Gustavo Dudamel |

Gustavo Dudamel

Internationally recognized as one of the most striking and outstanding conductors of our time, Gustavo Dudamel, whose name has become the emblem of Venezuela’s unique musical education throughout the world, has been the artistic director and principal conductor of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela for the 11th year. In the fall of 2009, he began his career as artistic director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic while continuing to direct the Gothenburg Symphony. The contagious energy and exceptional artistry of the maestro today made him one of the most sought-after conductors in the world, both operatic and symphonic.

Gustavo Dudamel was born in 1981 in Barquisimeto. He went through all the stages of the unique system of musical education in Venezuela (El Sistema), studied violin at the X. Lara Conservatory with J. L. Jimenez, then with J. F. del Castillo at the Latin American Violin Academy. In 1996 he began conducting under the direction of R. Salimbeni, in the same year he was appointed director of the Amadeus chamber orchestra. In 1999, simultaneously with his appointment as artistic director of the Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra, Dudamel began conducting lessons with José Antonio Abreu, the founder of this orchestra. Thanks to the victory in May 2004 at the First International Competition for Conductors. Gustav Mahler, organized by the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel attracted the attention of the whole world, as well as the attention of Sir Simon Rattle and Claudio Abbado, who took over him a kind of patronage. S. Rattle called Dudamel “an amazingly gifted conductor”, “the most talented among all those whom I have ever met.” “He definitely has everything to be an excellent conductor, he has a lively mind and quick reactions,” said another outstanding maestro, Esa-Pekka Salonen, about him. For participation in the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, Dudamel was awarded the first established award – the Beethoven Ring. Thanks to his victory at the London Academy of Conducting competition, he received the right to participate in master classes with Kurt Masur and Christoph von Donagny.

At the invitation of Donagna, Dudamel conducted the London Philharmonia Orchestra in 2005, made his debut with the Los Angeles and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras in the same year, and signed a record deal with Deutsche Grammophon. In 2005, Dudamel at the last moment replaced the ill N. Järvi in ​​the concert of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra at the BBC-Proms (“Promenade Concerts”). Thanks to this performance, Dudamel, 2 years later, was invited to lead the Gothenburg Orchestra, as well as to perform with the Youth Orchestra of Venezuela at the BBC-Proms 2007, where they performed Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony, Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story and works by Latin American composers .

Gustavo Dudamel is a participant in other most prestigious music festivals, including Edinburgh and Salzburg. In November 2006 he made his debut at La Scala with Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Other notable events in his career from 2006-2008 include performances with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Lucerne Festival, concerts with the San Francisco and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, and a concert at the Vatican for the 80th birthday of Pope Benedict XVI with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Following Gustavo Dudamel’s performances last year as a guest conductor with the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras, his inaugural concert as Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra took place on October 3, 2009 under the title “Bienvenido Gustavo!” (“Welcome, Gustavo!”). This free, all-day musical celebration at the Hollywood Bowl for the people of Los Angeles culminated in a performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. On October 8, he gave his inaugural gala concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, conducting the world premiere of J. Adams’ “City Noir” and Mahler’s 1st Symphony. This concert was broadcast on the PBS program “Great Performances” throughout the United States on October 21, 2009, followed by satellite broadcast worldwide. The Deutsche Grammophon label released a DVD of this concert. The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s further highlights in the 2009/2010 season, conducted by Dudamel, included performances at the Americas and Americans festival, a series of 5 concerts dedicated to the music and interpenetration of the cultural traditions of North, Central and Latin America, as well as concerts covering the widest repertoire: from Verdi’s Requiem to outstanding works by contemporary composers such as Chin, Salonen and Harrison. In May 2010, the Los Angeles Orchestra, led by Dudamel, made a trans-American tour from the west to the east coast, with concerts in San Francisco, Phoenix, Chicago, Nashville, Washington County, Philadelphia, New York and New Jersey. At the head of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Dudamel has given numerous concerts in Sweden, as well as in Hamburg, Bonn, Amsterdam, Brussels and the Canary Islands. With the Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, Gustavo Dudamel will repeatedly perform in Caracas in the 2010/2011 season and tour Scandinavia and Russia.

Since 2005 Gustavo Dudamel has been an exclusive artist of Deutsche Grammophon. His first album (Beethoven’s 5th and 7th symphonies with Simon Bolivar’s orchestra) was released in September 2006, and the following year the conductor received the German Echo Award as “Debutant of the Year”. The second recording, Mahler’s 5th Symphony (also with Simon Bolivar’s orchestra), appeared in May 2007 and was selected as the only classical album in the iTunes “Next Big Thing” program. The next album “FIESTA” released in May 2008 (also recorded with Simon Bolivar’s orchestra) features works by Latin American composers. In March 2009, Deutsche Grammophon released a new CD by the Simon Bolivar Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel with works by Tchaikovsky (5th Symphony and Francesca da Rimini). The conductor’s DVD discography includes the 2008 disc “The Promise of Music” (documentary and recording of a concert with Simon Bolivar’s orchestra), a concert in the Vatican dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (2007) and the concert “Live” from Salzburg (April 2009), including Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (arranged by Ravel) and Beethoven’s Concerto for Piano, Violin and Cello and Orchestra performed by Martha Argerich, Renaud and Gautier Capussons and Simon Bolivar Orchestra). Deutsche Grammophon also presented on iTunes a recording of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel – Berlioz’s Fantastic Symphony and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra.

In November 2007 in New York, Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolivar Orchestra received an honorary WQXR Gramophone Special Recognition Award. In May 2007, Dudamel was awarded the Premio de la Latindad for outstanding contributions to the cultural life of Latin America. In the same year, Dudamel received the Royal Philharmonic Musical Society of Great Britain’s Young Artist Award, while the Simón Bolivar Orchestra was awarded the prestigious Prince of Asturias Music Award. In 2008, Dudamel and his teacher Dr. Abreu received the Q Prize from Harvard University for “outstanding service to children”. Finally, in 2009, Dudamel received an honorary doctorate from the Centro-Occidental Lisandro Alvarado University of his hometown of Barquisimeto, was selected by his teacher José Antonio Abreu as the recipient of the prestigious Glenn Gould Protege Prize of the City of Toronto, and was made a Companion of the French Order of Arts and Letters.

Gustavo Dudamel was named one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2009 by TIME magazine and has twice appeared on CBS’ 60 Minutes.

Materials of the official booklet of the MGAF, June 2010