Christopher Martin, principal trumpeter of the New York Philharmonic and spokesman, said that in a group as diverse as an orchestra it is difficult to achieve unanimity on anything. But on this occasion “the unanimity was total”. The object of this collective fervor is called Gustavo Dudamel, 42, who will be the next musical director of the so-called NY Phil starting from the 2026-27 season, for five years.
“Life has been generous to me,” he replied this Monday at the press conference to present Gustavo Dudamel, the charismatic baton conductor, originally from Barquisimeto (Venezuela), in what will be his new home at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. one of the great world leaders.
“I hadn’t thought of that, but I am proud to be the first Hispanic to become the conductor of the New York Philharmonic”, he confessed.
“I don’t take it individually and I don’t say it with false modesty. I always feel that what I represent involves a lot of people.including boys and girls, young people who are building their lives through music,” he continued.
“Here is that boy from Barquisimeto who had the opportunity to make this wonderful journey and lands in one of the most renowned art institutions in the world. This makes me proud and that it is a reference for children, young people rest assured along the way that dreams can always come true. You have to work, have a lot of discipline, love what you do, but dreams come true,” she stressed.
A classic of mass culture
His appointment is considered a seismic movement for the scene. Gifted and energetic, in everyday life The New York Times he has been described as “a rare classic artist who breaks into popular culture”.
To date, Dudamel has held the positions of Music and Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 2009, Music Director of the Paris National Opera since 2021 and Music Director of the Simón Bolívar Orchestra of Venezuela since 1999, of which he acknowledged that Given the problems in his country, he has not been able to work directly with them since 2017, even though they remain in full contact.
In the history of the New York orchestra, he will be the 27th conductor and will join a legacy that includes Gustav Mahler, Arturo Toscanini or Leonard Bernstein.
A superstar like Dudamel, chosen to succeed Jaap van Zweden, precise driving but levity, immediately drew comparisons to Bernstein for his Hollywood scent and his civic stature.
the composer of Love without barriers (West Side History) is the great reference of the New York Philharmonic, the baton that transformed this orchestra into a legend in the 1960s. About Dudamel the weight of recovering the splendor of that time falls.
“If I think objectively, it was all very natural, I never felt that anyone pushed me to do things. However, to be honest, it’s a dream come true, to be in a place like the New York Philharmonic. Big names have passed through here, Bernstein, Mahler, Toscanini…, but basically it’s about the orchestra and what this artistic community is about,” she stressed.
And he specified that “the conductor is nothing without the orchestra”. Having already conducted it 26 times, he knows he has a group that he has described as exceptional, and which he has praised for their spiritual involvement in making music, which allows “the performances to be special”.
The snows of time have silvered my temple
Dudamel recalled that it was in 2007 when he first took over the direction of the New York orchestra, when he had black hair, hair that is now filled with gray.
From his reputation for taking riskswhich led him to make albums with the best orchestras in the world, to give voice to a character animated by Trolls around the worldto inspire the popular television series in which Mexican actor Gael García Bernal brought him to life, to alternate between a Mahler symphony and a soundtrack by Star Warsbetween a John Adamas premiere and the Super Bowl halftime show, or take part in pop musical adventures with Billie Eilish or jazz with Herbie HancockDudamel emphatically responded, “Every step we take has that delightful feeling of risk.”
He recalled that when he was 23, 24 he was crazy, “a wild animal” and not just because of his thick fur. “At that age it’s time to exaggerate everything. When I look back I tell myself this was good, that it was necessary, it was the way to learn,” he said. “At 42 years old I’m no longer a young promise, but I’m still young and I remain willing to let that wild animal out,” he said.
Dudamel praised his great teacher, maestro José Antonio Abreu, founder of El Sistema (of the national orchestras) in Venezuela and a key figure in his career.
He mentioned that since he was a child he wanted to be a musician, but with salsa. His father played trombone in such a band and wished to be part of the Fania All Stars. Until Abreu, his other father, appeared and entered El Sistema and found his other family. “At 9 I was already conducting the band at my home, recording, for my parents and my cuddly toys”, he recalled.
From Los Angeles to New York
He will fly to New York from the Los Angeles Philharmonic where Dudamel helped build a music empire and helped transform the California orchestra into one of the most innovative and financially successful in the United States.
Over the past six years, the New York organization has reshaped itself in the image and likeness of Los Angeles, the most ambitious and progressive orchestra of the 21st century.
In 2017, the Big Apple hired Deborah Borde, executive chief of the Los Angeles institution’s orchestra. She brought him to Los Angeles when Dudamel was a prodigy in his early twenties, and now she’s the one who’s robbed the teacher. This Monday she was beaming beside her.
You don’t live only on music. Dudamel noted that he is very committed to education. In the Californian city he founded YOLA, the youth school, and a journalist has already proposed the name for the one in New York: YONY. “Sounds good,” he joked.
“It’s in my DNA to work with young people, brings the orchestra to the community. It’s not about waiting for people, it’s about going. Music is a tool for social transformation,” she said.
“Art institutions must be the identity of the community, it’s not just entertainment, we can’t limit the size of what we do just to entertain, there is also a transformational aspect,” he reiterated. Speaking in English, you recalled a quote by Miguel de Unamuno, “freedom is in culture”.
Dudamel argued that “we have a mission as artists, especially in our time”.
Young people and classical music
One of the most significant transformations concerns the end the fear of young people for classical music, because it seems old when it’s actually current whenever it’s run, underlined. “We need to educate people, but not by putting art on a pedestal without access. We have to change that mindset and the only ones who can do that are us with what we do,” he clarified.
He praised the energy and cultural vibe of the city that will be his new home. “New York is an opportunity and it will change me, but I have to live it to know that.”
They asked him a very New York question: about the Yankees or the Mets, the two baseball teams from the Big Apple. “From the cardinals of Barquisimeto,” he answered first. He had played and claimed he was doing well.
Then he mentioned the Los Angeles Dodgers, an apolitical response that he tried to remedy by recalling that this team was born in Brooklyn, “there is a bridge there”. And almost in a whisper he opted for the Yankees, the bomber from the Bronx.
Source: Clarin
