New York Philharmonic

Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez (born 26 January 1981) is a Venezuelan conductor. He is the music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is scheduled to become the Music and Artistic Director of the New York Philharmonic in 2026.

Early life

Dudamel was born in 1981 in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. His father was a trombonist and his mother was a voice teacher. He studied music from an early age. In 1986, he became involved with El Sistema, the famous Venezuelan social action music programme, where he began violin lessons. He soon began to study composition. He attended the Jacinto Lara Conservatory, where José Luis Jiménez was among his violin teachers. He then went on to work with José Francisco del Castillo at the Latin-American Violin Academy.

Dudamel 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 Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the national youth orchestra of Venezuela, and toured several countries. He attended Charles Dutoit's master class in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2002, and worked as assistant conductor to Simon Rattle in Berlin, Germany and Salzburg, Austria in 2003.

^ Reed Johnson (23 November 2008). "Conductor Gustavo Dudamel rides a wave of Dudamania". Los Angeles Times.