Some 29 local musicians with the support of maestro Vicente Emilio Sojo created the Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela OSV in January 1930. The initiative to form what was originally the Society of the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra came from these 29 musicians who were part of the Caracas Philharmonic Union directed by Maestro Vicente Martucci.
The Venezuelan Symphony: A National Treasure
The Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, known as Pioneer and Dean, the second oldest in the American continent and the first in Latin America has shown great versatility by venturing into genres and styles adaptable to orchestration: operas, folk music, ballet, musicals, chamber music, symphonic rock, tango, didactic children’s concerts, Christmas specials, folk and popular music, as well as soundtracks.
It has performed at the Teatro Nacional, the Teatro Municipal de Caracas, the Concha Acústica de Bello Monte, the Aula Magna of the Central University of Venezuela, the Poliedro de Caracas, the Teatro Teresa Carreño and in every stage in Venezuela where it has been invited, such as schools, nursing homes, hospitals, parks; because of its special interest in nurturing the largest possible population, regardless of age or social status.
The presentations on international stages, with maestro Pedro Antonio Ríos Reyna as president, began in 1951 in Peru and Colombia. Then they visited Cuba, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador.
The Splendor of the Venezuelan Symphony
They continued to organize events in the interior of the country, such as the Latin American Music Festival. Opera programs with personalities such as Fedora Alemán and Eduardo Feo Calcaño and renowned foreign guests such as Igor Stravinsky, Desiré Defauw, Thomas Mayer and Claudio Arrau, among others, were at their peak.
In the 1980s, the OSV was recognized with the title of Artistic Heritage of the Nation and toured Holland, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Austria and France. Years later, it performed its repertoire in Lisbon and became the first symphony orchestra to perform in the city of Funchal, the capital of Madeira.
In this century, it toured Italian cities in honor of the Bicentennial of the Oath of Liberator Simón Bolívar on Monte Sacro and in the framework of its 75th anniversary (2005).
The Symphony of Venezuelan Pride
It then became the first Venezuelan orchestra to perform in the Russian Federation, in the cities of Izhevsk, Votkinsk (Tchaikovsky Festival), Moscow and St. Petersburg. In 2008, she was once again a pioneer when she gave concerts in Greece.
In April 1983, the Cultural Complex Teresa Carreño was inaugurated, with the permanent headquarters of the OSV in the Ríos Reyna Hall, in honor of the man who dreamed it up and promoted the project.
The COVID-19 pandemic has not diminished the work of the OSV, since in March 2020 it remained online. In July 2021 it gradually resumed its public presentations in strict compliance with biosafety standards.
