"The big noise at the Proms last weekend was provided by the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela under conductor Gustavo Dudamel, who blew into town like a force of nature and nearly blew the roof off the Royal Albert Hall.

Its story - and indeed the whole development of music education in Venezuela since the inauguration of El Sistema, a new social approach to the teaching of musical instruments - is truly extraordinary.

The Venezuelans' playing was often thrilling. Prom 48 began with a major challenge, Shostakovich's mighty 10th Symphony, in a performance notable for matching the work's intensity, bar for bar. The demonic scherzo - supposedly the composer's private and deeply unflattering portrait of Stalin - was a fiery whirlwind in sound.

They moved on to a streetwise and sexy account of the Symphonic Dances from Bernstein's West Side Story, following it with Latin American specialities in the shape of José Pablo Moncayo's Huapango, Arturo Márquez's Danzó* No 2 and Alberto Ginastera's ballet suite Estancia. To everything they brought inexhaustible commitment and panache combined with sheer joy in making music. Dudamel himself, at only 26, is a conductor of considerable attainment and even greater potential. That he recently landed the job of music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic says it all.

At encore time the musicians swapped their formal jackets for the Venezuelan national colours, danced, threw their instruments into the air and generally brought a Latin fiesta spirit to the Albert Hall. It was a fun end to an unforgettable and inspiring Prom. We need El Sistema here".