Gustavo Dudamel © Adam Latham
Gustavo Dudamel
As an internationally renowned symphonic and operatic conductor, Gustavo Dudamel is motivated by a profound belief in music's power to unite and inspire. Currently serving as Music & Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Music Director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, the impact of his leadership extends from the greatest concert stages to classrooms, cinemas and innovative digital platforms around the world. Dudamel also appears as guest conductor with some of the world’s most famous musical institutions: in 2017, he tours Europe with the Berlin Philharmonic and is the youngest-ever conductor to lead the Vienna Philharmonic’s famous New Year's Day Concert, watched annually by over 50 million people in 90 countries.
Now entering his eighth season as Music & Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dudamel’s contract has been extended to the end of the 2021-2022 season. At his initiative, the Los Angeles Philharmonic has dramatically expanded the scope of its community outreach programs, including most notably the creation of Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA), influenced by the philosophy of Venezuela’s admired El Sistema, which encourages social development through music. With YOLA and diverse local educational initiatives, Dudamel brings music to children in underserved communities of Los Angeles. These programs have in turn inspired similar efforts throughout the United States, as well as in Sweden (Hammarkullen) and Scotland (Raploch).
As Music Director, his 18th season, of the entire El Sistema project in Venezuela, he continues to lead the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra in Venezuela as well as on tour.
Recordings, broadcasts and digital innovations are also fundamental to Dudamel's passionate advocacy for universal access to music. A Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2005, Grammy winner Gustavo Dudamel has numerous recordings on the label, as well as many video and DVD releases that capture the excitement of significant moments of his musical life. He has independently produced an all-Wagner recording available exclusively for download, among others.
Gustavo Dudamel is one of the most decorated conductors of his generation. He received the “Americas Society Cultural Achievement Award” in 2016, and the “2014 Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award for the Elevation of Music in Society” from the Longy School. In 2013 he was named “Musical America’s” “Musician of the Year” and inducted into the “Gramophone Hall of Fame”. Other awards include the 2010 “Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts” at MIT; 2009 “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” and being named one of “TIME Magazine’s” 100 most influential people; and the 2008 “Q Prize” from Harvard. Additionally, he has received several honorary doctorates.
Born in 1981 in Venezuela, access to music for all has been the cornerstone of Gustavo’s philosophy both professionally and philanthropically.
As of June 2016