Gustavo Dudamel: the dream of the boy from Barquisimeto to direct the New York Philharmonic comes true

Gustavo Dudamel greets at the start of the press conference, this Monday at the New York Philharmonic headquarters. SARAH YENESEL (EFE)

Gustavo Dudamel was this Monday on the stage of the New York Philharmonic the personification of a dream, that of the boy from Barquisimeto (Venezuela) who at eight or nine years old conducted at home, "for my family", which he wanted to play in a salsa orchestra like his father, a trombonist, and that today, at 42, assumes the musical and artistic direction of the oldest group in the US, a position that featured Gustav Mahler, Arturo Toscanini, Leonard Bernstein, Lorin Maazel and other greats in music history.

“It is a dream to be in such an emblematic place, its past impresses, but I also see all the possibilities that the future offers, not only as an institution, as an orchestra, but as a factor of identity for a community and as a tool for social transformation”, The director said this Monday, whose pedagogical work, as promoter of El Sistema de Abreu or creator of YOLA, the Los Angeles youth orchestra that copies the Venezuelan model, has always run parallel to the interpretive one.

After a successful period at the helm of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which he joined in 2009, Dudamel will join the New York formation as designated musical director in the 2025-2026 season and from the following season he will be its 27th manager for five years.

He will succeed Jaap van 0zweden in the post.

“When I came to the Philharmonic in 2007 I was black-haired and 25 or 26 years old,” he jokes of his first concert in New York, “Lorin Maazel was the artistic director and it was something very special to have him welcome me.

I immediately felt a connection to the orchestra, it was a turning point in my career."

Since then he has conducted 26 repertoire concerts, but a conductor, he emphasizes, "is nothing without an orchestra, he is not the center of the universe, and when you have an incredible group of musicians like these it is not difficult to make exceptional music."

Dudamel was a good baseball player as a child, who "played everything, in all positions" (laughs) and put in the bind of having to choose between the two great teams of what will be his home from 2025 -one of the questions asked in the presentation-, he chooses "... the Cardenales de Barquisimeto... and also the Dogers [de Los Angeles], and well, okay, the Yankees a bit" (more laughter).

Smiling, close, charismatic, he puts in his pocket those attending his formal premiere as musical director of the Philharmonic -a good part of the board of trustees, some musicians and a cloud of cameras-, sitting in a semicircle on the stage of the renovated auditorium of the orchestra, the David Geffen Hall, with its new and improved acoustics, “the new age of the orchestra”.

"Life has been very generous to me," said the musician, in conversation with Deborah Borda, the outgoing executive director of the group, and his enthusiastic mentor.

“Being the first Latino, the first Hispanic [in front of the Philharmonic] is something that makes me proud, but this is not an individual achievement, but the reflection of the work and effort of many children and young people who are making their way in life through music.

That boy from Barquisimeto arrives in New York, and that makes me happy because it means that dreams can be achieved with discipline and work", pointed out the musician, who nonetheless stressed that his progression was a natural process, not at all forced, the result of “making music with others who end up being friends, family”.

Like that of the director Claudio Abbado, that of Daniel Barenboim and that of many others,

Tribute to Abreu

Dudamel has also remembered his teacher José Antonio Abreu, with whom he started at the age of nine.

“He was a father to me.

I remember his conversations, not only about music, but also about philosophy or poetry.

He is the foundation of my career ”.

Hence, not only does he not deny his Venezuelan formative years, but he vindicates them, just like Abreu, El Sistema ("it's in my DNA") and the Simón Bolívar Orchestra, of which he has been musical director since 1999. " Although I have not traveled regularly to my country since 2017, I am in continuous contact.

The Simón Bolívar orchestra is in good shape and some of its musicians have participated in the Encuentros [Los Ángeles] program of my foundation and my wife's.”

Quoting Miguel de Unamuno in Spanish, Dudamel recalled: "Freedom is in culture."

The musician, who repeats that, although he is still young, he is no longer a young promise, assures that he has taken risks in his career since he began.

“Every step we take is a risk, but yes, I like to take risks.

At 22 or 23 I was a wild animal [laughs], not just because of my hair, which was wild [laughs].

At that age it was time to exaggerate, and I exaggerated, it was the way to learn.

Now I am no longer a young promise, with experience you change ”, he says about his approach to the Philharmonic and, in general, to the rest of his work, which he assumes without a priori.

"It's difficult to get to a place and say 'I'm going to do this and the other', things don't work that way, first you have to learn."

As the head of the Philharmonic selection committee recalled in the presentation, “there is nothing more difficult to find within a great orchestra than unanimity.

But Gustavo was the exception: he was the only candidate, and the unanimity [of the musicians] on his person was total ”.

New York surrenders at Dudamel's feet and counts the days to have it exclusively, without sharing it with Los Angeles or Paris, in a city, recalls the musician, with so many Latino immigrants and "with a very special vibe, all its energy and the culture it embraces.

I'm looking forward to being here."