Today we are celebrating two great men, Leonard Bernstein and Gustavo Dudamel, and two great programs, El Sistema and the BBC Proms. This electrifying performance of “Mambo” from Bernstein’s West Side Story is conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. Dudamel is a product of a very special music education program called “El Sistema”. This performance was given at the BBC Proms, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, August 19, 2007, on the Last Night of the Proms.
Leonard Bernstein wrote Mambo as one of the dances in West Side Story. He was of course the famed and beloved conductor of the New York Philharmonic for 47 years! His Young People’s Concerts educated an entire generation of young people, including me! I loved those as a teenager and love them now! Dudamel will become the New York Philharmonic’s Music and Artistic Director in September 2026, continuing a legacy that includes Gustav Mahler, Arturo Toscanini, and Leonard Bernstein.
El Sistema is the program started in Venezuela in 1979, which provides musical instruments, music lessons and transportation to and from music lessons to children from age 6 to age 18. They all play in youth orchestras across the country and work their way up through the orchestra levels, until some of them arrive at the pinnacle - the orchestra which played at the BBC Proms - the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra. El Sistema has changed Venezuela, changed education and, moreover, changed classical music.
The BBC Proms are an eight-week series of classical concerts all across England, which are available to people who couldn’t afford tickets to regular classical concerts. Each year people wait in line for hours, sometimes days, to get tickets. The free/inexpensive tickets are for an area where everyone stands. The concerts are a huge hit, and the highlight of the year for classical music. The highlight of the series is the last night of the Proms, where Dudamel conducted Mambo in 2007.
Dudamel and his young orchestra inspire us with their enthusiasm and excitement and the sheer joy of making music.
Now it’s our turn to share some of our most exciting musical moments! Let the stories begin …