The Promise of Music is a full-length feature film about the story of Gustavo Dudamel and his Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.
The film documents Dudamel preparing his orchestra in Caracas for their upcoming concert at the Beethovenfest in Bonn. By following different musicians in their day-to-day lives, the film shows how classical music is changing the individual characters as much as their environment.
The climax of the film is the Bonn concert, a stunning success with standing ovations given to every work on the programme, which included Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony, Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story and repertoire from the orchestra’s Latin-American homeland.
Director Enrique Sánchez Lansch also created the award-winning documentary Rhythm Is It! About Sir Simon Rattle’s education project with the Berliner Philharmoniker.
The Promise of Music will be the first full-length documentary on the Venezuelan Sistema that lives up to the highest European TV standards.
Given the worldwide interest in Dudamel, the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra and the Sistema, this film will be in high demand.
“Anyone who was fortunate enough to have attended last year's sensational Proms performance from the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra under their charismatic conductor Gustavo Dudamel will want to view this inspirational and heart-warming DVD.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2008 *****
“The "sistema" has been going in Venezuela for more than 30 years. It is probably the most ambitious programme of music education and orchestra training in the world. This uplifting, superbly paced documentary should be required viewing for every government minister in the UK.” Gramophone Magazine, 2008 Awards Issue
Gramophone Magazine
