Gustavo Dudamel

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Gustavo Dudamel

Dudamel at the European Tour, 2008
Background information
Birth name Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez
Born January 26, 1981 (1981-01-26) (age 31)
Barquisimeto, Lara, Venezuela
Genres Classical
Occupations Composer, conductor
Instruments Violin
Years active 1999–present
Associated acts Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Website www.GustavoDudamel.com

Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez (born January 26, 1981) is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist. He is currently the principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony in Gothenburg, Sweden, and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles, California.[1] Dudamel is also the artistic director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela.

Contents

[edit] Life and career

[edit] Early life

Dudamel was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, the son of a trombonist and a voice teacher.[2] He studied music from an early age, becoming involved with El Sistema, the famous Venezuelan musical education program, and took up the violin at age ten. He soon began to study composition. He attended the Jacinto Lara Conservatory, where he was taught the violin by José Luis Jiménez. He then went on to work with José Francisco del Castillo at the Latin-American Violin Academy. He began to study conducting in 1995, first with Rodolfo Saglimbeni, then later with José Antonio Abreu. In 1999, he was appointed music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, the national youth orchestra of Venezuela, and toured several countries.

[edit] Conducting career

Dudamel began to win a number of conducting competitions, including the Gustav Mahler Conducting Prize in Germany in 2004.[3] His reputation began to spread, and he was noticed by conductors such as Simon Rattle and Claudio Abbado, who accepted invitations to conduct the Simón Bolívar Orchestra in Venezuela.[4] Dudamel debuted with the Philharmonia, the Israel Philharmonic, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, among others, in 2005, and also signed a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon.

In 2005, Gustavo Dudamel first conducted the Gothenburg Symphony at the BBC Proms, on short notice as a replacement for the indisposed Neeme Järvi.[5][6]

In 2006, Dudamel was named Principal Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony.[7] He continues to retain his position with the Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra.[8] He took up the Gothenburg post in 2007,[2] and his current contract there is to 2012.[9] Dudamel made his US conducting debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (LAP) at the Hollywood Bowl on September 13, 2005 in a program consisting of "La Noche de los Mayas" by Silvestre Revueltas and the Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5.[10]

He made his debut at La Scala, Milan, with Don Giovanni in November 2006. On September 10, 2007, he conducted the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time at the Lucerne Festival.

On April 16, 2007, Gustavo Dudamel conducted the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra in a concert in commemoration of the 80th birthday of Pope Benedict XVI, with Hilary Hahn as solo violinist, with the Pope himself and many other church dignitaries among the audience.[11]

In March 2008, he made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony. Dudamel was subsequently invited back to the US, to conduct the orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall in January 2007 in performances of "Dances of Galánta" by Zoltán Kodály, the third piano concerto of Sergei Rachmaninoff with Yefim Bronfman as soloist, and Béla Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra (the latter of which was recorded live and subsequently released by Deutsche Grammophon).

[edit] Music Director, Los Angeles Philharmonic

In April 2007, during a guest conducting engagement with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Dudamel was named the LAP's next music director as of the 2009–2010 season, succeeding Esa-Pekka Salonen. His initial contract in Los Angeles is for five years, beginning in September 2009.[12][13][14] Dudamel began his tenure as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic on September 28, 2009 with a rehearsal of Beethoven's 9th Symphony that included the Los Angeles Master Chorale and representatives of eight community-based choruses. His first official rehearsal with the orchestra followed on September 30. On October 3 he conducted Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the Hollywood Bowl in "Bienvenido Gustavo," a free concert, and conducted his official inaugural concert featuring the world premiere of John Adams' "City Noir" and Mahler's Symphony No. 1 with his new orchestra in Walt Disney Concert Hall on October 8.


[edit] Awards and media

Dudamel is featured in the documentary film Tocar y Luchar, which covers El Sistema. Dudamel and the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar received the WQXR Gramophone Special Recognition Award in New York City in November 2007. Another US television news feature on Dudamel was on 60 Minutes in February 2008, entitled "Gustavo the Great".

On July 23, 2009, Dudamel was selected by the Eighth Glenn Gould Prize laureate José Antonio Abreu as winner of the prestigious The City of Toronto Glenn Gould Protégé Prize.

Dudamel is featured in the 2011 documentary "Let The Children Play," a film which focuses on his work advocating for music as a way to enrich children's lives.[15]

Gramophone, the British classical music magazine, named Dudamel its 2011 Gramophone Artist of the Year. Past recipients of the award include Yo-Yo Ma, Michael Tilson Thomas, Riccardo Chailly, Cecilia Bartoli and Antonio Pappano, to name only a few. The announcement was made at the Gramophone Awards in London on October 6,2011.

In 2011, Dudamel appeared in the Visit California promotional film aimed at boosting tourism from the UK.

On February 12, 2012, Gustavo Dudamel won a Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance, for his recording of Brahms Symphony No. 4 for the label Deutsche Grammophon.

[edit] Personal life

Gustavo and his wife, Eloísa Maturén

Dudamel married his girlfriend, Eloísa Knife Maturén, in 2006 in Caracas. Maturén, also a Venezuelan native, is a classically trained ballet dancer and a journalist.

The Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra combined forces with the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela and the Orfeon Universitario of the Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado to make the event a special musical celebration. The wedding took place in the chapel at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Montalbán, a suburb of Caracas.

They have a son, Martín Dudamel Maturén, a U.S. citizen.[16]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "About the Conductor".Los Angeles Philharmonic. Retrieved 2009-09-12
  2. ^ a b Reed Johnson (23 November 2008). "Conductor Gustavo Dudamel is riding a wave of Dudamania". LA Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-et-dudamel23-2008nov23,0,1947651.story. Retrieved 2008-11-23. 
  3. ^ Sue Steward (23 Feb 2006). "He's astonishingly gifted". Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2006/02/23/bmgust23.xml. Retrieved 2007-08-16. 
  4. ^ Geoffrey Norris (16 August 2007). "BBC Proms 2007: Why I'm worried about Gustavo". Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml;jsessionid=LYDAAJFU23ACVQFIQMGSFFOAVCBQWIV0?xml=/arts/2007/08/16/nosplit/bmgust116.xml. Retrieved 2007-09-02. 
  5. ^ Charlotte Higgins (4 August 2005). "Conducting prodigy to make Proms debut at 24". The Guardian. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/proms2005/story/0,,1542361,00.html. Retrieved 2007-09-02. 
  6. ^ Tim Ashley (8 August 2005). "Gothenburg SO/Dudamel (review of Prom 30, 2005)". The Guardian. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/review/0,,1544606,00.html. Retrieved 2007-09-02. 
  7. ^ Vivien Schweitzer (13 Apr 2006). "Gustavo Dudamel Appointed Principal Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony". Playbill Arts. http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/4342.html. Retrieved 2007-08-16. 
  8. ^ Richard Morrison (15 Feb 2007). "True class: South America’s lightning conductor". The Times (London). http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article1385255.ece. Retrieved 2007-08-16. 
  9. ^ "Dudamel förnyar kontrakt med Göteborgs Symfoniker till 2012" (Press release). Göteborgs Symfoniker. 30 September 2009. http://www.gso.se/?pageid=8216. Retrieved 2009-12-06. 
  10. ^ Mark Swed (15 September 2005). "He holds Bowl in palm of his hands; Venezuelan Gustavo Dudamel, 24, commands attention". Los Angeles Times. 
  11. ^ Nicole Winfield (16 Apr 2007). "Pope marks 80th birthday with concert". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/04/16/pope_marks_80th_birthday_with_concert. Retrieved 2007-08-16. [dead link]
  12. ^ Mark Swed (8 April 2007). "Maestro will pass baton to up-and-comer in '09". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-phil8apr08,0,3153725.story. Retrieved 2007-08-16. [dead link]
  13. ^ Matthew Westphal (8 April 2007). "Gustavo Dudamel to Succeed Esa-Pekka Salonen at LA Philharmonic in 2009". Playbill Arts. http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/6286.html. Retrieved 2007-09-02. 
  14. ^ Daniel J. Wakin (9 April 2007). "Maestro of Los Angeles Philharmonic to Pass the Baton to a Wunderkind". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/arts/music/09orch.html. Retrieved 2008-11-23. 
  15. ^ http://www.stringsmagazine.com/News/News/Gustavo-Dudamel-Comes-to-the-Big-Screen Strings Magazine Cahill, Greg, June 9, 2011
  16. ^ "LA Phil’s Gustavo Dudamel, Wife Welcome First Child". CBS Los Angeles (CBS Local Media). 2011-04-02. http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/04/02/la-phils-gustavo-dudamel-wife-welcome-first-child/. Retrieved 2011-11-01. 

[edit] External links

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