Desde Corea

Publicado originalmente en The Korea Times

By Han Sang-hee
Staff Reporter

At first glance, many could mistake Gustavo Dudamel as a pop star, or even an actor. With his dark curly hair and mischievous smile, Dudamel is one of the youngest and most talented conductors in the world and the 27-year-old is coming to Korea for the first time.

“I’ve never been to Korea, so I’m looking forward to creating some first impressions. So far, all of the Korean people I’ve met have been very warm and extremely interested in classical music. This makes me particularly excited to meet the audiences and experience the cities and especially the food,” said Dudamel through an email interview.

The conductor will perform here with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, where he has been the artistic director since 1999 and graced fans with his energetic charisma.

Dudamel would know the importance of young musicians playing for the public and themselves, as he himself was nourished as an aspiring conductor with Venezuela’s National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras, or El Sistema, a publicly financed private sector music education program. The Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela is also a part of the program.

Classical music faces difficult times due to its aging audience worldwide, but Dudamel was more than eager to turn this around.

“Some think classical music is old music, my grandfather’s music (or) it’s music to sleep to. And this is absolutely not true! When they feel that there’s something happening there, this little fire, or a huge fire on the stage, they fall in love. And this is our responsibility for my generation as musicians (and) artists, to bring the young generation to classical music,” he said.

Dudamel will offer two different programs for the two concert nights. The first will offer symphonic dances from Bernstein’s “West Side Story” and Mahler’s Symphony No. 6, and the second night the numbers of Ravel, Castellanos and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.

“I think that in all my Tschaikowskys, Mahlers, Mozarts, Brahmses (there) is a little bit of Venezuela and Latin soul. For me it’s pretty important to show the audience what we have. The important thing is how to make music, to enjoy, to have fun, to make (magical) moments in every concert we play. It’s why we program our concerts this way – and yes, (the viewers) should attend both concerts!” said Dudamel.

He has a great future ahead of him, as he will lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic next fall, and this concert will be a great chance to watch the talented conductor do his magic.

“What I do is a beautiful responsibility. I don’t feel pressure. For me it’s normal, like my life. Everything has been going in the right way, with good speed. It’s wonderful and it’s not only me. Look at the new generation. We have a new generation of young conductors. I’m a 27-year-old conductor, when now we have 16-year-old conductors. I’m part of the old generation already. This is a beautiful thing, to be the inspiration for the people that are coming to be musicians, for people that have a goal, to see that things can happen if you work hard and love what you are doing. This is the secret, this is the recipe,” he said.