El Sistema Nationalorkester

The El Sistema National Orchestra is a youth orchestra for players aged 11–19, with members from music and culture schools and El Sistema programmes across Sweden. This autumn concert traditionally marks the conclusion of a music camp held in Södertälje and Stockholm. The orchestra has grown to over 60 members, supported by professional musicians from, among others, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

“Our vision is to show, through the orchestra, how far we have come with El Sistema in Sweden,” says Ron Davis Alvarez, conductor of the El Sistema National Orchestra.

El Sistema is a model for choir and orchestra education developed in Venezuela. It is built on the belief in music’s power to help people grow within a social context, to strengthen community, and to support the self-esteem and identity of children and young people. In Sweden, El Sistema has existed as an educational model since 2009 and has continued to grow steadily ever since.