“Such adjectives are bandied about so often in the classical music world that they have lost their true meaning, but miraculous is the only possible word to describe performances that reached the highest professional standards, given by teenagers from a country which – before El Sistema – had no meaningful tradition of classical music. One man’s dream has ensured that Venezuela is not only the first South American country to play classical music better than football but that its youth orchestra is the finest advertisement any country could wish for.”