99 Universal Heavy-weight Venezuelans

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Dudamel as of 2009 is conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, an honor usually reserved to conductors who are much older (Photo: Gustavo Bandres)	Gustavo Dudamel A conquering conductor Though still under thirty, he has already been heard all around the world, using his baton to conquer the planet
Dudamel as of 2009 is conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, an honor usually reserved to conductors who are much older (Photo: Gustavo Bandres)

[an error occurred while processing this directive] Vote Vote ¡Thanks for voting! SONIBERTH JIMÉNEZ EL UNIVERSAL Dudamel conducting the Simón Bolívar Symphonic Orchestra – Royal Albert Hall, London Related Links Gustavo Dudamel's official website The most exquisite audiences have been seduced by his talent. Critics cannot praise him enough. Adjectives abound when referring to Gustavo Dudamel. He has been called "a prodigy" and "music superstar," labels well deserved. At age four, he learned to play the violin. At sixteen, he began to conduct orchestras, and at twenty-four, he became the main conductor of the Simón Bolívar Orchestra, the national youth orchestra of Venezuela. As if all that is not enough, he will conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra from 2009. This 28 year old is no stranger to success. In 2004, he won the Gustav Mahler Conducting Prize in Germany. A year later, he made his Proms debut in London and won the Beethoven Ring Prize, created by the Society of Friends of Beethovenfest in Bonn. He also debuted with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and signed a recording agreement with Deutsche Grammophon. More recent achievements include conducting the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and bringing the Simón Bolivar Youth Symphonic Orchestra to Carnegie Hall. After Dudamel conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the orchestra's double bassist since 1966, Orin O'Brien, said "I cannot tell you what an impression that Gustavo D. has made on us... He just bounded onto the stage with a big grin and proceeded to conduct perfectly, every beat in place, with incredible inner pulse always, with a sense of color very much similar to the energy and spirit as Lenny Bernstein used to have: a shared joy in music making". The double bassist remembers that the orchestra's clarinet player, Stephen Freeman, was quoted in the New York Times as saying that Dudamel "reminds him of the young Bernstein", and O'Brien says she "concurs wholeheartedly". In her opinion, the Venezuelan conducts "just like (Riccardo) Muti does and Bernstein used to". Renowned violinist Joe Sherman, who studied with the NY Philharmonic Orchestra and founded the High School for Violin and Dance in Bronx, attended the general rehearsal of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra in Carnegie Hall. "I feel like I just took a master class in orchestral playing. The LA Philharmonic is blessed to get him. I went to the rehearsal with Stephanie Chase (who teaches violin at Nueva York University), and she was every bit as much impressed as I was", said Sherman. After that Carnegie Hall performance of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, The New Yorker raved that Gustavo Dudamel has a "zeal that even the toughest professionals find irresistible". Simon Rattle, conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is one of his most loyal followers and has hailed him as "the most astonishing and talented conductor I have come across". In spite of endless praise, Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez shuns being labeled a "prodigy". After a successful opening night of Don Giovanni in Milan's La Scala, the musician born in Barquisimeto, Lara state, on January 26th, 1981, pointed out that he is no child prodigy. "I study and work hard; I am disciplined and, above all, love what I do". Translated by Félix Rojas