In Thursday’s (6/21) Guardian (London), Charlotte Higgins writes, “In the Community Campus of Raploch, a housing estate on the outskirts of Stirling, 120 children aged between six and 13 are rehearsing the Rondeau from Purcell’s Abdelazer—familiar to most as the imposing opening theme of Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. This is the Big Noise Orchestra. … In another part of the building, beyond the gym and the hairdressers, a second orchestra is preparing to rehearse in the sports hall. The musicians of Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, most of whom are in their 20s and early 30s, are making as much noise as 200 people with musical instruments can. … Then Gustavo Dudamel, their 31-year-old conductor, comes to the podium and sits down on his high stool. He looks up, and slightly raises both arms. At this simple gesture, all sound falls instantly away. … The two orchestras are rehearsing for the same event: a concert to be held on Thursday, 21 June in Raploch. It will open the London 2012 festival, the summer of cultural events ushering in the Olympic Games: an open-air concert for 8,000, to be broadcast live on BBC4.”
Posted June 21, 2012
