"Music is magic. It gives a person a special sensitivity for society". So says Gustavo Dudamel, the hottest property in classical music, and at just 26 the conductor-designate of the LA Philharmonic Orchestra

Those lucky enough to get hold of a ticket for the Proms last night witnessed one of the most remarkable concerts in living memory. But the 26 year old Venezuelan is more than just a conductor of another youth orchestra in south America. He is the product of a system that is transforming society in his homeland, forging a sustainable community.

Sir Simon Rattle says that "the most important thing happening in the world of music today is happening in Venezuela". Every child and particularly those from the most deprived regions of what remains a poor country, is given the opportunity to learn a musical instrument. There is a no rejection policy. Each child is given the chance to have a go, to be part of the team. As a consequence across Venezuela El Sistema is delivering a renewed sense of order, commitment, serenity and real community.

Oh how we need a dose of the same magic here in Britain.

Venezuela has a population of 26 million people. This year, 298,000 children are taking part in El Sistema, a system that provides children from the age of two with a musical instrument and friends to perform with. More than 300 orchestras of as many as 600 players each exist across the country, and the result is, as Dudamel himself puts it "a community of brothers and sisters playing in harmony together".

There is nothing to compare with making music in public, and I speak from thirty years experience as a choral singer. With the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus I sang at the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall last Saturday night, a concert about which The Guardian's music critic Tim Ashley wrote "I confess to being blown away, which is the highest compliment I can pay it." So I know the commitment, energy, and vitality that performance brings. There is nothing to match it; except perhaps the elation of a general election victory.

But in Britain, classical music is perceived as remote, elitist, tedious, and out of reach. So why the difference? Why is the emotion and vitality that runs through the fibre of every Venezuelan child not mirrored in Britain? Can our broken society, wracked with urban youth that all too often lacks drive, purpose or ambition, be healed in the same way that Venezuela has inspired a whole generation?

The answer has to be yes. A Conservative government, with social responsibility as its mantra, must champion the social enterprises that can deliver greater community cohesion. And musical performance, as El Sistema in Venezuela has proved for thirty years, is a model that delivers. We should deliver it here too.