Artistic Director and Creative Director, Maestro Gustavo Dudamel
Gustavo Dudamel was born in 1981 in Barquisimeto, Venezuela.
He grew up listening to music because his father was a trombonist and his mother was a voice teacher.
As a child, he began studying the violin, but from an early age he was drawn to conducting, a task he began by chance when, at the age of 13, as a member of his youth orchestra and faced with the conductor's delay, he put his violin aside and picked up the baton.
In 1996, he was appointed musical director of the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, where José Antonio Abreu discovered his talent and became his mentor.
He gained international attention by winning the inaugural edition of the Gustav Mahler Competition of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra in 2004.
Between 2007 and 2012, he served as music director of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, of which he is currently honorary conductor.
In 2009, he became the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
From 2021 to 2023, he held the position of music director of the Paris Opera, leading acclaimed productions.
In 2019, Dudamel was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
He has made several acclaimed recordings with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, including the soundtrack for the film Libertador—about Bolívar's life—and digital recordings of Beethoven's nine symphonies.
Dudamel is one of the most awarded conductors of his generation and of any other. He was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2019.
He has been a tireless promoter of El Sistema, working with teachers and students in Venezuela, and also visiting programs inspired by El Sistema around the world. He promotes the power of music to unite, heal, and inspire on a global scale and has served as a passionate advocate for music education and social integration through the arts.
He has worked tirelessly to bring music to an ever-wider audience. He was the first classical artist to perform in the Super Bowl halftime show. He has performed at popular global events such as the Academy Awards and the Olympics, and has worked with world-renowned musical icons.
He was responsible for conducting the French Radio Philharmonic Orchestra at the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
He currently serves as music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela and music and artistic director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and in 2026 he will assume the role of music and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic.