{"id":437396,"date":"2026-08-19T15:42:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T15:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/437396\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T15:42:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T15:42:07","slug":"gustavo-dudamel-after-17-years-as-conductor-of-the-la-phil-says-goodbye-daily-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/437396\/","title":{"rendered":"Gustavo Dudamel, after 17 years as conductor of the LA Phil, says goodbye \u2013 Daily News"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Gustavo Dudamel<\/a> lowers his baton at the end of the night at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday, Aug. 23, an era ends for\u00a0the conductor and the Los Angeles Philharmonic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A Concert for Venezuela marks the conclusion of his 17 years as music director of the L.A. Phil, the finale of four nights of Celebrating Gustavo at the Hollywood Bowl that incorporate Dudamel\u2019s passions as the orchestra\u2019s artistic director, too.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Dudamel conducts Beethoven\u2019s Symphony No. 9 after premiering a newly commissioned piece by longtime Pixar film composer Michael Giacchino, which will feature YOLA, Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, a children\u2019s choir and the L.A. Phil.<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Gustavo Dudamel seen here circa 2017. (File photo by Ronald Zak, Associated Press)\n<\/p>\n

\"Gustavo<\/p>\n

Gustavo Dudamel and his wife Maria Valverde pose on the LA Phil\u2019s opening night of his final season conducting and leading the orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, October 15, 2025. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Gustavo<\/p>\n

Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic perform on the Outdoor Theatre stage during weekend two of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Gustavo<\/p>\n

Gustavo Dudamel makes his official debut with the Los Angeles Harmonic at the Hollywood Bowl on Oct. 3, 2009. (Hans Gutknecht\/LA Daily News)\n<\/p>\n

\"Singer-songwriter<\/p>\n

Singer-songwriter Laufey performs with Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic on the Outdoor Theatre stage during weekend two of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Gustavo<\/p>\n

Gustavo Dudamel and rapper LL Cool J pose before LA Phil\u2019s opening night as it commemorates Dudamel\u2019s final season conducting and leading the orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, October 15, 2025. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Trombonist<\/p>\n

Trombonist Oscar Dudamel poses with his son Gustavo Dudamel before LA Phil\u2019s opening night as it commemorates Gustavo Dudamel\u2019s final season conducting and leading the orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, October 15, 2025. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Gustavo<\/p>\n

Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles as he made his official debut with the Los Angeles Harmonic at the Hollywood Bowl on Oct. 3, 2009. (Hans Gutknecht\/LA Daily News)\n<\/p>\n

\"Gustavo<\/p>\n

Gustavo Dudamel conducts the LA Phil\u2019s opening night as it commemorates his final season conducting and leading the orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, October 15, 2025. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Philharmonic Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel delivers the keynote address during USC\u2019s 143rd commencement ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Thursday, May 14, 2026. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News\/ SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, left, and 26-year-old Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, who will replace Solonen, share a moment during a news conference Monday, April 9, 2007, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Salonen, announced Sunday he will step down at the end of the 2008-2009 season to concentrate on composing. (AP Photo\/Damian Dovarganes)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Hollywood Bowl celebrates it\u2019s 100th anniversary season with Gwen Stefani performing with the LA Phil conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and fireworks in Los Angeles on Friday, June 3, 2022. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Conductor<\/p>\n

Conductor Gustavo Dudamel of Venezuela conducts the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at the Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa in November 2008. He\u2019d already been announced as the new conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic but had not yet started that job. (Photo By Ana Venegas, The Orange County Register)\n<\/p>\n

\"Gustavo<\/p>\n

Gustavo Dudamel was introduced as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic during a press conference at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on Sept. 30, 2009. (Photo by John McCoy\/Los Angeles Daily News)\n<\/p>\n

\"Gustavo<\/p>\n

Gustavo Dudamel conducts the L.A. Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, his official debut with the orchestra, on Oct. 3, 2009. (Hans Gutknecht\/LA Daily News)\n<\/p>\n

\"Gustavo<\/p>\n

Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in this undated photograph. (Photo courtesy of the LA Phil)\n<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Philharmonic music director Gustavo Dudamel leads humans and Muppets during a performance at halftime show at the World Cup final soccer match between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, N.J., near New York, Sunday, July 19, 2026. (AP Photo\/Julio Cortez)\n<\/p>\n

\"Gustavo<\/p>\n

Gustavo Dudamel discusses his final season with the LA Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles on Thursday, March 6, 2025. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Gustavo<\/p>\n

Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic as the perform Brahms\u2019 \u201cAcademic Festival Overture, Op. 80\u201d Thursday night. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, contributing photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Venezuelan<\/p>\n

Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Sinfonica de la Juventud Venezolana Simon Bolivar during the Lucerne Festival on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at the Culture and Congress Centre KKL in Lucerne, Switzerland. (AP Photo\/Keystone\/Urs Flueeler)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 20<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Gustavo Dudamel seen here circa 2017. (File photo by Ronald Zak, Associated Press)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Friday night is Gustavo\u2019s Fiesta, a celebration of Latin music with artists such as Los Tigres Del Norte and Lila Downs performing with the orchestra.\u00a0On Saturday, Dudamel and the L.A. Phil back the rock band Foo Fighters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A Concert for Venezuela closes out the weekend<\/a> with a fundraiser for earthquake relief efforts in Venezuela,<\/a> with a portion of the proceeds going to help children, families and staff of El Sistema, the Venezuelan music education program of which Dudamel is a graduate. The program inspired him to create YOLA as a similar program to reach children who might not other have access to play in youth orchestras.<\/p>\n

This kind of variety is the embodiment of everything Dudamel loves.<\/p>\n

This fall, Dudamel, 45, heads east to take over as music and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic, though he\u2019ll hold onto some of the bonds he\u2019s built in Los Angeles since he came here a 28-year-old conducting prodigy in 2009.<\/p>\n

In May, the L.A. Phil appointed him artistic and cultural laureate and founding director and conductor laureate of YOLA, which will, along with his decision to keep a home here, ensure he\u2019ll return here for years to come.<\/p>\n

Still, this chapter of Dudamel\u2019s time in the City of Angels is ending, and so we looked back over his 17 years leading the orchestra, a few bonus years before that, to remember his impact not just on an orchestra but a city and its many and varied communities too.<\/p>\n

September 2005:\u00a0Dudamel makes his U.S. conducting debut at the Hollywood Bowl. The program includes Tchaikovsky\u2019s Symphony No. 5 and Revueltas\u2019 La Noche de los Mayas.\u201d Curious orchestra administrators from around the country were there to check out the 24-year-old newcomer, according to the Los Angeles Times\u2019 review.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope the Philharmonic kept the visiting orchestra officials out of his dressing room long enough to get first dibs on his next American engagement,\u201d the Times\u2019 critic writes. \u201cAnd the one after that. And after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

January 2007: Another first, this time Dudamel\u2019s debut as guest conductor at the Los Angeles Philharmonic\u2019s Walt Disney Concert Hall. \u201cThe floppy-haired maestro is fun to watch,\u201d writes the Orange County Register critic Tim Mangan. \u201cHe uses his hair to advantage, bobbing his head to make it fly about and seemingly to generate electricity.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly Dudamel had nothing to teach this orchestra about [Bart\u00f3k\u2019s Concerto for Orchestra],\u201d the review continued. \u201cNevertheless, he forged a reading with his own personality all over it. Never satisfied to leave well enough alone, he probed into the guts of the score, unearthing harp parts, dictating rhythmic units, taking the violas to new heights. There wasn\u2019t a dead or dull moment. Perhaps more impressively, there weren\u2019t any mannered ones either.\u201d<\/p>\n

April 2007: The L.A. Phil announces it has hired Dudamel as music director. He replaces Esa-Pekka Salonen, who had led the orchestra for 17 years \u2013 the same amount of time Dudamel has served in that role. Now 26, Dudamel jokes at an introductory press conference that he feels old. He started conducting his dolls at 6, and youth orchestras in Venezuela\u2019s El Sistema when he was 12.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s important are his gifts,\u201d Philharmonic violinist Mitch Newman said at the time. \u201cAnd really what you heard in this press conference, that he can go from humor to warmth to depth, it\u2019s all right there at his fingertips. And that\u2019s what he communicates in the music to us, he has such a deep understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fall 2007: The Philharmonic launches YOLA in South Los Angeles, providing instruments, training and academic support free of charge to students who might otherwise never have the chance to play an instrument.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s inspired by El Sistema, which took a Venezuelan boy named Gustavo, gave him a violin and taught him to play, starting his journey to the top of the world of classical music. From 80 students in 2007, YOLA currently serves about 1,300 across the city.<\/p>\n

November 2007: A year before Dudamel officially went to work for the Philharmonic, he\u2019d already achieved one hallmark of L.A. celebrity \u2013 a signature item on the menu at Pink\u2019s historic hot dog stand in Hollywood. The Dudamel Dog, or Dude Dog, took a 10-inch hot dog \u2013 about 4 or 5 inches shorter than the average conductor\u2019s baton \u2013 and buried it under guacamole, American and Swiss cheese, grilled fajita onions and bell peppers, jalape\u00f1o peppers, with tortilla chips propped on top.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will love to go to Pink\u2019s, always!\u201d he told the Orange County Register. \u201cAnd it\u2019s so funny, because it\u2019s like Mexican. With guacamole, with these kinds of things. It\u2019s funny; it\u2019s delicious you know? It\u2019s delicious and it is spicy. It\u2019s hot!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dudamel Dog doesn\u2019t appear on Pink\u2019s online menu today. And he seems to have moved on. A New York Times reporter had lunch with Dudamel in September 2025, with Dudamel taking him to Gray\u2019s Papaya on Broadway for hot dogs that were practically naked \u2013 just ketchup and mustard.<\/p>\n

October 2009: Finally, he\u2019s on the clock. Dudamel conducted his first show as the L.A. Phil\u2019s music director at the Hollywood Bowl on Oct. 3, 2009. The orchestra headlined with Beethoven\u2019s Ninth, which returned on Thursday for the first of Dudamel\u2019s farewell shows at the Bowl.<\/p>\n

YOLA performed, too, as did the Silverlake Conservatory Ensemble, which included Chili Pepper bassist Flea, and the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts jazz band accompanied by keyboardist Herbie Hancock, the L.A. Phil\u2019s jazz chair.<\/p>\n

In some ways, the day had the feel of a rock show, with merch stands selling bright yellow T-shirts emblazoned with \u201cBienvenido, Gustavo!\u201d and fans at the edge of the stage reaching up to slap hands with Dudamel at the end of the night.<\/p>\n

October 2009: Five days later, Dudamel made his official debut at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Oct. 8, 2009. The program opened with \u201cCity Noir,\u201d a new piece by composer John Adams. It was a signal that, like his predecessor Salonen, Dudamel was committed to modern classical music, too.<\/p>\n

But the second piece, Mahler\u2019s Symphony No. 1, really shined, according to Register critic Tim Mangan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe young conductor never lets up with his urging and coaxing of the musicians, and he is in constant eye contact with them, from concertmaster to timpanist to tuba,\u201d he wrote. \u201cHe rides the wave of the musical impulses and expression, but he doesn\u2019t wallow in it, doesn\u2019t swoon. Every signal has a reason. He growls, he sings, he jabs fists, stabs fingers.<\/p>\n

\u201cMahler wrote his symphony when he was Dudamel\u2019s age. The passions and triumphs in it are a young man\u2019s. Dudamel avoided exaggeration in his reading, but there could be no mistaking his understanding and empathy in every episode of the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

April 2010:\u00a0\u201cAmerica and Americans,\u201d Dudamel\u2019s first festival at the L.A. Phil, opens. It featured only works by composers from North, South and Central America, with a different perspective from what many had done before.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tend to think of music of the Americas by looking south,\u201d explained Deborah Borda, then the Philharmonic president, in an interview with the Times. \u201cBut Gustavo starts in South America and looks north.\u201d<\/p>\n

January 2012: Dudamel, music director for both the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Venezuela\u2019s Sim\u00f3n Bolivar Orchestra, came up with an ambitious plan to lead both orchestras as the same time. Over three weeks, he would lead the two orchestras in performances of all nine of Mahler\u2019s symphonies plus the adagio to his unfinished 10th \u2013 first in Los Angeles, then again in Caracas.<\/p>\n

Mahler had long been a favorite of Dudamel, who talked in interviews about how the accidental gift of a Mahler CD when he was a boy inspired a passion for the German composer\u2019s music. The feat cemented Dudamel\u2019s reputation as a top interpreter of Mahler\u2019s music and led to his first record album with the Philharmonic when a 2012 performance of Mahler\u2019s Ninth Symphony was released on CD in March 2013.<\/p>\n

December 2015:\u00a0Amazon\u2019s \u201cMozart in the Jungle\u201d was based on a 2005 memoir by oboist Blair Tindall but the TV series adaptation looked to Dudamel for inspiration of the South American conductor Rodrigo, played by Gael Garcia Bernal. Both Rodrigo and Gustavo were young, passionate South American conductors known commonly by their first names.<\/p>\n

The character Rodrigo was said to have conducted at La Scala in Italy at 23 \u2013 Dudamel did so at 25 \u2013 and had led a Scandinavian orchestra \u2013 Dudamel had been at Sweden\u2019s Gothenburg Symphony.<\/p>\n

If you needed any further proof, look no further than the first episode of the second season when Rodrigo guest conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Dudamel has a role as its stage manager.<\/p>\n

February 2016: The British rock band Coldplay headlined the halftime show for Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, but the supporting acts included Beyonc\u00e9, who stole the show, Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson \u2026 and Dudamel, conducting an ensemble of young musicians from YOLO.<\/p>\n

August 2017: Dudamel tried for years to stay out of the increasingly authoritarian politics of Venezuela. When Venezuelan President Hugo Ch\u00e1vez died in 2013, Dudamel and the Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar Orchestra played at the funeral of Chavez, who had been a strong backer of El Sistema.<\/p>\n

But in 2017, after an El Sistema violinist was killed in widespread protests against the rule of President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, Dudamel took a stand for the Venezuelan people that was critical of the government. Maduro\u2019s government canceled a planned tour of the United States by Dudamel and the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.<\/p>\n

Dudamel, who had traveled frequently between Los Angeles and Venezuela, did not return to his homeland until 2022. He did not conduct the Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar Orchestra until 2023 when they reunited in Edinburgh, Scotland.<\/p>\n

January 2019: Dudamel receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, joining other sidewalk-famous conductors there such as Leonard Bernstein, Arturo Toscanini, Eugene Ormandy, Arthur Fiedler and Zubin Mehta, like Dudamel, a past conductor of the L.A. Phil.<\/p>\n

April 2020: In addition to his role in \u201cMozart in the Jungle,\u201d Dudamel also voiced the character of Wolfgang Amadeus Trollzart, the ruler and conductor of the butterfly-winged Classical Trolls, in \u201cTrolls World Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

April 2022: The documentary \u201c\u00a1Viva Maestro!\u201d<\/a> offered a fascinating look at Dudamel\u2019s life and career and an unexpected point of view due to the uprisings and protests of the Venezuelan people against their government in 2017. Suddenly, planned tours with Dudamel conducting Venezuelan musicians were scuttled, director Ted Braun said.<\/p>\n

The cameras captured \u201cGustavo\u2019s commitment to music\u2019s transformative power,\u201d Braun said of the rapidly changing events Dudamel was swept up in. \u201cAnd his commitment to the musicians that he grew up with. And to the mentor, who really made him who he is.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe obviously were going to watch and follow how he responded to those tests,\u201d Braun said. \u201cTo pay attention to Gustavo, his values and his commitment to music\u2019s transformative power. And that\u2019s what we ended up doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

February 2023: The classical music world is rocked by the announcement that Dudamel would leave the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the end of its 2025-2026 season to head for the Big Apple and the New York Philharmonic.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday I am honored to be named the next musical and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic, adding to a legacy that includes great masters Gustav Mahler, Arturo Toscanini and Leonard Bernstein,\u201d he said of his decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of all, I\u2019m thankful,\u201d he continued. \u201cI am grateful to my beloved family of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and YOLA for helping me learn and grow through countless challenges and triumphs; to my Maestro Abreu and the children, youth and teachers of Venezuela who have been with me since the beginning; and to the musicians and the leadership of the New York Philharmonic as we embark on this beautiful new path together.\u201d<\/p>\n

April 2025: While composer Hans Zimmer was the first to conduct an orchestral set at Coachella, Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic became the first actual orchestra to play the music festival when they thrilled the cool kids in the desert with a mix of instrumentals and performances with guest singers, such as Laufey, Cynthia Erivo, Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters, and L.L. Cool J.<\/p>\n

March 2026: Dudamel delivers the commencement speech for the University of Southern California<\/a>\u2018s graduation ceremonies at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. He told graduates that while the modern world is full of \u201cnoise,\u201d the clamor of people speaking without listening, they should strive for something different.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe magic of an orchestra lies in turning noise into harmony. And turning differences into art. We call this balance,\u201d he said. \u201cListening is creation. It is what transforms noise into beauty. \u2026 And this makes me think of something many people repeat often today, that difference and diversity are a problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cI disagree with that concept. Diversity is not the problem. The problem is not listening to one another,\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Gustavo Dudamel lowers his baton at the end of the night at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49,330,6998,420],"class_list":["post-437396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-music","tag-music-concerts","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}