Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela: Gustavo Dudamel, music director

BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 7
Symphony No. 8
Overture to Egmont

Returning to Cal Performances after sold-out events in the 2012/13 season, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela makes a triumphant return with dynamic conductor Gustavo Dudamel at the podium for two unforgettable programs of Beethoven. For this first performance, the flagship ensemble of the much-touted El Sistema music education program pairs Beethoven's ebullient Seventh Symphony with his daring Eighth, and the heroic Egmont Overture. "Dudamel's exuberance ... now carries a new weight of emotional depth and complexity" (Los Angeles Times, Best Classical Moments of 2014).