Dudamel conducting Bernstein’s ‘Mambo’ is possibly the most deliriously infectious orchestral performance of all time

22 August 2016, 11:07 | Updated: 22 August 2016, 17:48

When Gustavo Dudamel’s legendary Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela played a New Year’s Eve Concert in their native Caracas, there was only one way to finish it.

Leonard Bernstein’s ‘Mambo’ from West Side Story has all the ingredients of a great encore piece, but when you get a firebrand conductor like Gustavo Dudamel involved, it suddenly becomes a real event.

Want some more joyous Dudamel? Listen to the Full Works Concert tonight from 8pm >

This performance from 2007 shows exactly what happens when you combine these elements (it’s a massive party, obviously):

You go guys.