Oldest Orchestra in United States Welcomes Its First Ever Latin American Musical Director

This year, Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel will take his place as the new music director of the New York Philharmonic. The orchestra boasts of being the oldest orchestra in the United States, having been founded in 1842. Previous music directors include towering names like Gustav Mahler, Leonard Bernstein, and Pierre Boulez. Now, for the first time ever, the New York Philharmonic will be led by a Hispanic director. 

Dudamel was born in 1981 in Venezuela as the son of two musicians, a trombonist (father) and a voice teacher (mother). One of his achievements includes winning the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in Germany in 2004, eventually garnering the praises of two conducting giants, Simon Rattle and Claudio Abbado. It should also be noted that Dudamel had the honor of conducting the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Vatican for the late Pope Benedict XVI’s birthday with Hilary Hahn as the solo violinist!

As Dudamel embarks on his new role, he will be set to perform at Carnegie Hall in November this year to conduct the New York Philharmonic–his first time doing so at Carnegie–for two performances of Puccini’s Tosca.