Conductor wearing a black suit white shirt and pink bow tie, with violinists playing around them

View all events for category: Classical music

Gustavo Dudamel & Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra

Marking its 50th year, the celebrated orchestra performs passionate Bernstein and Falla works for which it has become known, under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel.

Part of Visiting Orchestras

More details for Royal Festival Hall

This event has passed

Directed by Dudamel since 1999, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela has established a reputation for high-energy, ferociously skilled performances.

Bernstein’s rip-roaring Symphonic Dances from West Side Story is a particular favourite of the orchestra, and it is with this work that the evening comes to a crescendo.

When it premiered in 1957, the original Broadway production of West Side Story, with Bernstein’s powerful score at its heart, changed the course of musical theatre. He adapted this suite from the musical in 1960.

Bernstein’s overture to Candide opens with a fanfare, announcing the arrival of this world-renowned orchestra to our Royal Festival Hall stage.

Two works by Manuel de Falla complete the programme. The three movements of Nights in the Gardens of Spain each paint an impressionistic picture of a garden at night, full of atmosphere and nostalgia.

The Second Suite of The Three-Cornered Hat fizzes with Spanish folk influences and ends with an exuberant celebration.

Founded in 1975, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra creates new opportunities for musical excellence in Venezuela. Its 180 members – named UNESCO Artists for Peace – have been trained through El Sistema, a publicly funded music education programme.

Gustavo Dudamel is driven by the belief that music has the power to transform lives. Through his dynamic presence on the podium and his tireless advocacy for arts education, Dudamel has introduced classical music to new audiences around the globe.

Performers

Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela

Gustavo Dudamel conductor

Javier Perianes piano

Repertoire

Bernstein: Overture, Candide

Falla: Nights in the gardens of Spain for piano & orchestra

Interval

Falla: The Three-cornered Hat, Suite No.2

Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

Need to know

Age guidance

For ages 7+. Under-12s must be accompanied by an adult on our site.

Event information

An exclusive box package is available, which includes:

Hire of a private box (seats up to eight people).
Use of the Royal Retiring Room, a private lounge with its own toilet facilities, for the duration of the event.
One free drink per guest on arrival (prosecco, wine, beer or soft drink).
Dedicated host to take drinks orders throughout the event.

Find out more about the music with our free programme.
View the programme

Reviews

‘Dudamel conducted as if the music were coursing through him like electricity’The Arts Desk

For your visit

This event is held at the Royal Festival Hall Southbank Centre

The Royal Festival Hall is open six days a week.

Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 11pm
Monday, closed.

A concrete building with flags on the roof, with the London Eye and Big Ben in the background

A lively crowd cheers with raised hands, while a performer in a white hat and suit plays guitar, against red lighting.

A guitarist performing on a dark stage at the Royal Festival Hall, lit up by multiple spotlights.

Pianis Víkingur Ólafsson is seated at a grand piano while playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations on the stage of Royal Festival Hall

Organist Carol Williams plays the Royal Festival Hall organ whiich is illumiated with bold colours

The Royal Festival Hall is home to our largest auditorium as well as The Clore Ballroom, National Poetry Library, Members’ Lounge, Festival Bar & Kitchen, Ballroom Cafe and Skylon restaurant.

Getting here

Our address is Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX.

The nearest tube stations to us are Waterloo and Embankment; Waterloo is also the nearest train station. And more than 20 different London bus routes pass within 500 metres of our venues. More information on getting here by rail, road or river is available on our Getting here page.

We’re cash-free

Please note that we’re unable to accept cash payments across our venues.

We’re working hard to remove barriers, so that our facilities and events can be accessible to as many people as possible.

All help points, toilets, performance and exhibition spaces at the Southbank Centre are accessible to all, as are the cafes, bars and restaurants. We also have excellent public transport links with step-free access.

All information about booking wheelchair spaces, step-free access, blue badge parking, access maps and guides and other help available whilst you’re here, including details about our Access Scheme, can be found on our Access page.

On Level 2 of our Royal Festival Hall you can grab a slice of life by the Thames with drinks and freshly made pizza at our Festival Bar & Kitchen which opens out onto our Riverside Terrace. You can grab a coffee and a slice of freshly made cake from our Ballroom Cafe. Or alternatively enjoy destination dining in the restaurant at Skylon.

From coffee to cocktails, filling favourites to fine dining, plus some of London’s best street food – it’s all here at the Southbank Centre.

Other places to eat and drink whilst you’re here