{"id":214129,"date":"2026-04-29T15:09:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T15:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/214129\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T15:09:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T15:09:20","slug":"the-new-york-philharmonic-gives-gustavo-dudamel-a-warm-welcome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/214129\/","title":{"rendered":"The New York Philharmonic Gives Gustavo Dudamel a Warm Welcome"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arms soaring, curls flopping, baton flashing, the celebrated conductor Gustavo Dudamel commanded the stage for around 90 minutes on Tuesday night inside David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center for the New York Philharmonic\u2019s annual spring gala.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s an honor, it\u2019s a privilege, it\u2019s a pleasure,\u201d he said in the hall\u2019s Grand Promenade after the concert, where he was immediately mobbed by well-wishers. \u201cThis is an amazing orchestra, an amazing institution, an amazing city.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sentiment has been a familiar refrain in the years since Dudamel, 45, was first announced as the Philharmonic\u2019s next music leader in 2023<\/a>, but his tenure is finally approaching: In the fall, after three years of guest-conducting a few concerts while leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he will officially take over as the orchestra\u2019s music and artistic director.<\/p>\n

The audience at David Geffen Hall couldn\u2019t hide its excitement.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can have as many welcome parties as they can squeeze in,\u201d said Jamie Bernstein, the daughter of the conductor Leonard Bernstein, as she sipped a martini before the performance.<\/p>\n

That summed up the mood of the evening, which began with a cocktail reception in the hall\u2019s Grand Promenade. A crowd that included the Grammy Award-winning violinist Itzhak Perlman, the composer and vocalist Eartheater, and the experimental R&B musician Serpentwithfeet snacked on duck sliders, quail deviled eggs and mini lobster rolls.<\/p>\n

Just before 7 p.m., guests filed into the 2,200-seat hall for the concert, which was the pianist Evgeny Kissin\u2019s first appearance with the orchestra in 10 years. The program included work by three Russian composers: Modest Mussorgsky\u2019s overture and \u201cDance of the Persian Slaves\u201d from his opera \u201cKhovanshchina,\u201d Alexander Scriabin\u2019s Piano Concerto and Igor Stravinsky\u2019s suite \u201cThe Firebird.\u201d<\/p>\n

The night raised $3 million for the orchestra, according to a spokeswoman. It honored the philanthropist Barbara Tober and her deceased husband, Donald Tober, an artificial-sweetener executive who made Sweet\u2019N Low a household name.<\/p>\n

After the performance, finally free \u2014 for the moment \u2014 from greeting a crowd of effusive fans, Dudamel sat down to a dinner of Parmesan chicken and roasted fingerling potatoes.<\/p>\n

But there was another stop in the city on Dudamel\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an amazing Venezuelan restaurant in Brooklyn called Casa Ora,\u201d said Dudamel, who grew up in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. \u201cI can\u2019t wait to go back soon.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arms soaring, curls flopping, baton flashing, the celebrated conductor Gustavo Dudamel commanded the stage for around 90 minutes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[84490,2947,28464,84483,84486,84480,84484,84481,84492,84494,84485,10702,32675,84482,84488,84487,9,24,55,54,7180,56,84479,84489,84491,84493],"class_list":["post-214129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-alexander-nikolayevich","tag-classical-music","tag-david","tag-dudamel","tag-evgeny","tag-geffen","tag-gustavo","tag-hall-manhattan","tag-igor","tag-khovanshchina-opera","tag-kissin","tag-lincoln-center-for-the-performing-arts","tag-los-angeles-calif","tag-los-angeles-philharmonic","tag-modest-petrovich","tag-mussorgsky","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-new-york-philharmonic","tag-ny","tag-parties-social","tag-scriabin","tag-stravinsky","tag-the-firebird-ballet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}