Venezuela claims Guinness World Record for largest orchestra

The previous record was for an orchestra of 8,097 musicians who played together in St. Petersburg, Russia

Venezuela's National System of Youth and Children's Orchestras — known as "El Sistema" — has set a new Guinness record for the world's largest orchestra with 8,573 musicians playing together, the country's government said on November 20.

A week ago more than 12,000 musicians played a classical piece together for more than five minutes as they sought to beat a Russian record that was set two years ago.

Venezuela's Information Minister Freddy Nanez and the Russian ambassador in Caracas, Sergey Melik-Bagdasarov, congratulated the musicians on November 20 in an address broadcast on state television.