When I was a kid in Barquisimeto Gustavo Dudamel already directed the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He did it in his room, with his stuffed animals as his musicians, stopping the recordings to tell them what they had done wrong. The anecdote was remembered by the Venezuelan maestro this Monday in the lauded renovated theater Wu Tsai del David Geffen Hallthe home of the New York Orchestra at Lincoln Center, for which he has been named musical and artistic director beginning with the 2026-2027 season.
In a discussion with the executive director Deborah Borda that was later opened to questions from the media, the director since 1999 of the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuelasince 2009 from the Philharmonic of The Angels and from 2021 musical of the Paris spoke of that child who “has had the opportunity to have this wonderful trip and reach one of the most emblematic artistic institutions in the world”. to their 42 years He also spoke of an appointment that “fills him with pride” and that he considers “a privilege” and that he hopes it will be a reference “so that the girls and boys have the certainty that they dreams can be achievedwith certainty, work, discipline and passion”.
He also confessed “full of pride” for being the first Hispanic who reaches that position through which great people like Gustav Mahler, Arturo Toscanini, Leonard Bernstein, Lorin Maazel o Zubin Metha.
Education, social transformation and Unamuno
Questions for Dudamel accumulate: about the line of repertoire, about the changes he can make upon his arrival at the helm of an orchestra with which he made his debut in 2007 and some he remembered that he cannot answer yet, explaining that “it is hard to come somewhere and say you’ll do this and thatyou need flexibility to learn from the place and the people”. But he did talk at length, though still without specific plans, about the possibility of bringing the same educational spirit and work with the community who has already made part of his legacy, from Venezuela, where he himself is the fruit of The systema program created by the teacher José Antonio Abreu (“a father”), even in Los Angeles, where he launched the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra.
“Es part of my DNA to work with young people, with communities, especially the disadvantaged, take the orchestra to the community and not just wait for people to come here”, he said, underlining the relevance of “the music as a tool for social transformation” and highlighting its “wonderful educational dynamics.” “Artistic institutions have to be the identity of the community,” he also said. “we cannot limitr the dimension of what we do only entertainhave a transformative aspect”. And there she resorted to Miguel de Unamuno: “The identity that must be given to the town, to the people, is culture. Freedom is in the culture”.
Dudamel also showed his conviction that artists have a mission, “especially in our time”, and that it is necessary, for example, to attract the attention of the young generation. “One has to educate people but well, not putting art on a pedestal without access”, he said. “We have to change that mentality and the only ones who can do it are us with what we do
Married to the Spanish actress Natalia Valverde, with whom he has a son, Dudamel assured that the family is delighted and eager to reach NYa city “fascinating, culturally rich, with a very special vibe” that he visited for the first time in 1995 with the National Children’s Orchestra of Venezuela and that he declares “to love”. “It has an energetic cultural life that can enrich my soul as an artist and as a citizen of the world and it will transform me, but I have to live it to know it,” he said.m
And yes, there is still time for what the executives of the New York Philharmonic already declare, and repeatedly, “the Dudamel era”. But in a way it has already begun. And what the teacher sees in the institution “is not only what he was before, but the possibilities of what can be in the future”.
