Gustavo Dudamel

Diane and M. David Paul Artistic and Cultural Laureate of the LA Phil

Jane and Michael Eisner Founding Director and Conductor Laureate of YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles)

Gustavo Dudamel is one of the defining cultural figures of our time.

He has dedicated his life to the unifying power of music, and the belief that art is not simply entertainment but a force for compassion, dignity, and transformation. Combining artistic brilliance with an unwavering optimism, Dudamel has redefined the role of the conductor in public life while expanding the reach of classical music from the barrios of Venezuela to the cultural capitals of the world, building bridges across continents, communities, genres, and generations.

Gustavo Dudamel and YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles) musicians on tour in 2016.

Standing ovation for Jeremy O. Harris, Gustavo Dudamel, Elena Villalón and Cate Blanchett after Beethoven’s "Egmont" in 2026.

Frank Gehry and Gustavo Dudamel at the Beckmen YOLA Center's opening in Inglewood in 2021.

Gustavo Dudamel receives star on Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 22, 2019.

Celebrating John Williams with Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil at Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2019.

Gustavo celebrates LA with YOLA musicians in 2018.

"Dudamel Leads Beethoven 9" at the Hollywood Bowl in September 2024.

Yuja Wang, Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic on tour at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2019.

Gustavo Dudamel and Yo-Yo Ma take the stage for a performance of the Cello Concerto by John Williams.

Gustavo Dudamel conducts A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

In September 2026, Dudamel begins a historic new chapter as Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Music & Artistic Director of the New York Philharmonic, becoming the 27th conductor to lead the orchestra and continuing a lineage that includes Gustav Mahler, Arturo Toscanini, and Leonard Bernstein. Signaling his extraordinary vision for the orchestra’s future, the inaugural season opens with a landmark celebration at Radio City Music Hall that brings together artists from across New York’s cultural landscape, followed by a concert commemorating the 25th anniversary of September 11 at the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan, and season opening programs that feature major premieres of new commissions alongside monumental symphonies by Prokofiev and Mahler. Throughout the rest of the season, which is sponsored by Leni and Peter May, Dudamel places New York City at the center of a bold artistic vision that connects history with innovation, welcoming creative firebrands Marina Abramović and Gustavo Santaolalla as the Mary and James G. Wallach Artists-in-Residence, embarking on his first European tour with the orchestra to France, Spain, Austria, and Germany, inaugurating a five-year opera-in-concert series at Carnegie Hall that opens with Puccini’s Tosca, and leading the free Concerts in the Parks, outdoor performances across the city. Another of the season’s signature initiatives is Beethoven in New York, a festival that examines Beethoven’s continuing influence through a reimagining of Egmont with playwright Jeremy O. Harris (which premiered with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2026), orchestrations of Beethoven’s late string quartets by former Philharmonic Music Directors, with performances of the Ninth Symphony and Piano Concerto No. 2 paired with a newly commissioned song cycle. The season concludes with the Philharmonic’s first-ever performances of Bernstein’s MASS—a fitting way to close Dudamel’s yearlong evocation of New York as a global crossroads of creativity, diversity, and possibility.

Dudamel’s arrival in New York follows 17 transformative years as Music & Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, during which he helped redefine what a modern orchestra could be. Under his leadership, the LA Phil further broadened its status as an internationally admired model for artistic innovation, civic engagement, and contemporary music, commissioning and leading the premieres of 62 new works while dramatically expanding its cultural footprint and relevance. Ambitious and acclaimed artistic initiatives included the multi-season Mahler Project, the complete Mozart/Da Ponte opera trilogy, and the landmark production of Beethoven’s Fidelio created with Deaf West Theatre. Together, Dudamel and the LA Phil brought orchestral music to audiences on an unprecedented scale—from Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl to the Academy Awards, the Super Bowl, and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. In recognition of his extraordinary impact on both the institution and the city, and his continued commitment to the musicians and citizens of Los Angeles, the LA Phil named him Artistic and Cultural Laureate and Founding Director and Conductor Laureate of YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles).

At the heart of Dudamel’s artistic philosophy lies his experience as a child in Venezuela’s El Sistema, the revolutionary music education movement founded by José Antonio Abreu that celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2025. As the Music & Artistic Director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, he continues to perform around the world with that ensemble and others from El Sistema, including touring with the National Youth Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela throughout Spain in July of 2026. Growing up in Barquisimeto, the son of a trombonist and a voice teacher, Dudamel experienced firsthand how music can create a sense of opportunity, identity, and connection, seeing the orchestra not only as a vehicle for artistic expression, but as a vision of society itself: individuals from different backgrounds coming together to build something larger than themselves. That experience continues to shape his belief that access to art is not a luxury, but a fundamental human right.

"17 Years"

When Gustavo Dudamel joined the LA Phil, he pushed boundaries—in his interpretations, his pursuit of new ideas, and his vision for what an orchestra could mean to a city. Seventeen years later, our 2025/26 season and his last as Music & Artistic Director, Gustavo and the orchestra scaled new musical heights together. We celebrate the music they’ve created, the groundbreaking works they’ve commissioned, and the diverse communities they’ve united across Los Angeles.

Today, Dudamel remains one of the world’s most visible advocates for arts education and social transformation through music. Through the Dudamel Foundation, which he co-chairs with actress and director María Valverde, he works to increase access to music and creative opportunities for young people around the world. His global Encuentros initiatives bring together students, artists, and communities in celebrations of cultural exchange and shared learning, while his work with YOLA has provided thousands of young people in Los Angeles with free instruments, intensive music instruction, academic support, and leadership development. Yale University awarded Dudamel the prestigious Henry E. Howland Memorial Prize, one of the University’s highest honors, and through the Dudamel Foundation he will be in residence at Yale from November 16-20, 2026, participating in a series of public events, conversations, and engagements with students, culminating in a concert with the Yale Philharmonia.

Dudamel’s influence extends far beyond the classical music world. He has conducted at global events including the Academy Awards, the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Super Bowl, and the first ever half-time show of the 2026 World Cup Final, where he led members of both the New York Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, as well as international institutions ranging from the Nobel Peace Prize Concert to the United Nations to the White House. Whether opening for Coldplay at Wembley Stadium with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, leading the LA Phil’s historic appearance at Coachella, or collaborating with artists like Billie Eilish, Cynthia Erivo, Christina Aguilera, LL Cool J, Laufey, and CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso, Dudamel has continually positioned classical music not as a relic of the past, but as a living force within contemporary culture.

Gustavo conducts the LA Phil at Coachella in 2025, the first time a major orchestra has performed its own set at the prestigious festival in Indio.

Throughout his career, Dudamel has consistently embraced new technologies, media, and forms of storytelling in order to democratize access to music and broaden its cultural impact. From film and television to streaming, recordings, and large-scale global broadcasts, he has brought orchestral music beyond the walls of the concert hall and into the lives of audiences around the world. He conducted the score for Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed adaptation of West Side Story and, at John Williams’ personal request, led the opening and closing credits for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. His screen appearances include The Simpsons, Sesame Street, Mozart in the Jungle, Trolls World Tour, and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. His life and work were chronicled in the acclaimed documentary ¡Viva Maestro!, while recent projects include María Valverde’s El canto de las manos (The Song of the Hands), a groundbreaking documentary exploring Deafness through music, and Alberto Arvelo’s All We Cannot See, which Dudamel co-produced and scored. Livestreams of his performances at Coachella, the Hollywood Bowl, and more have been viewed by millions around the world, and Dudamel’s extensive discography has received nine Grammy Awards and twelve nominations, championing composers from Mahler and John Adams to Gabriela Ortiz, whose Revolución diamantina (2025) and Yanga (2026), both released on the Platoon label, earned six Grammy Awards collectively.

Gustavo Dudamel and Gabriela Ortiz take a bow after performing the world premiere of Ortiz’s "Mujer Arena".

Among his many distinctions, Dudamel has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People and is the recipient of the Glenn Gould Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious honors recognizing artists whose work has enriched the human condition through culture. His many international accolades include Spain’s Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts, the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute Award for Excellence, the Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award for the Elevation of Music in Society, the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, the Páez Medal of Art, and the Pablo Neruda Order of Artistic and Cultural Merit. In 2026, Dudamel was named the inaugural recipient of the Herb Alpert Honor, awarded by the Herb Alpert Foundation. He has received honorary doctorates from Harvard University, The Juilliard School, the University of Southern California (USC), the Colburn School, the University of Gothenburg, and the Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado in his native Venezuela, and has twice been honored by France’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, first as a Chevalier and later as an Officier. Musical America and Gramophone have both named him Artist of the Year. Together, these honors reflect not only extraordinary artistic achievement, but also Dudamel’s enduring impact as a cultural leader, educator, and advocate.

Having grown up conducting his toys to symphonic recordings, Dudamel had his first breakthrough at age 13, when—as a violinist in a youth orchestra rehearsal in Barquisimeto—he jokingly picked up the baton when the conductor was running late. Even then, his talent was undeniable, and within a few years, José Antonio Abreu had entrusted him with leadership of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra. The journey that followed would take him from a small city in western Venezuela to the world’s greatest stages, but the deeper story has never been one of fame or achievement alone—it has always been about the belief that music can offer a vision of humanity at its best: many voices united in a common purpose, listening to one another and creating something greater together than any individual could create alone. Decades later, his life and work continues to be fueled by the same conviction that music can reveal our shared humanity, illuminate our highest aspirations, and help build a more compassionate, connected, and hopeful world.

Watch & Listen

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Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil on Spotify

Driven by an unwavering belief in the power of music to heal, unite, and inspire, Gustavo Dudamel is one of the most distinguished conductors of our day.

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Gustavo Dudamel on Spotify

Listen to Gustavo Dudamel on Spotify.

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Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil perform Gabriela Ortiz's Revolución diamantina

Take a listen to the Grammy-winning recording from the world premiere performance in November 2023.

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Gustavo Dudamel conducts an excerpt from Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic

Join the LA Phil and Gustavo Dudamel in a powerful performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 1.

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This Is Gustavo — Music Education

Gustavo shares his vision for a world in which young people are connected and enriched by music education. “Children listening, watching over children, doing music, making a family, trusting each other – that is the dream.”

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Bravo Gustavo! Celebrating 10 Years with the LA Phil

In 2009, Gustavo Dudamel conducted his first concert as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, leading the orchestra in Beethoven’s Ninth for a crowd of nearly 18,000 people. We look back on the first decade of a one-of-a-kind tenure.

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“La Música Une”―Gustavo Dudamel

Gustavo Dudamel believes in the importance of music—not just as entertainment, but as a force for social good.

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My First Concert with Gustavo

Playing Beethoven’s 9th with Gustavo Dudamel at the Hollywood Bowl is one of the highlights of YOLA student Lili Morales’ young career.

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Gustavo Dudamel: His Mission of Unity, Inspiration, Access and Hope

Dudamel’s journey from Venezuela to the heights of artistic and critical acclaim as Music & Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic has inspired thousands of musicians worldwide to take their craft to the next level. Thank you, Gustavo, for being who you are and for continuing to inspire incredible artistry and unity, here in Los Angeles and around the world.