Sunday, October 18, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-VENEZUELA: A Rockin’ Philharmonic
Humberto Márquez
- The Venezuelan Philharmonic Orchestra recently celebrated its fifteenth anniversary with an unprecedented concert series that put its 60 symphony musicians on stage with two alternative rock bands.
Amigos Invisibles (Invisible Friends) and Caramelos de Cianuro (Cyanide Candies) both performed at the Teresa Carreño Theatre, the most important stage in Caracas, with a capacity for 2,500 people. The rock musicians were accompanied by the Philharmonic, directed by Pablo Castellanos.
In the two concerts, only the songs of rock bands were played. Amigos Invisibles and Caramelos de Cianuro are among the leading rock groups of Venezuela, with four albums each.
Amigos Invisibles is the best known on the international music scene, as three of the band’s albums have been recorded by the New York-based company Luaka Bop, of David Byrne, the former lead of the cutting-edge pop group of the 1980s, the Talking Heads.
The idea of presenting the successful Venezuelan rock groups in a symphonic version arose as part of the anniversary programming of the Philharmonic Orchestra, which seeks to draw in new segments of the music-listening public, beyond the traditional symphony supporters, and targeting youth audiences in particular.
"We saw the need to open other horizons, to renew the image of the Philharmonic, but always with the notion that has marked us as an orchestra: providing support to Venezuelan musical talent," director Castellanos told IPS.
"Performing pieces of the country’s most vanguard pop music seemed like an innovative approach, and it served to show that one can still invent," added Castellanos, who had already promoted these "fusion" concerts, though with bolero and salsa groups, genres typical of the Caribbean rhythms.
"We are terrified!" exclaimed Asier González, vocalist for the Caramelos de Cianuro, in the middle of that group’s concert with the symphony’s accompaniment.
Castellanos’s orchestra is now planning a series of concerts with other Venezuelan rock bands, Desorden Público (Public Disorder) and King Changó.
According to the director, the experience with Amigos Invisibles and Caramelos de Cianuro, which included performances in other cities throughout the country, was enriching for all involved.
"During the rehearsals I realised that, in the professional realm, these two groups are not at all unruly or disrespectful. I have always said that there is no such thing as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ music, only music that is well or poorly performed," Castellanos commented.
He noted that the most important part of the rock-symphony "exchange" was to realise that a joint interpretation of music is indeed possible in spite of the different musical "codes" of the performers.
"We utilise the more academic codes of theory and musical scales, while the rock groups work more by ear, intuition and rhythm. But they don’t leave anything to chance. To reach the point they have, they needed work and discipline, even though their image is one of wild young men," explained the director.
Since it was founded in 1987, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Venezuela has attempted to disseminate Venezuelan music, especially classical music, including at least one piece by a Venezuelan composer in each of its concerts.
As part of its anniversary celebrations, the Philharmonic also performed a series of concerts of colonial-era music and of contemporary Venezuelan tunes.
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/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-VENEZUELA: A Rockin’ Philharmonic
Humberto Márquez
- The Venezuelan Philharmonic Orchestra recently celebrated its fifteenth anniversary with an unprecedented concert series that put its 60 symphony musicians on stage with two alternative rock bands.
(more…)
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