At 14, and recently appointed as director of a Venezuelan youth orchestra, Jose Angel Salazar may well be the youngest conductor in the world, the Guardian reported.

Salazar has between 70 and 80 musicians at his command in the Youth Orchestra of Nueva Esparta, more than half of whom are older than him.

Salazar is one of the success stories to come out of the Venezuelan orchestra system known as El Sistema, having joined at the age of eight.

Salazar lives with his parents, who are schoolteachers, and his grandparents. Neither he nor anyone in his family had much exposure to classical music, let alone formal music training.