Gustavo Dudamel

Dynamic conductor Gustavo Dudamel’s passionate music-making has gained him a reputation as "the hottest conductor on the planet" and earned him a place in Time Magazine's chart of the 100 most influential people in 2009.

Concurrently serving as Music Director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Paris Opera, the impact of Dudamel’s musical leadership is felt on three continents.

Born in 1981 in Venezuela, Dudamel began his musical studies with violin lessons at the Jacinto Lara Conservatory. In 1996 he began his conducting studies with Rodolfo Saglimbeni and the same year was appointed Musical Director of the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra.

While his commitment to his music director posts in the United States, Sweden and Venezuela now account for 43 weeks of his yearly schedule, Dudamel also guest conducts with a few of the world’s greatest orchestras each season. This season he returns to the Vienna Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic, along with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in Paris, La Scala and the Israel Philharmonic.

An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2005, Gustavo Dudamel has fifteen recordings on the label ranging in repertoire from Stravinksy’s La Sacre du Printemps to Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 5 and 7. His most recent release is of Bruckner, Nielsen and Sibelius symphonies with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.

In 2019, Dudamel led the orchestra for the soundtrack of Steven Spielberg’s remake of 'West Side Story'. In 2021, he was announced as the new music director of the Opéra National de Paris.

Did you know?
Dudamel grew up surrounded by music. His father was a trombonist and his mother a voice teacher. Dudamel himself played violin from the age of 10.