Why this incredible Venezuelan Orchestra is supporting Coldplay at Wembley
28 August 2025, 16:32 | Updated: 4 September 2025, 10:02
Two global musical phenomena join forces over 10 nights at Wembley Stadium.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Over the years, Coldplay has brought out some of the most famous guests on stage - from Dua Lipa and Maisie Peters to Simon Pegg and Jacob Collier, everyone wants to join the British band’s famous live shows.
As they spend ten days at Wembley Stadium, they will be joined by conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, a world-renowned ensemble born from El Sistema, Venezuela’s pioneering music education programme.
They will open Coldplay’s show and perform with the band as part of its ‘Music of the Spheres’ tour, which is currently at Wembley Stadium for ten nights. For example, they play the orchestral part of ‘Viva la Vida’, which is also accompanied by fireworks, and arrangements of ‘Fix You’ and ‘A Sky Full of Stars’.
“We consider Chris a friend, and Coldplay and us, we share the same values,” conductor Gustavo Dudamel told Latin Times during rehearsals. “This is for people to be transformed by the power of music.”
Read more: Why do Coldplay open their world tour concerts with John Williams’ E.T. theme?
Gustavo Dudamel & the Bolivars play 'Mambo' supporting Coldplay at Wembley!
The orchestra consists of 180 members, who work under El Sistema’s Orchestral Academic Programme. It was founded in 1975 and its members, who were named UNESCO Artists for Peace, have been trained through the publicly funded music education programme.
The programme was designed to provide free classical music training to children and young people, especially from underprivileged backgrounds. El Sistema has now produced generations of world-class musicians - most famously Dudamel himself - many of whom have passed through the ranks of the orchestra. Since its conception, the ensemble has gained international acclaim for both its performances and social mission, touring globally under the baton of renowned conductors like Gustavo Dudamel and serving as a symbol of the transformative power of music.
Gustavo Dudamel serves as both the Music and Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, and next year is set to fill the same role at the New York Philharmonic. His work is driven by advocacy and the belief that music has the power to transform lives.
“With an orchestra you are building citizens, better citizens for the community,” he said in an interview.
He was also one of the conductors that Bradley Cooper shadowed when he was learning to conduct to play Leonard Bernstein in the biopic Maestro.
The collaboration is also a celebration of 50 years of El Sistema. The organisation has given hundreds of thousands of young people across Venezuela free access to classical music training. Many members of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra began their musical journey in some of the country’s most challenging environments. Now, they’re performing on one of the world’s largest stages with one of the world’s most famous bands.
After their ten performances at Wembley, the orchestra and Gustavo Dudamel will perform a program of works by Bernstein and Manuel de Falla at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall, including the ‘Symphonic Dances’ from West Side Story.
