National Youth Symphony Orchestra and musicians from SBSO participated in two tribute concerts in Chile for El Sistema's founder. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, SBSO did not embark on another major international tour until its residency at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2023, followed by performances across Asia.
A triumphant return
Méndez acknowledges that running El Sistema with the political and social backdrop of recent years has been challenging.
"It doesn't matter what happens outside, we are always focused on what we are doing," he says. "What we have done is keep the energy focused on positive things and on connecting classical music to the people. That's why we have been very motivated, all of us — the musicians, the staff, the management, everyone — because we really believe that what we are doing is helping the development of the country."
In 2025, months after a widely-contested presidential election in which Maduro declared himself the winner without presenting evidence of a victory, SBSO's 50th anniversary tour began. The January dates across Europe overlapped with the start of Maduro's new term, leading to allegations from pianist Gabriela Montero that SBSO was "music-washing" a stolen election. Though she encouraged music promoters and artists to boycott the tour, the European performances continued as planned.
SBSO violinist Pathrycia Mendonça says that in every city, Venezuelan flags and chants filled orchestra halls. International audiences and a growing Venezuelan diaspora abroad welcomed the orchestra night after night. Back in 2007, members of the youth orchestra had given their brightly colored jackets, donning the Venezuelan flag, to audience members after their London performances. Nearly 20 years later, Mendonça says fans came to return those jackets to the new musicians who are now a part of SBSO.
"It was crazy for us in London," she laughs. "I think it was a public that was waiting for our sound."
It was in that same city that SBSO recorded their now Grammy-nominated rendition of Ravel's Boléro. Mendonça says the composition reflects the orchestra's history and legacy. "For me, the piece represents what El Sistema means," she explains. "It's discipline, it's order, it's structure — but it's a feeling and a commitment [of] growing up as a country. For me, it's very special."
In a statement shared with NPR, Dudamel agreed. "It was a joy to bring our Sistema soul to Boléro — one of the most iconic works, not just in classical music, but in all of music — infusing it with our unique DNA of how we conceive sound, and how we approach music-making," he wrote.
SBSO's North American dates proved to be trickier. The orchestra's Los Angeles performances, scheduled to take place at the Hollywood Bowl over the summer, were canceled due to "travel complications." (Venezuela is one of the countries on President Trump's latest travel ban). The show continued elsewhere. In August, SBSO returned to London to perform a 10-night run at Wembley Stadium with Coldplay.
"They [were] all wearing black suits and white trainers a la Dudamel. They [were] often not reading the charts; they [were] looking at the other musicians and at the conductor," says Chirinos-Espin, who watched the performances. "I think in 2025, they proved that they are not only as good as they were before, but perhaps even better."
Chirinos-Espin largely credits Méndez's leadership for that growth, and for his ability to keep the orchestra playing and breaking new ground even in the face of Venezuela's humanitarian crisis. For his part, the executive director says the Grammy nomination and Coldplay shows signal what's to come for El Sistema's next five decades.
"It's really the beginning of a new era," Méndez says. "What we achieve now is like a trampoline; we are taking that impulse to advance and to go ahead."
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