Posts tagged Los Ángeles
Desde Siana escuchando a Dudamel en L.A.
Oct 4
Transcribimos a continuación la nota del blog de uno de nuestros principales lectores, el consecuente amigo Pablo Alvarez Fernández. La dirección de su blog: http://pablosiana.blogspot.com/
Esta madrugada española y durante más de cinco horas (desde la 01:00 a las 06:00) pude asistir en directo por internet y a toda pantalla, con una calidad de imagen y sonido (con auriculares para no molestar a “mi sufridora”) que parece ciencia-ficción, incluso compartiendo emociones y butaca virtual con mi querido Osvaldo Burgos, el show “Bienvenido Gustavo” desde el Hollywood Bowlde la ciudad californiana de Los Ángeles.
La parrilla de emisión programa, con pausas entre cada actuación ¡aunque sin publicidad!, lo podemos comprobar a continuación, siempre con presentadores mediáticos como Sergio Mendes yQuincy Jones, sin olvidarme de Andy García, Herbie Hancock -que también intervino con una Jazz Band- o incluso John Williamsque fue quien presentó oficialmente, junto a la presidenta de la orquesta Deborah Borda, a Dudamel:
Si Hollywood es la meca del espectáculo y Gustavo Dudamel una estrella mundial, el resultado mediático resultó como era de esperar, aunque musicalmente habría mucho que escribir (dejo aquí la crónica de BBC World en español y de la Agencia EFE). El Hollywood Bowl resultó un enorme plató con18.000 asistentes desde donde se emitió un show para millones en todo el mundo, siendo “solamente” un ensayo con público para el primer concierto oficial del día 8 de octubre. ¡Increíble!.
Lo más emotivo y destacable desde mi punto de vista, fue el debut primero con la YOLA (la Joven Orquesta de Los Ángeles), esos niños a los que imbuye el espíritu de El Sistema y que en apenas un año, logró que fuesen capaces de interpretar un arreglo instrumental de laOda a la Alegría de Beethoven. Me recordó una gran fiesta fin de curso donde los padres llenaban el patio de butacas jaleando a sus hijos…
El momento esperado llegó cuando Los Angeles Philharmonic y su concertino Martin Chalifour comenzó a afinar, el enorme coro de casi 200 voces de distintas agrupaciones esperaba sentado, y Dudamel apareció en el escenario junto a los solistas: la soprano canadiense Measha Brueggergosman, la mezzo de Michigan Michelle DeYoung, el tenor inglés Toby Spence y el barítono estadounidense Matthew Rose.
La algarabía, gritos, piropos, silbidos y demás “parafernalia” que elHuracán Dudamel provoca a su paso empiezan a preocuparme, pues está rompiendo mis esquemas sobre cómo comportarse en un concierto, o aún más, qué es un concierto de la llamada “música culta” en pleno siglo XXI. El populismo rayando comportamientos más típicos de conciertos rock o incluso de hooligans no me encaja mucho, ni siquiera en Hollywood, pero pienso que deberé amoldarme(aunque no esté de acuerdo) a lo que hay e intentar disfrutar como si fuera “mi primera vez” de la Novena de Beethoven. Así fue y me emocioné desde la pantalla del portátil (laptop) en la cercana distancia de las nuevas tecnologías.
Todo el párrafo anterior viene porque se aplaudió cada movimiento, incluso el último fue “roto” antes de la conclusión por una sala donde los “melómanos habituales” creo que hicieron como yo (verlo en casa), y el caracter gratuito del evento hacía suponer comportamientos como los vistos en Los Ángeles, sin entrar en cuestiones más profundas.
Aplaudir en medio de los tiempos de una obra depende mucho de la historia -antes así se hacía-, de la cultura de cada país o incluso del carácter del público (es inimaginable algo semejante en Europa, y no digamos en lugares como Salzburgo, Berlín, París, Barcelona…) más todo lo que queramos añadir, incluyendo aquí que los solistas “irrumpen” en escena antes del tercer movimiento, algo que se está haciendo demasiado habitual, por ¿evitarles? estar desde el principio de la obra (como sí lo está el coro). Lo que tengo claro es que se produce una ruptura innecesaria en la continuidad de una obra como la del sordo genial, y el director (se notaba en su rostro) así como parte del público no somos ajenos a ello.
Juzgar una interpretación desde internet (CD, DVD, TV…) evidentemente no es igual que en la sala ¡qué más quisiera!. No se puede hablar de planos sonoros cuando se escucha amplificado (y con un ingeniero de sonido controlando los niveles), incluso hubo subtítulos -con alguna que otra falta de ortografía- de La Oda deSchiller en inglés y español (para la mayoría de las intervenciones del coro) y la posibilidad de contemplar cada gesto de Gustavo. Fenomenal la elección de los tempi, realmente personales pero permitiendo escuchar todo lo escrito, con una visión en la línea de las ya grabadas Quinta y Séptima e incluso del Triple Concierto de Bonn, aunque con momentos más reposados, con una orquesta “menos fresca” que sus venezolanos, pero totalmente rendidos y adaptados al barquisimetano y a la Novena, sin olvidarnos de unos solistas que cumplieron sobradamente, en especial la canadiense.
Y las emocionadas palabras de agradecimiento en inglés y español (“Todos juntos formamos un continente. Sin norte, ni sur, ni Centroamérica”) así como su “orgullo de ser latino”, dieron paso a la repetición del “Himno de Europa” con la “sorpresa anunciada” de los fuegos artificiales.
Pronto estará todo el concierto en YouTube© pero me queda la satisfacción y también emoción de haber asistido a un acontecimiento único e histórico. Espero haya muchos más aunque sea “desde Siana”.
Dudamel se estrena hoy como director titular de la L.A. Phil
Oct 3
Con gran expectativa espera la ciudad de Los Angeles el primer concierto del Maestro Gustavo Dudamel como director titular de la Orquesta Filarmónica de Los Angeles. Para la ocasión se ha programado esta tarde un concierto gratuito en el Hollywood Bowl, el cual contará con la participación de diversos músicos angelinos.
Para el cierre del concierto está programada la 9na Sinfonía de Beethoven bajo la dirección del venezolano, la cual será transmitida al mundo a través del sitio web de la orquesta: http://www.laphil.com.
A continuación el video de bienvenida preparado por la orquesta con motivo de la llegada de su nuevo director:
The New Guy: Gustavo Dudamel
Nov 8
Publicado originalmente en LA Weekly el 8 de noviembre de 2007
Disponible en línea en el Sitio Web del autor
By Alan Rich
Strength in Numbers
Chances are that the Philharmonic’s new music director, when he takes over the podium a couple of years from now, will not ask the orchestra to perform in patriotic jackets, nor will he ask the players to fling them out into the audience after the last encore. He is unlikely to demand that they twirl their instruments between solos, or toss them skyward at the slightest provocation. Yet these were some of the shenanigans in the final moments in the second of two concerts last week by the Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and its – soon to be our – switched-on conductor, Gustavo Dudamel. With a capacity crowd in the hall tearing down the virtual goalposts and another onstage matching them cheer for cheer, you had to be there to experience the pandemonium. By any standard – social, political, musical – it was totally deserved.
There was a lot of talk about youth orchestras here last week. There was a symposium in which important people – the mayor, Philharmonic people, education people – spoke about the obvious benefits of full-fledged symphony-size orchestras as an extracurricular activity, moving on to forming serious ensembles, like the Bolívar and the Sibelius Academy that was here two weeks ago and the UBS Orchestra still to come, with players ages 18 to 24. We have such orchestras here, like the sleepy American Youth Symphony, whose free concerts at Royce Hall draw big, sleepy crowds; what we don’t have – yet – is a firecracker leader to inspire such an orchestra with a sense of its own importance, to its community, to its players. That will take a few more symposiums.
Here comes Dudamel, and the best news is that he’s real, a serious and dedicated musician who’s seized by the music he’s performing, and that he’s already a practiced hand in forming great and spirited young orchestras. His orchestra numbered something like 200, against our own Philharmonic’s 106. Just the sight of all those chairs on the empty stage was enough to turn you – or me, at least – dizzy. Dudamel led the big works on both programs – the Fifth symphonies of Beethoven and Mahler – from memory; okay, he’s recorded them both and is entitled to know them by heart. What’s important is the way both these works have come to live within him. The baton technique, mostly a forward thrust, is clear and not particularly graceful. His left-hand motions are more fascinating: also not graceful, not swooping, but with each finger delivering a separate message.
Of the two symphonies, I was more won over by the Mahler; I’d held off hearing the disc. Disney Hall offered no resistance to the mighty onslaught of 11 double basses, eight horns and similar bloated figures across the board. There was a fine, light humor in the pacing of the scherzo, and an even lighter touch in the folksy moments of the finale. The notorious – yet noble - adagietto was, to my taste, paced exactly right.
Beyond the inevitable wayward horn here and bassoon there, the Beethoven performance seemed to these ears somewhat waterlogged by the weight of it all. Even with the double-bass contingent whittled down to 10 – from the previous day’s 11 – I found the sound of four horns (for Beethoven’s two) and I-forget-how-many bassoons (for Beethoven’s most interesting scoring, his bassoon pairing) just a shade murky, no matter how excellent the performers and how spirited the splendid young conductor’s choice of tempos. But that crescendo out of the gloomy reaches of the scherzo, and the impact of the trumpets announcing the triumphant arrival at the golden frontier of C major, could not have been more thrilling. That’s why we need orchestras, and conductors, and Beethoven.
Olé
The ersatz conviviality of the Bernstein West Side Story dances had begun the first program (of two); now, following the Beethoven on the second, it was time to dig seriously into where these marvelous music people had gleaned their effervescence. Music by Mexico’s Arturo Márquez and José Pablo Moncayo and Argentina’s Alberto Ginastera – all throbbing with hot rhythms and that major/minor delicious uncertainty that colors the lifestyle south of the border – completed the printed part of the program. Then the lights went down for a few seconds; when they came up again, the whole orchestra sported the Venezuelan finery that I’m sure you all saw on YouTube.
Then who should show up but John Williams, to tone things down a peg with theStar Wars theme. (Surely, even he knows better music than that.) Then Gustavo – excuse me, Maestro Dudamel – got his podium back for three more numbers, including a replay of the Bernstein “Mambo” number from the night before, with the crowd getting happier and more insistent and the jacket biz . . . For all I know, they may still be there.
In the audience sat José Antonio Abreu, the distinguished gentleman who, with a group of musical advisers, dreamed up the National System of Youth Orchestras – known as El Sistema – that has now given Venezuela 130 youth orchestras comparable to Simón Bolívar, countless children’s orchestras and more than 30 adult orchestras, many of them peopled by children out of impoverished neighborhoods, given their instruments by the state. Put this together with the chorus that came up a few years ago to perform Golijov’s St. Mark’s Passion and you have a compelling picture of a national musical subsidy that needs a lot of study in this country. Perhaps more than symposiums, even.
Buzzy Star Dudamel, 26, Brings His Kid Orchestra to Disney Hall
Nov 5
Publicado originalmente en Bloomberg.com
By David Mermelstein
Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) — No one at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Friday night will likely forget the sight of 170 young musicians in matching yellow-blue-and-red windbreakers whooping it up onstage. The capacity crowd could have been cheering a winning sports team.
The occasion was the second of two concerts featuring Venezuela’s Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra in its U.S. debut. The windbreakers, complete with white stars and evoking the Venezuelan flag, were donned for the encores, which included the theme to “Star Wars” conducted by its creator John Williams.
Otherwise, the youngsters (aged 12 to 26) were in the hands of their star boss, Gustavo Dudamel, just 26 himself, and their music director since 1999.
The buzz surrounding Dudamel has been immense, and deservedly so. The adventurous people who run the Los Angeles Philharmonic last spring named him to succeed Esa-Pekka Salonen as music director at Disney Hall. So this concert had special significance. In two years, the Venezuelan will be maestro of this stunning house designed by Frank Gehry.
Though these young players won’t be relocating to L.A., Dudamel’s success in the City of Angels is also theirs.
Like his charges, Dudamel rose through the ranks of “el sistema,” shorthand for Venezuela’s vaunted music-education system, which teaches instrumental music to about 250,000 predominantly poor children and sponsors roughly 125 youth orchestras. (In addition to producing Dudamel, el sistema has supplied the Berlin Philharmonic with double-bassist Edicson Ruiz, 22, the second-youngest player in its history.)
Mixed Program
As de facto cultural ambassadors, Dudamel and his orchestra understandably wanted to show off their country’s achievement, and their programs effectively combined familiar works by Beethoven, Mahler and Bernstein with underappreciated scores from Latin America’s rich orchestral tradition — in this case by Jose Pablo Moncayo, Arturo Marquez and Alberto Ginastera.
The musical results, though inherently inspiring, were mixed. With so many musicians on stage — never fewer than 100 and often half as much again — subtlety was not an option. In the Latin works, the muchness at least enhanced the fun, with the orchestra’s blaring brasses, swooping strings and assertive percussion nearly blowing the roof off Disney Hall.
Regulating dynamics proved next to impossible, even for a skilled technician such as Dudamel, a man with a clear beat and sensible gestures. Like his hero Bernstein, whose “Symphonic Dances From West Side Story” opened Thursday’s concert, Dudamel isn’t afraid to jump when the music moves him, and his undulant body language and shaking black curls provide appealing showmanship.
Modernist Twist
More depth than dash is required for Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, which followed the Bernstein. There were moments to savor, as Dudamel pointed up an unanticipated modernist twist or martial turn in the score.
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony the following night was more gratifying. Ironically, given the ages of the players and conductor, this was an old-school account: blunt and big, if not very nimble and flexible. Yet who could resist the energy of this storming-the-heavens account? Not many at Disney Hall.
Gustavo Dudamel leads the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra at Symphony Hallin Boston on Nov. 7 and at Carnegie Hall in New York on Nov. 11 and 12. He also conducts the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall from Nov. 29 through Dec. 4.
Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, the greatest show on Earth
Nov 5
Publicado originalmente en: latimes.com el 05 de noviembre de 2007
The Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela conducted by Gustavo Dudamel is the greatest show on Earth. That was obvious Thursday night at the first of the astonishing orchestra’s two concerts last week in Walt Disney Concert Hall. Critics, of course, aren’t supposed to say such things in reviews, so I quoted Simon Rattle.
But after witnessing the mass hysteria among an audience of 2,200 on Friday night, and after observing an orchestra perform feats no orchestra has in quite the same way, I now have a reporter’s obligation to state the facts. The Earth revolves around the sun; the Big One will, sooner or later, hit L.A.; the Venezuelans, under their 26-year-old conductor, are the future.
For Thursday’s ambitious program, Dudamel demonstrated that a really big band (160-plus) could float like a butterfly and sting like a bee (at least one definition of “the greatest” I accept) — and also penetrate deeply into deeply penetrating symphonic thought. This was a spectacular, stirring and flashy show.
Friday’s program was even flashier. Dudamel began with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. The orchestra was large, far larger than is fashionable in these historically informed days, but not humongous.
There were certainly plenty of basses to dig in ferociously. Dudamel, who conducted everything without scores both evenings, inhabited the orchestra. A wild enthusiastic swoop of his arms elicited a wild enthusiastic swoop of strings. This was bold big Beethoven, but the playing was much too joyously alive to be old-fashioned big Beethoven.
Care must be taken not to condescend to these kids. Some are as young as 12, although most look to be in their early 20s (26 is the cutoff age). They are not great young musicians, they are world-class players, period. They provide uniquely visceral thrills as an ensemble. But in two evenings, I also heard more wonderfully expressive oboe, flute, clarinet, bassoon, violin, horn and trumpet solos than I could count.
The second half of the evening, devoted to Latin American music, was when the audience began, understandably, to lose it. The orchestra swelled to what must have been close to 200. Jose Pablo Moncayo’s Mexican classic “Huapango” and the more recent and just as lively and populist “Danzon No. 2″ by the contemporary Mexican composer Arturo Marquez, were dazzling in their rhythmic vitality and flirtatious dynamics.
Two years before he will become the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s music director and in but two visits to Disney, Dudamel has already begun to daringly exploit the hall’s acoustics. The Simon Bolivar’s soft playing is as impressive as its earsplitting climaxes. The crescendo at the end of Marquez’s “Danzon” went from nothing to an earthquake in a handful of expertly gauged seconds.
The ballet suite from Ginastera’s “Estancia,” written in 1941 for the American Ballet Caravan, closed the formal program with scenes from Argentine country life. Dances for farmhands, cowboys and the like were made into an Imax-sized epic.
The hall then went dark for 15 seconds. When the lights came up, the players all had on Venezuelan flag jackets and the hall had become a riot of color. A fan of John Williams, Dudamel had asked the composer to conduct his theme from “Star Wars” as a surprise encore.
Appearing as in awe of these players as they were of him, Williams conducted as though he were driving a supercar for the first time, knowing that the slightest touch on the accelerator could produce a galvanic force.
For the “Mambo” from “West Side Story” and the “Malambo” from “Estancia,” yet another surge of electricity sent shock waves through orchestra and audience. In perfect control yet utterly free, the musicians danced, twirled their instruments in the air, swayed in great waves. From the Renaissance to the present, composers have dreamed of exactly this — the mastery of chaos.
Finally, Dudamel walked into the audience and brought onstage Jose Antonio Abreu — founder of El Sistema, the program that trains Venezuela’s young musicians — and enticed him to conduct the country’s national anthem, which was played with rapt fervor. Many in the audience sang along.
Afterward, I heard it suggested that, in a gesture of international goodwill, these players might then have ended with “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Instead, they took off their jackets and flung them into the roaring crowd.
As I said, this is the greatest show on Earth.
Dudamel is absolutely revelatory
Nov 3
Publicado originalmente en latimes.com
Simon says it is the most important thing happening in classical music in the world. “Simon” is Simon Rattle, music director of the Berlin Philharmonic. “It” is El Sistema, the youth orchestra program in Venezuela.
“It” might also describe the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, the cream of a 250,000-student crop, which began its first U.S. tour at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Thursday night under its music director, Gustavo Dudamel. And if this incredible orchestra hits San Francisco, Boston and New York with the same revelatory effect as at the first Disney concert, our country, with its poor music education, may never — should never — be the same.
Happily, the orchestra and Dudamel, who will become music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2009, are hot properties. TV’s “60 Minutes,” which gave El Sistema its first big blast of publicity eight years ago, was on hand in L.A. to film a follow-up story on Dudamel, who at 26 is a spectacularly rising star worldwide. The Philharmonic has been under an international barrage of interview requests ever since its Easter surprise announcement of Dudamel’s appointment.
Both Thursday’s concert and another on Friday night had sold out quickly, and Internet ticket scalping had reached near Ian McKellen-like proportions. When an orchestra of 160 slowly filed onto the Disney stage Thursday, the applause grew and grew. When Dudamel walked out, he might have been a rock star. When the concert ended, he might have hit a home run to win the World Series.
The program — Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from “West Side Story” and Mahler’s mighty, 70-minute Fifth Symphony — wasn’t slight. Dudamel has ideas about these pieces, and they are mostly about how to make every incident in the scores either heart-stoppingly thrilling or heart-meltingly tender, how to shape a melodic line in the most comely fashion and how to coax a rhythmic phrase into dancing its way to every corner of a concert hall.
The stage was crammed full of youngsters, ages 12 to 26. Individually these are first-rate players (the horns alone would be the envy of many a brand-name band). But they also form an organism like no other. In furious passages, masses of string players swayed in their seats and wind players bobbed their heads as if guided by a single animating life force.
“West Side Story” is a story that resonates with these young Venezuelans. Many come from poverty, and all know about gangs on the streets of their capital, Caracas. Dudamel’s accents were like startling gunshots; the brutality of the “Rumble” felt all too immediate; “Somewhere” was almost unbearably melancholic; and “Mambo” was a mambo, a real one.
The concert was delayed after intermission to allow Jose Antonio Abreu, who founded El Sistema 30 years ago, to get to the hall (his plane landed at 7:30). His devotees describe him as a saintly snake charmer who has managed to get the program funded through 10 administrations, with Venezuela’s current leader, Hugo Chavez, the latest eager supporter.
Mahler’s Fifth was then played as life-and-death music, which is how Mahler intended the symphony, what with its angry funeral opening, its waltz-goes-mad Scherzo, love letter Adagietto and neurotic high spirits Finale.
Dudamel’s Mahler is not neurotic. But it is violent, and it is exalted, and it is, at many moments, exquisitely beautiful. The power and ferocity in the first two movements astonished, given that this was an ensemble at least 50% larger than the normal Mahler orchestra. But also, given how expressive and clear the inner lines sounded, a law or two of physics must have been overcome.
Dudamel has this symphony in his blood — he conducted without a score. Still, no 26-year-old can be expected to get it all. The Scherzo, so exciting moment to moment, didn’t entirely hold together. The slow movement didn’t feel too slow, as it does on his new recording, but the last movement did slightly. Then again, neither Leonard Bernstein nor Michael Tilson Thomas truly mastered this symphony until they were more than twice Dudamel’s age.
No matter, the performance caught Mahler’s spirit, and it caught the spirit of a generation of young people who have what it takes to make the world better.
Politically, we bicker with Chavez’s Venezuela. A little rehearsal time in L.A. was lost because the visiting orchestra’s instruments were held up by U.S. Customs, which wanted to go through them with a fine-tooth comb.
But musically, Venezuela leaves no child behind, and the results are an inspiration to us all.
Philharmonic’s Incoming Dudamel Gives L.A. a Much-Anticipated Preview
Oct 30
Publicado originalmente en Southern California Public Radio November 07, 2007
Escuchar programa original
By Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
The L.A. Philharmonic’s conductor in-waiting, Gustavo Dudamel, was in Los Angeles last week for a series of concerts. It was his first concert performance here since the Phil announced earlier this year that Esa-Pekka Salonen will pass the baton to him in about a year and a half. Dudamel’s conducted in L.A. before, but lots more anticipation accompanied this visit. KPCC’s Adolfo Guzman-Lopez reports that orchestral music lovers were eager to hear for themselves whether the 26-year-old Venezuelan wonder would deliver.
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez: His English is shaky, so Gustavo Dudamel offered a bilingual answer to the question: “What are you learning about L.A.?”
Gustavo Dudamel: I was really clear on what is Los Angeles, and now, what, eh, lo que yo estoy viendo cada vez mas…
Guzman-Lopez: What he’s discovering more and more, Dudamel said, is that people in L.A. have an openness and willingness that he doesn’t find in other cities.
He was talking about their willingness to grow orchestral music outside the concert hall. One example: the L.A. Philharmonic’s fledgling effort to launch a local youth orchestra system similar to the one in Venezuela that gave Dudamel his big breaks.
That program, he said, and the prospect of leading the Phil’s musicians, excites him about coming to Los Angeles. His return to Disney Hall combined his passion for conducting and his interest in fostering young performers.
[Sound of Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra tuning instruments]
Guzman-Lopez: Dudamel had conducted Venezuela’s Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra for seven years, and they reunited for a concert in downtown L.A. The first selection of the evening was Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from “West Side Story.”
[Music: Symphonic Dances from "West Side Story"]
Guzman-Lopez: Dudamel’s conducted this piece a lot. A high-energy version recorded in London – in which the musicians sway to the beat and twirl their instruments – has drawn a lot of attention on YouTube. In live performance, it’s a crowd pleaser.
[Music: "Mambo" from Symphonic Dances from "West Side Story"]
Guzman-Lopez: As he directs, Dudamel’s hands, fingers, arms, hips, and long, curly locks sway, lunge, and swing.
[Music: "Mambo" from Symphonic Dances from "West Side Story"]
Guzman-Lopez: The second selection on this night is Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. It’s the piece that won him the L.A. Philharmonic job. The composition’s wide range of emotions seems perfectly suited for Dudamel’s conducting style.
[Music: Mahler's Symphony Number 5]
Guzman-Lopez: Dudamel’s lips pucker. His eyes open wide. He smiles. At several points he audibly inhales through his nose and mouth. He holds onto a music stand to keep from falling off the podium.
[Music: Conclusion of Mahler's Symphony Number 5; audience applause]
Guzman-Lopez: Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra earned a standing ovation that lasted almost 10 minutes.
Afterward, in the Disney Hall lobby, audience member and professional violinist Anne Riordan said she’s sold on Dudamel.
Anne Riordan: I’m so excited, I can’t stand it. (laughs) Just watching Dudamel work these kids into such a fervor, and watching the level of musicianship that he fed them, he was so with them the entire time.
Guzman-Lopez: The YouTube crowd also felt he was with them. That’s where 20-year-old Daniel Gomez first saw the conductor. For this concert, Gomez flew in from Chicago. When it was over he stood in a long autograph line with a Dudamel CD in his hand.
Daniel Gomez: I got the – I don’t know how to pronounce it, I’m very bad with pronunciations – what is it? Mahler I think; Symphony Number 5, I think. So, I’m going to get my signature and go home happy.
Guzman-Lopez: Topanga Canyon residents John and Mary Sipple attend the symphony often. Mary Sipple said she noticed a younger crowd on this night.
Mary Sipple: I think he’s going to be very good, especially for the Hispanic population and the young people. Not that Esa-Pekka was crusty and old by any means, but I think Dudamel is going to be exciting for this city.
Guzman-Lopez: And exciting for the late night crowd. When in L.A., Dudamel’s been known to sneak an after-concert hot dog from the venerable Pink’s on Melrose Avenue and La Brea Boulevard. Already, Pink’s owners have named a hot dog after him. The Dudamel Dog overflows with Swiss and American cheeses, guacamole, and tortilla chips.
Concierto en Los Ángeles
Oct 26
Gustavo Dudamel y John Williams dirigen a la Sinfónica de la Juventud Venezolana Simón Bolívar
Sala:
Walt Disney Concert Hall. Los Ángeles, Estados Unidos.
Programa:
Ludwig van Beethoven: 5ta Sinfonía
José Pablo Moncayo: Huapango
Arturo Márquez: Danzón Nº 2
Alberto Ginastera: Malambo para la suite Estancia
John Williams: Tema de Star Wars Dirigida por el propio Williams
Fecha: 02/11/2007
Concierto en Los Ángeles
Oct 26
Gustavo Dudamel dirige la Sinfónica de la Juventud Venezolana Simón Bolívar
Sala:
Walt Disney Concert Hall. Los Ángeles, Estados Unidos.
Programa:
Bernstein: West Side Story – Symphonic Dances
Mahler: Sinfonía Nº 5
Fecha: 01/11/2007
