MUSIC

The Houston Symphony presents the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, Friday, April 3 at Jones Hall.

Hotshot conductor Gustavo Dudamel (pictured, photo by Dan Porges) and his Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela will make their Houston debuts in a concert sponsored by the Houston Symphony.

The April 3 event in Jones Hall will inaugurate a tour that takes conductor and ensemble to three U.S. cities and five in Europe.

Dudamel, 27, has enjoyed one of the most meteoric rises of the latest crop of young conductors, His success, so far, was capped by his appointment as music director-designate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He will succeed Esa-Pekka Salonen in 2009.

His 2008-09 season will include international tours with Sweden's Gothenberg Symphony, where he is principal conductor; the Israel Philharmonic; the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam and the Bolivar Youth Orchestra (a second tour goes to Asia).

He also makes return visits to L.A., the Chicago Symphony and the New York Philharmonic.

The Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra is the flagship of what's been dubbed El Sistema: a nationwide Venezuelan music-education program that attracts more than 250,000 students ages 2 and older to schools around the country. El Sistema operates 220 child and youth orchestras, plus choruses and chamber ensembles. It has spun off approximately 30 professional adult orchestras.

Musician and economist Dr. José Antonio Abreu founded the orchestra in 1975 as a social outreach program aimed at children deeply affected by poverty, drugs and crime. Approximately 200 musicians, ages 16-20, now perform in the group, though not all at the same time.

El Sistema is run by the government-controlled Fundación del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela, or FESNOJIV, created in 1999. The program has been lauded worldwide, with awards from UNICEF and UNESCO for its achievements.