Musicians of Venezuela's National System of Youth Orchestras and Choirs take part in a concert as they try to break the Guinness World Record for the largest orchestra in the world, in Caracas, Venezuela November 13, 2021. Reuters/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria
Caracas: Venezuela on Saturday attempted to break the Guinness record for the world's largest orchestra, as 12,000 musicians played a classical piece together for more than five minutes.
The attempt, by the country's National System of Youth and Children's Orchestras, known as "The System", would beat a Russian record set two years ago and will be judged by Guinness in the next 10 days.
"The System" counts some 350,000 children and youths among its rank, playing in a network of 180 orchestras.
Saturday's musicians, wearing white, played Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky's Marche Slave for 10 minutes at Caracas' military academy.
"It is a pleasure to be at the official attempt via video," Guinness expert Susana Reyes said.
The current record was set in Saint Petersburg when 8,097 musicians played together.
