Gustavo Dudamel (Conductor)
Acclaimed worldwide as one of the most exciting and compelling conductors of our
time, Gustavo Dudamel began his tenure as Music Director of the Los Angeles
Philharmonic in fall 2009, while continuing as Music Director of the Gothenburg
Symphony. Dudamel also entered his eleventh year as Music Director of the Simуn
Bolнvar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. His infectious energy and exceptional
artistry have made him one of the most sought-after conductors by orchestras and
opera companies around the world.
Following guest appearances with the
Vienna Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel’s inaugural
2009-10 season as Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director began on October 3
withЎBienvenido Gustavo! This free, day-long musical celebration at the
Hollywood Bowl for the Los Angeles community culminated with Dudamel leading the
Los Angeles Philharmonic in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. On October 8, 2009,
Dudamel led the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the inaugural gala at Walt Disney
Concert Hall, featuring the world premiere of John Adams’s City Noir and
Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. This concert was telecast on PBS’s Great
Performances throughout the U.S. on October 21, with subsequent airings
throughout the world, and Deutsche Grammophon is issuing the DVD. Further
highlights of the L.A. Phil season include Dudamel directing the Americas and
Americans festival, a series of five concerts celebrating the music
and shared cultural traditions of North, Central, and Latin America, as well as
conducting concerts with repertoire ranging from Verdi’s Requiem to
highlighting works by composers such as Chin, Salonen and Harrison. In May 2010,
Dudamel leads the L.A. Phil on a coast-to-coast U.S. tour with performances in
San Francisco, Phoenix, Chicago, Nashville, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New
York and New Jersey. With Gothenburg Symphony, highlights include numerous
performances in Sweden as well as tours to Hamburg, Bonn, Amsterdam, Brussels,
and the Canary Islands. Gustavo Dudamel continues to lead the Simуn Bolнvar
Youth Orchestra this season for multiple periods in Caracas, Venezuela, and on
European and Scandinavian/Russian tours.
Gustavo Dudamel has been an
exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2005. His debut recording,
Beethoven Nos. 5&7 with the Simуn Bolнvar Youth Orchestra, was released worldwide in September 2006, and received the
2007 Echo Award (Germany) for “New Artist of the Year.” His second
recording with the SBYO, Mahler No. 5, was released in May 2007, and was
chosen as the only classical album on iTunes’ “Next Big Thing.” Released
in May 2008, Dudamel’s third album with the Simуn Bolнvar Youth Orchestra was
FIESTA, featuring Latin-American works. In March 2009, Deutsche
Grammophon released Dudamel’s most recent recording with the SBYO, Tchaikovsky’s
Symphony No. 5 and Francesca da Rimini. His DVDs include
the 2008 release of The Promise of Music, a documentary and concert with
the Simуn Bolнvar Youth Orchestra; Birthday Concert for Pope Benedict XVI
released in 2007; and the April 2009 DVD, Live from Salzburg, featuring
performances of Mussorgsky/Ravel’s Pictures at an Exhibition and
Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Martha Argerich, Renaud and Gautier Capuзon,
and the SBYO. On the iTunes front, Deutsche Grammophon has released Gustavo
Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique
and Bartуk Concerto for Orchestra.
Brought to international
attention by triumphing in the inaugural Bamberger Symphoniker Gustav Mahler
Conducting Competition in May 2004, Gustavo Dudamel was born in 1981 in
Barquisimeto, Venezuela, where he studied violin at the Jacinto Lara
Conservatory with Josй Luis Jimйnez and later, with Josй Francisco del Castillo,
at the Latin American Academy of Violin. In 1996, he began his conducting
studies with Rodolfo Saglimbeni and that same year was named Music Director of
the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra. In 1999, along with assuming the Music Director
position of the Simуn Bolнvar Youth Orchestra, he began conducting studies with
Josй Antonio Abreu, the Orchestra’s founder. In May 2007, Dudamel was awarded
the Premio de la Latindad, an honor given for outstanding contributions
to Latin cultural life. In 2008, the Simуn Bolнvar Youth Orchestra was granted
Spain’s prestigious annual Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts, and in
2007, Dudamel received the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award for Young
Artists. Along with his mentor Dr. Abreu, he was granted the 2008 “Q
Prize” from Harvard University for extraordinary service to children. In
June 2009, he received an honorary doctorate from the Universidad
Centro-Occidental Lisandro Alvarado in his hometown of Barquisimeto, Venezuela.
Most recently in 2009, he was awarded the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des
Lettres in Paris. Gustavo Dudamel was named one of the 100 most influential
people of 2009 by TIME magazine and has been featured twice on CBS’s
60 Minutes.
http://www.gustavodudamel.com/
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