September 4, 2008
Gustavo Dudamel & Esa-Pekka Salonen - Video from the Helsinki Festival

Click here to see a video from this years Helsinki Festival featuring Gustavo Dudamel and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Gustavo talks about his first meeting with Salonen and his work with the Simón Bolivar Orchestra. Esa-Pekka Salonen gives insights about his experiences with the L A Philharmonic.

June 6, 2008
Gustavo Dudamel & Los Angeles Philharmonic Clinch #1 Spot on Billboard Chart with DG Concerts Recording - Digital-exclusive tops the classical chart for the first time in history

The week ending May 25th, 2008 marked the first week in history that Billboard has changed their criteria to allow digital-only recordings to attain a chart status. Topping the Billboard classical chart for the week ending June 1st is the DG Concerts release of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique performed by Venezuelan phenom Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Exclusively available on the iTunes Music Store, recordings on DG Concerts from Deutsche Grammophon have in the past achieved sales high enough to merit the top spot on the chart, but this is the first week that a digital-exclusive recording has appeared anywhere on the chart.

On March 28th-30th, 2008 the charismatic conductor Gustavo Dudamel returned to Walt Disney Concert Hall to lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the first time since the announcement a year before that he would succeed Esa-Pekka Salonen as music director of the orchestra in 2009. Those concerts included what the Los Angeles Times dubbed "a fabulous, in-your-face" account of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique complete with "the full, highly charged, dripping-with-color Dudamel treatment." On Tuesday, May 27th a recording of this performance was released on the DG Concerts imprint from Deutsche Grammophon, available exclusively at the iTunes Music Store. This is the second recording of the 2007-08 season from the LA Philharmonic for DG Concerts.

May 22, 2008
The youth and children orchestras of Venzuela, 2008 Price of Asturia Awards laureates for the arts

The Youth and Children Orchestras of Venezuela, founded by José Antonio Abreu, have been bestowed the 2008 Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts. The decision was announced today by the Jury in Oviedo.

The National Network of Youth and Children Orchestras of Venezuela (FESNOJIV) is currently composed of 120 youth orchestras and 60 children?s orchestras. It started functioning in 1975 in order to allow students of music to put their theoretical knowledge into practice.

The project was launched internationally in 1995 with the performance of the National Youth Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Centre in Washington (U.S.A.). Its exceptional artistic quality has taken it around the world, having performed in the United Nations Headquarters in New York and for Pope John Paul II. It has been led by some of the most prestigious conductors, such as Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta, Sir Simon Rattle (from Berlin?s Philharmonic), Gustavo Dudamel, the current director of Los Angeles Philharmonic, who received his musical training within this system, and maestro Eduardo Mata. These young students have had the opportunity to perform alongside figures of great stature such as Plácido Domingo, Mstislav Rostropovich, Alicia de Larrocha, Montserrat Caballé or Vladimir Spivakov, among many others.

The organisation also provides workshops for children and young students where they learn to make and repair instruments and special programs for children with disabilities or with learning difficulties, such as the "Choir of White Hands", consisting of deaf children. The FESNOJIV (National Network of Youth and Children Orchestras of Venezuela) provides technical and managerial assistance to all state schools that request to be integrated into the music-education programme and works together with neighbourhood associations, parents associations, city councils and institutional representatives to provide rehearsal rooms or necessary musical instruments.

November 20, 2007
Dudamel and the SBYOV finish first US Tour

Gustavo Dudamel and his Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela have just completed their first tour of the United States, sealing his and his orchestra's status as major players in the world of classical music.Gustavo Dudamel, who will take over the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2009, wrapped up a well-received, four city US tour on Monday with a sell-out performance at New York's Carnegie Hall.

The Venezuelan shared the podium in that second Carnegie appearance with Sir Simon Rattle, music director of the Berlin Philharmonic. The New York concerts followed performances in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston, where Dudamel and his orchestra received glowing reviews.

The Los Angeles Times reported "Dudamelmania" and compared him to a rock star, saying he was "absolutely revelatory". The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the star conductor "unleashed an extraordinary musical fireball".

The New York Times, which earlier this year described Dudamel as "one of the hottest -- and youngest -- conducting properties around" said his Carnegie Hall debut had proved the young maestro's status as "a major player" and covered both concerts with individual reviews.

Dudamel returns to New York at the end of November for a series of subscription concerts at the helm of the New York Philharmonic. The Boston Globe, meanwhile reported that "Dudamel and the orchestra are now officially the most exciting thing in classical music. Over the last year or so, the excitement surrounding the frizzy-haired Dudamel has blossomed into all-out frenzy... Rarely has one musician's potential seemed so limitless".

Among those present at a rehearsal for the New York concerts on Saturday were King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden as well as Alexander Bernstein, the son of Leonard Bernstein. "What you have demonstrated is that the power of music can change society," Bernstein told the orchestra, according to AFP news.

September 14, 2007
Dudamel and Golf Trophy

Gustavo Dudamel received a donation for the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela from Tennis star Boris Becker (pictured) to purchase several new instruments for his orchestra this week in Luzern, Switzerland.

Music and sports are expressions of our joie de vivre, our zest for life. Both conductor Gustavo Dudamel, and Boris Becker are dedicating their efforts to sustainable projects for young people. Half of the profits of the 2nd Lucerne Festival Golf Charity, well over CHF 80,000, will go to the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and half to “fit-4-future”, a project of the Cleven Becker Foundation, who funded the presentation and project.

The announcement was made by Boris Becker, Gustavo Dudamel, Dr. h.c. Hans-Dieter Cleven, and Michael Haefliger prior to the 2nd Lucerne Festival Golf Charity on the occasion of a talk-show attended by the media and presented by journalist Dr. Esther Girsberger as a part of Gustavo Dudamel's presence in Lucerne for his Vienna Philharmonic debut concert on Monday, 10 September 2007.

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June 26, 2007
ECHO Award for Dudamel

The German recording industry has just announced this year’s winners of its coveted ECHO Award, one of the classical music world’s most prestigious accolades. Gustavo Dudamel has taken the top prize in the category "New Artist of the Year". The awards will presented at the 14th annual gala ECHO Awards ceremony, to be held on 21 October at Munich’s Philharmonie im Gasteig.

May 8, 2007
Dudamel receives "Premio de la Latinidad"

Gustavo Dudamel was announced as the recipient of the "Premio de la Latinidad" by the Union Latina. This important cultural award, which is given for outstanding contributions to Latin cultural life, is presented by the 37 Latin American and African member states of the organization.

April 12, 2007
Dynamic young Venezuelan will succeed Salonen in 2009

The Los Angeles Philharmonic, one of America’s most prestigious orchestras, has just announced the appointment of Gustavo Dudamel as its new Music Director, the eleventh in the history of this orchestra founded in 1919.

In announcing the appointment, Esa-Pekka Salonen, who will be the Philharmonic’s longest-serving Music Director when he steps down in 2009 to concentrate on his composing career, said: “The right successor has been found. Gustavo Dudamel’s remarkable talent, intelligence and energy are the absolute right match for the orchestra and Los Angeles. I am peaceful and joyous about the artist to whom we will pass the baton. There could not be a more forward looking choice.”

The 26-year-old Venezuelan conductor’s five-year contract will start with the 2009/10 season; during the 2008/09 season he will serve as Music Director Designate. Currently Music Director of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and Music Director of the Gothenburg Symphony in Sweden, Dudamel spoke of his new appointment: “Almost two years ago, I made my US debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and from the first moment I stepped onto the stage, I felt a special connection and deep feeling from the players. I am honored to be chosen to succeed the great conductor/composer Esa-Pekka Salonen, who has given me so much support. Playing with the Philharmonic in the magnificent Walt Disney Concert Hall is a great privilege, and I look forward to many happy years together.”

April 3, 2007
LUCERNE FESTIVAL TRIUMPH FOR DUDAMEL & SBYOV

Gustavo Dudamel and his prodigious Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela have just completed three sensational concerts at the Lucerne Festival, their first-ever appearances in Switzerland. Introducing themselves with Mahler – a programme comprising the Fifth Symphony and the Rückert Lieder, with mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená – they were acclaimed throughout the first concert with tumultuously un-Swisslike ovations from the capacity audience.

Early reviews are already in and positively glowing: “These musicians make their own rapturous ardour palpable and transmit it directly to the audience”, wrote the Solothurner Zeitung. “One could hear how they excel in every register . . . The way the entire orchestral palette glowed at the end was thrilling . . .”

The music critic of Zurich’s Tages-Anzeiger was impressed not only by the visceral excitement that Dudamel and his young musicians brought to the symphony’s massive climaxes, but also by their exemplary handling of its intimate moments: “Despite its size, this highly sensitive, highly concentrated ensemble specializes in chamber-musical refinement, delicate textures and fine nuances.”

After the Lucerne Festival, in which they also presented works by Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and South American composers, the charismatic conductor and his passionate players moved on to Reggio Emilia, to the delight of that North Italian city’s music lovers. In August, they will be back in Europe for another, more extensive tour; then in November it’s off to the US for the Venezuelans, with major concerts in New York, LA and San Francisco.

Also coming in August, a special treat for music lovers everywhere: Deutsche Grammophon will release Gustavo Dudamel and the SBYOV’s album of their thrilling interpretation of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony.

January 11, 2007
Dudamel "lights up" Disney Hall

Gustavo Dudamel gave his North American subscription debut in the famed Walt Disney Concert Hall last week, conducting four concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and soloist Yefim Bronfman. Mark Swed, critic at the Los Angeles Times writes: "... In 2005, the young Venezuelan conductor made his U.S. debut at the Hollywood Bowl conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic and bowled over audiences, critics, and an army of American arts administrators ... But it was the Bowl; who can really tell in the great outdoors?" On Thursday night at Walt Disney Concert Hall, "Dudamel finally came in from the classical music cold," conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a program of Russian and Hungarian music. "This was the concert ... that mattered ... Dudamel does not appear to be leading the orchestra or even interacting with it. He is the orchestra, or is at least one with it." Zoltan Kodaly's "Dances of Galanta," writes Swed, "may have ended up sounding more impulsively Latin than propulsively Hungarian, but why not? There is more than one way to make music marvelous." Dudamel "remained in the background" during Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, with Yefim Bronfman as soloist, "but stepped up to the plate once more for Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra ... Again, there were moments of tremendous vitality . And there was fun, fun, fun, especially in the playful parts and the jazzy last movement, which flew by at a ferocious pace."
Gustavo will make his Canadian debut on January 31st with violinist Pinchas Zukerman and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa with a repeat concert on 1. March 2007. Thereafter he begins his European guesting through mid-April 2007 including stops in Birmingham, London, Bamberg, Florence and Prague.

October 19, 2006
Gustavo Dudamel opens Berlin-Milan collaboration to critical acclaim

Gustavo received exceptional international praise for his work at the legendary La Scala opera house in Milan last week with the premiere of a new "Don Giovanni" under the direction of Peter Mussbach. Dudamel, who has been collaborating with the Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin, had prepared his premiere by working with some of the world's leading conductors. Both Claudio Abbado, who coached Dudamel earlier this year, and Daniel Barenboim, who gave him practical experience learning with a "Don Giovanni" production in Berlin, contributed to the preparations for his important Milan operatic debut.

The performances marked the beginning of a new collaboration between the Berlin house, headed by Peter Mussbach, and Teatro alla Scala, Milan, lead by Stephane Lissner.

The critical acclaim for Dudamel's achievement were commented by some of Europe's news organizations as follows:

"Dudamel is surprisingly comfortable in this medium. His 'Don Giovanni' developed and continually gathered momentum, darkened, obtained a power and violence for the conclusion, all while remaining considerate to the singers, flexible, with considerable agitation, but yet never too fast. Dudamel held his ensemble together, knows how to set the accents with assurance and is surprisingly comfortable in this medium..."
(Die Welt, Berlin, 12. October 2006)

The news service Bloomberg.com pointed out that "this is only Dudamel's second-ever crack at opera - - the first was Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore" in Berlin earlier this year - - and as such, a phenomenal gamble for La Scala. The bet pays off. What Lissner has won is a sensation, the implausible spectacle of a monstrously gifted youngster giving vastly more than his age or experience should make possible. Dudamel's "Don" is startlingly reflective, characterized by lugubrious tempi, flashes of impetuous speed and an iron grip on the proceedings...Dudamel never loses control. He maintains his equilibrium. Dudamel has truckloads of talent, absolute assurance, an elegant technique and something to say." (See the complete review)

The Frankfurt paper points out that "in total, it is his clear sense of proportion, his flexible, perfectly coordinated tempi and his ability to construct dramatic cumulations and wonderfully ‘natural’ transitions which make this young star convincing."
(Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 12. October 2006)

Congratulations, Gustavo, and here's to a long collaboration with La Scala, its orchestra, administration and singers over the coming years!

July 21, 2006
Dudamel wins Pegasus Prize

Gustavo Dudamel has been awarded the 2006 Pegasus Prize from the "Festival dei due Mondi", the annual arts extravaganza founded and led by Gian Carlo Menotti in Spoleto, Italy. The award is given annually to an outstanding young artist performing at the festival. Dudamel opened the Festival together with the Israel Symphonic Orchestra. According to the news agency EFE the jury chose Dudamel because of his "talent, his conducting style and for the indelible memory that his extraordinary concert left in the memory of the festival."

April 18, 2006
Gustavo Dudamel appointed Music Director of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

25-year old Venezuelan Gustavo Dudamel, one of the most sought-after conductors of his generation, has been appointed Music Director of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Sweden, starting in 2007/2008. Says Dudamel: “When I first conducted the Gothenburg Symphony, in Birmingham and at the BBC Proms last year, I was very impressed by their skill and openness. It was wonderful – I simply fell in love with the orchestra!”