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    Gustavo Dudamel: A Maestro at a Crossroads

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    LOS ANGELES — Gustavo Dudamel paused mid-Rachmaninoff the other morning and flashed a mischievous smile at the 92 players of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.“This part,” he said as they rehearsed at Walt Disney Concert Hall, “is like that aunt who kisses you too much.” He puckered his lips loudly three times. “My dears,” he said, looking toward the violins, “let’s try it again.”He was back on the same podium where, just two days earlier, he had broken the news to the musicians, in a shaky and uncertain voice, that he would leave his post as their music and artistic director in 2026 to take on the same job at the New York Philharmonic. It was, he said, one of the hardest decisions of his life. But now he was back in his element, making music, swaying his hips and throwing his fist into the air, and imploring the players to “liberate every bit of gravity” from their playing — “to levitate.”Dudamel, 42, the rare maestro whose fame transcends classical music, finds himself at a crossroads: not only planning to move to a new orchestra, but also into a new phase of his career. Even as his curls have started to gray, he has never quite shed the image of a wunderkind, who at the age of 12 led his first orchestra in Venezuela, where he was born, and at 26 landed the job in Los Angeles.Dudamel backstage on Thursday at his first performance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic since he announced his move to New York.Philip Cheung for The New York Times“You cannot imagine how I have changed in these last years,” he said in an interview. “I’m not a young conductor anymore.”As Dudamel prepares to take the podium in New York, he is working to establish himself as a seasoned interpreter of the repertory — a maestro fluent in the symphonies of Mahler and Beethoven as well as less common fare, like a ballet by Ginastera. And he wants to continue to bring works by living composers into the mainstream.He is also eager to expand his legacy as a social activist — he was trained in El Sistema, the Venezuelan program that teaches music to children, many of them from poor families — from his coming platform in New York.“I see New York as a capital of the world, where I can send a message to the world that music is an important element of life — not only entertainment, but transformational,” he said.Dudamel has a devoted following in New York, where he was so admired that the Philharmonic decided to forgo a typical search for a music director, focusing its efforts instead on pursuing Dudamel like a “heat-seeking missile,” said Deborah Borda, the orchestra’s president and chief executive. Players admire his passion and humility; unlike most conductors, he in known for abstaining from solo bows after performances, instead preferring to gesture to highlight the contributions of the members of the orchestra.The film composer John Williams, a friend and mentor, described Dudamel as a “blessing to music” and predicted that he would be a transformative force in New York.“I can’t think of another conductor, man or woman, that I know that derives more sheer joy from music,” he said. “I don’t think you could have a better leader — a more positive person — to admit freely all kinds of things into our world, and at the same time maintain all the best traditions.”Dudamel stepping onto the stage of Walt Disney Concert Hall.Philip Cheung for The New York TimesSome have likened Dudamel to earlier titans like Leonard Bernstein, a predecessor at the New York Philharmonic, speaking of his potential to become a larger-than-life figure and to elevate the orchestra’s standing in American cultural life. Others question whether he is the product of hype. It is a lot of pressure.“Of course we will have challenges,” he said. “That is part of the beauty. Every day that you are in front of an orchestra, that you’re in front of a score of music, it’s a new challenge.”“To be afraid or worried about the risk of making mistakes is not in my head,” he added. “Never! Because I think risk is a part of life.”GUSTAVO ADOLFO DUDAMEL RAMÍREZ was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, on Jan. 26, 1981, the son of Oscar Dudamel Vásquez, a trombonist who played in a salsa band, and Solange Ramírez Viloria, a voice teacher. His arms were too short to play trombone like his father, so he took up the violin.His grandparents initially tried to discourage his studies, worried about having another musician in the family.“One time my husband told me, ‘Can you imagine if our grandson is a violinist? Who will be able to stand all the noise in the house?’” Engracia Vásquez de Dudamel, his grandmother, recalled in an interview with the Spanish-language newspaper Hoy in 2009.But the family relented, and Gustavo enrolled in El Sistema, where his talents as a conductor were soon recognized by José Antonio Abreu, the celebrated Venezuelan educator who had founded what became El Sistema in 1975.Abreu took on Dudamel as a pupil, teaching him rhythm and phrasing, and honing his technique as a conductor, telling him to feel sound in his hands the way a flying bird feels air. He appointed Dudamel to lead the national youth orchestra and inculcated in him the zeal of an evangelist, enlisting him in his effort to spread the “social mission of art.”Dudamel said that he wants to “send a message to the world that music is an important element of life — not only entertainment, but transformational.”Philip Cheung for The New York TimesIn 2004, Dudamel became a sensation after he won the first Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in Bamberg, Germany. One of the jurors in the competition, the conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen (then the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic) phoned Borda (then the orchestra’s president) and told her he had just seen “a real conducting animal.”She invited Dudamel to make his American debut at the Hollywood Bowl the following year, in a program of works by Tchaikovsky and the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas.“In his U.S. debut Tuesday night, a 24-year-old conductor from Venezuela with curly hair, long sideburns and a baby face accomplished something increasingly rare and difficult,” the Los Angeles Times critic Mark Swed wrote of that performance. “He got a normally restive audience’s full, immediate and rapt attention. And he kept it.”Dudamel’s New York Philharmonic debut, in 2007, was just as memorable — especially after he broke a baton once used by Bernstein, which the orchestra had lent him, near the end of the concert, in the last few measures of Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5. (The baton, still in two pieces, remains in the Philharmonic’s archives.)At his New York Philharmonic debut in 2007, Dudamel was given one of Leonard Bernstein’s batons. It broke during the last few measures of Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5. Philharmonic ArchivesWhen he began his tenure in Los Angeles, in 2009, Dudamel quickly became a celebrity, forging ties with Hollywood and capturing the imagination of audiences who were unaccustomed to classical music.He set out to develop the ensemble’s sound; he has hired 42 of its musicians, about 40 percent of the orchestra. And he sought to continue Abreu’s mission, creating the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, known as YOLA, which was modeled on El Sistema.During his directorship, the Philharmonic continued to rethink the role of a modern orchestra, making the promotion of new music a priority. The ensemble, one of the most financially secure in the United States thanks to the box office revenues it gets from the Hollywood Bowl, has commissioned more than 200 works during Dudamel’s time there and brought in pop and jazz stars, helping cement its reputation for innovation.The composer John Adams, a frequent collaborator, said that Dudamel arrived in Los Angeles a “babe in the woods when it came to contemporary repertoire.”“Then he discovered he liked it,” Adams said. “And now he’s not only a wonderful interpreter, but just a wonderful champion.”As part of his focus on new music, Dudamel has sought to elevate composers from Latin America, often lamenting that the region’s composers are barely known compared to its writers and visual artists.The Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz said that Dudamel had been crucial in promoting her music, adding that it could be difficult for female composers from Latin America to gain recognition. She recalled a 2017 concert at which he featured one of her compositions before a performance by the Mexican pop singer Natalia Lafourcade, greatly expanding the audience for her music.“He’s an extremely generous person,” she said. “I’ve never felt I was with this infamous conductor where always there is some huge distance. I’ve always felt very, very close.”In 2021, Dudamel became the music director of the Paris Opera, looking to expand his repertory and build more ties to Europe, where he has been a welcome guest at prestigious orchestras including the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics. (His wife, the Spanish actress and filmmaker María Valverde, is from Madrid, and the couple maintain a home there.)Dudamel is known for forgoing solo bows, often preferring to highlight the contributions of the orchestra. Philip Cheung for The New York TimesDudamel’s ties to Venezuelan leaders, whose support was vital for El Sistema, have drawn scrutiny. He conducted at the funeral of President Hugo Chávez, and for years he resisted criticizing the government, even as a series of social and economic crises worsened in the country.In “¡Viva Maestro!,” a documentary about Dudamel released last year, he spoke about the pressure he faced, not wanting to harm El Sistema. “I’m a leader of a program,” he said. “It’s not Gustavo only. It’s thousands of children, millions of young people.”After a young El Sistema-trained viola player was killed during a street protest in 2017, Dudamel decided to speak out. “It was very difficult to see my people fighting, to see my people suffering and getting to a very violent moment,” he explained in the documentary.He issued a statement that said “enough is enough” and wrote an opinion piece in The New York Times, criticizing a government plan to rewrite the constitution. President Nicolás Maduro responded by canceling overseas tours by Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, which he has led since 1999. Many players in that group, which had been a source of national pride, left the country. And Dudamel, who had last visited Venezuela in 2017, felt unable to return, even for the funeral of Abreu, his mentor, who died the following year. Instead he arranged a memorial concert in Santiago, Chile.Dudamel finally returned to Venezuela a few months ago, shortly after touring with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Boston, New York and Mexico.As he pondered his next steps, he went to Barquisimeto to reconnect with what he described as “the genesis of my life as a musician.” He caught up with friends and family. He met with students and teachers in El Sistema. And he visited Abreu’s home, sitting in his studio and looking through his books.Dudamel said that his teacher, whom he calls “maestro” and speaks of as a father, remained “in my soul and in my brain.” He contemplated what Abreu would have made of his move to New York.“I was part of a vision — of his vision,” he said. “He saw me when I was a 9-year-old boy in Barquisimeto. I think he saw this. He saw me being in New York with the New York Philharmonic. I’m sure of that.”He added: “I can see him. I can feel him. And I believe he is happy. He’s very happy.”Adam Nagourney contributed reporting from Los Angeles, and Joshua Barone from New York. More

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      Gustavo Dudamel’s 10 Notable Recordings

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      Dudamel, the New York Philharmonic’s next music director, has a varied catalog of classics and contemporary works, as well as film scores.If Gustavo Dudamel, the 42-year-old superstar maestro who on Tuesday was announced as the next music director of the New York Philharmonic, is known for anything, it’s the sheer energy of his performances. His body moves with dancerly charisma as his baton conjures extremities of orchestral sound; the music feels alive, and so do you.The same could often be said for his recordings, even without the spectacle of a live concert. Still, the quality of Dudamel’s catalog is as varied as his repertoire: beloved symphonies, Latin American music and premiere recordings of contemporary works, even film soundtracks. If his Beethoven Nine is overblown, his Mahler Nine is heartbreakingly understated. Almost no album is without something to love, and something to scratch your head at.Over the years, Dudamel’s recordings have revealed gifts for Tchaikovskyan Romanticism, dancing rhythms and, above all, American music. Here is a sampling of those, as well as some possible red flags for his future in New York.John Williams: ‘The Imperial March’Dudamel is a fixture in Los Angeles — not only as the music and artistic director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, a post he will hold through the 2025-26 season, but also as a celebrity conductor who moves easily between the worlds of Hollywood and classical music. Sometimes, he occupies both at once. He is a friend of the film composing legend John Williams, celebrating him on the stage of Walt Disney Concert Hall and recording hits including recognizable themes from the “Star Wars” movies.John Adams: ‘Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?’Dudamel has enthusiastically led the works of living composers, many in world or American premieres. John Adams is a particular specialty; Dudamel was the first to record his oratorio “The Gospel According to the Other Mary” and has led older pieces including “Grand Pianola Music.” (This spring, he will be in the pit for “Nixon in China” at the Paris Opera, where he is the music director.) At Disney Hall in 2019, Dudamel also conducted the premiere of Adams’s piano concerto written for Yuja Wang, “Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?”Ginastera: ‘Estancia’Another of Dudamel’s ensembles is the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra in Venezuela, where he was born. With those players, he has released a lot of music, for the most part in the realm of familiar classics. On the album “Fiesta,” though, they explore Latin American (or Latin-influenced) works including Ginastera’s short but teeming 1941 ballet “Estancia.” The finale, driven by malambo rhythms, is a foot-tapping, smile-inducing explosion of energy, and of life.Ives: Symphony No. 4Among Dudamel’s finest recordings with the Los Angeles Philharmonic is a cycle of Ives’s four symphonies, works of pioneering American sound that freely dabble in the melodies of popular and traditional songs. From movement to movement, Dudamel demonstrates a mastery of the music’s mystery, delicacy and deeply felt nostalgia. All those come together in the finale of the enormous Fourth, a layered collage of tunes and textures that, under Dudamel’s baton, feels as unsettled and tenuously harmonious as America itself.Tchaikovsky: ‘Romeo and Juliet’Dudamel’s interpretations of Tchaikovsky are not uniformly the best; his “Nutcracker” with the Los Angeles Philharmonic can be missed. (Try instead Simon Rattle’s in Berlin or Valery Gergiev’s in St. Petersburg.) But his penchant for extremity makes for gripping drama and fervent passion in his account of the “Romeo and Juliet” fantasy overture with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra.Beethoven: Symphony No. 6The extremity often employed in Tchaikovsky doesn’t, however, serve Beethoven’s symphonies. Dudamel’s recordings of those works with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra often lack the breadth of Beethoven’s sound — the wit and joy alongside the darkness of, say, the Fifth. Particularly confounding is an unrelaxed and excitable Sixth that hardly lives up to the symphony’s nickname as the “Pastoral.”Mahler: Symphony No. 9When Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic visited Carnegie Hall for two concerts last fall, they ended their first program with an uneven reading of Mahler’s First Symphony. On disc, though, Dudamel proves himself to be a more trustworthy guide elsewhere in Mahler: through the varied moods of the Fifth, with the Berlin Philharmonic, and through the Indiana Jones-like adventure of the Seventh’s Scherzo. He is at his wisest in the Ninth, recorded — touchingly, patiently, unpretentiously — with the Angelenos.Andrew Norman: ‘Sustain’Dudamel’s support of new music in Los Angeles peaked with the Philharmonic’s 2019-20 centennial season, which inspired a series of commissions including Andrew Norman’s symphony-length “Sustain.” This cosmic score reveals itself slowly and, at times, unexpectedly. Yet for all its complexity, the music unfurls with lived-in inevitability in this standard-setting account.Bernstein: ‘West Side Story’Bits of “West Side Story” have appeared in Dudamel’s concerts before, but he took up the entire score — with propulsive intensity, playfulness and beauty — for Steven Spielberg’s 2021 film adaptation. Here, Bernstein proves a master of different musical idioms; and Dudamel does the same in the recording sessions for the soundtrack, which was made, fittingly, with both the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics.Thomas Adès: ‘Dante’While in Los Angeles, Dudamel unveiled a modern masterpiece: Thomas Adès’s evening-length “Dante,” which Dudamel conducted in its concert premiere last spring after the “Divine Comedy”-inspired work had debuted as a ballet score in London. A recording of it, made at Disney Hall, is set for release in April on the Nonesuch label, but for now, there is a taste in “The Thieves — devoured by reptiles,” the Lisztian 12th section of “Inferno.” More

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      in Movies

      ‘¡Viva Maestro!’ Review: A Documentary in Need of a Conductor

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      A wunderkind conductor attempts to keep young Venezuelan musicians working despite political strife at home in this film from Ted Braun.The Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel earned his reputation as a wunderkind by leading prestigious symphonic groups like the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In front of the orchestras he leads, Dudamel is a live wire, his signature curls bouncing with each wave of the wand. And when the music stops, Dudamel turns his passion for his profession toward advocacy, supporting programs that help young Venezuelan musicians develop professionally.The documentary “Viva Maestro” follows Dudamel, combining vérité footage of him in rehearsals with interviews in which Dudamel explains how orchestras can help young people create a more beautiful world.The film begins in 2017, as political and economic strife in Venezuela forces an end to Dudamel’s planned tour with the Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, the country’s premiere youth orchestra. Dudamel leaves Venezuela, and the orchestra’s tour is canceled, leaving the young members of the Bolivars to join millions of protesters in the streets of Venezuela. But Dudamel continues to fight for his musicians to be able to perform, organizing international concerts as a way to keep his acolytes focused on a positive vision of the future.Dudamel is a joyfully appealing figure, and the film benefits from following such an amiable subject. But the documentary lacks the rigor it would take to turn this warm portrait into a proper cinematic symphony. The protests in Venezuela represent a major upheaval for Dudamel, even resulting in the death of one of his musicians. But the director Ted Braun does not take the time to show the protests or to explain what has prompted them, and so, much of the film’s conflict feels indistinct. Braun prefers to fondly listen to Dudamel’s musings in interviews. But even the most passionate speakers can come off as rambling with enough repetition.¡Viva Maestro!Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 39 minutes. In theaters. More