Caracas, Venezuela, unlike Paris, France, is a newcomer in the field of present day music. Nevertheless it recently succeeded in putting itself on the contemporary musical map—and with a bang. No one, not even Paris, had ever before thought of organising a festival of orchestral works by contemporary Latin American composers. This happened for the first time anywhere in Caracas, which is full of vitality at the moment, thanks to an oil-engendered prosperity. The town boasts of a good orchestra, a brand new open-air amphitheatre seating six thousand people, and a lively cultural organisation, the Institución José Angel Lamas, headed by Dr. Inocente Palacios. This musically minded enthusiast is the kind of Maecenas composers dream about. By enlisting the aid of the Venezuelan government and other private sources he managed to put on an event that will have historical significance in the annals of Ibero-American music. Within the space of two and a half weeks forty symphonic compositions originating in seven Latin American countries were performed in a series of eight concerts. This was a major effort for all concerned, especially for the courageous musicians of the Orquesta Sinfonica Venezuela and the Festival's principal conductors: Heitor Villa Lobos, Carlos Chávez, Juan José Castro, and Rios Reyna.
