Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic kick off the second season of their partnership on October 7 with an opening-night gala concert featuring the renowned Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez. But before he opens the LA Phil’s regular season at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Dudamel makes three appearances during the first week of August with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl.  For his first concert on August 1, he conducts a concert version of Bizet's Carmen with the Austrian mezzo-soprano Natascha Petrinksy singing the title role.  On August 3 Dudamel leads the orchestra in a program that includes Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and selections from Bernstein's On the Town.  Gabriela Montero, a fellow Venezuelan, is the piano soloist for the Gershwin.  For his final Hollywood Bowl performance of the summer on August 5, he and the orchestra perform an international selection of works that includes Ravel's beloved Bolero. These concerts mark the first time Dudamel has conducted the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl since his first concert as Music Director last October.

In the 2010/11 season, momentum and initiatives of Dudamel’s inaugural season with the LA Phil continue with 12 new commissions, 9 world premieres, 5 U.S. premieres, 5 West Coast premieres, 2 composer-based festivals, a major European tour, and a series of artistic partnerships. The vibrancy of the season is further embodied by the expansion of YOLA (the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles), a spectrum of imaginative presentations, and the continuing tradition of introducing rising artists and composers.

Click here for more info on the Hollywood Bowl Concerts
Click here for more info on the LA Phil’s 2010/11 season and to subscribe
Read the LA Times’ preview of the LA Phil’s upcoming season

This September Gustavo Dudamel and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra open their 2010/11 season with concerts of Mahler's "Tragic" Sixth Symphony.  While Dudamel frequently performs works by Mahler, his selection of this piece to kick off his fourth season as Music Director of the GSO is especially appropriate since 2010 marks the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth.  The three performances of this program are on September 2, 3, and 4.

Other highlights of Dudamel’s upcoming season with the GSO include performances of Berg’s rarely heard Seven Early Songs and Stravinsky’s The Firebird in November, programs of Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto—played by Lars Vogt—and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 in March, and concerts of Prokofiev’s monumental Fifth Symphony in April.  Later in the spring, Dudamel and the GSO embark on a Scandinavian tour before returning home for concerts of Brahms and Nielsen.

Visit the GSO web site for more information and to purchase tickets or subscriptions

Gustavo Dudamel will lead the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela in two fully-staged performance of Verdi's La traviata on July 18 and 20 at the Teatro Teresa Carreño.  Opera features prominently in the Maestro's schedule over the coming months: he leads the the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a concert performance of Bizet's Carmen at the Hollywood Bowl on August 1, and at the end of October he opens a new production of the same opera at Milan's renowned Teatro alla Scala. 

In the week following the performances of La traviata in Caracas, Dudamel conducts the Bolívars in two ballet galas at the Teatro Teresa Carreño as part of the Festival Viva Nebrada.  During these performances, pieces by four young Venezuelan choreographers will be premiered (July 24 and 25).

Visit the web site for the Teatro Teresa Carreño for more information on the performances of La traviata and the Festival Viva Nebrada

Visit La Scala’s web site for more information on the performances of Carmen in October and November

This September Gustavo Dudamel performs concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic in Lucerne, Switzerland and at the orchestra's home in Vienna, the Musikverein.  Dudamel and the orchestra then fly to the United States for a concert at the Norton Center for the Arts in Danville, Kentucky and for two performances at New York City's Carnegie Hall. 

The program for the concerts on September 17 in Lucerne and October 3 in New York includes Brahms's Tragic Overture, Schumann's Cello Concert in A Minor, and Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World".  In New York, the soloist for the Schumann will be the legendary Yo-Yo Ma; in Lucerne, it will the young German-French cellist Nicolas Altstaedt. 

Works to be performed on the Lucerne concert on September 18, the Vienna concerts on September 23 and 24, and the New York concert on October 2 include Rossini's Overture to La Gazza Ladra, Orbon's Tres Versiones Sinfónica, Bernstein's Divertimento for Symphonic Band, and Ravel's Pavane pour une infante defunte and Bolero.

Click here for Gustavo Dudamel’s complete schedule and for links to purchase tickets

Dudamel makes three appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl this summer.  On August 1 he will conduct a concert version of Bizet's Carmen, with Natasha Petrinksy singing the title role.  On August 3 Dudamel will lead the orchestra in a program that includes Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, with pianist Gabriela Montero, and selections from Bernstein's On the Town. For his final Hollywood Bowl concert of the summer on August 5, he and the orchestra will perform an international selection of works that includes Ravel's beloved Bolero. Maestro Dudamel has a special connection to the Hollywood Bowl. The Venezuelan conductor made his U.S. debut in September 2005 in a concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the iconic outdoor venue.  The August performances will mark the first time he has performed at the venue since October 2009, when he led the orchestra in his first concert as Music Director.

Last week Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela were in Sweden for a residency with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.  In addition to performances by both orchestra under the baton of Maestro Dudamel, the residency included seminars on El Sistema and using music education to enact social change in Sweden.  On June 7, Dudamel led members of both orchestras in a joint performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.  A video from this concert is available here.

The Bolívars’s European tour continued this week with concerts in St. Petersburg and Moscow, where Dudamel led the orchestra in programs that included Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4, Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, and works by Latin American composers.  Further stops along the tour include in Warsaw (June 20), Athens (June 23), and Granada (June 25).

To coincide with the tour, Deutsche Grammophon has released Rite, an all-new recording of Stravinsky and Revueltas with Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.  As a counterpart to the iconic Stravinsky work on this album, The Rite of Spring, Dudamel has programmed the lesser-known La noche de los Mayas (The Night of the Mayas) by the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas.

Click here to buy Rite on Amazon
Click here to download Rite on iTunes
Read more about the tour and see pictures from the concerts on the FESNOJIV web site

This week Dudamel returns to Gothenburg for three weeks of season-ending concerts with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.  On May 27 and 28, Dudamel leads the orchestra in Mozart's monumental Great Mass in C minor.  The concerts on June 3 and 6 feature Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar's Serenade for Orchestra and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5.

From June 6 through 9, the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela comes to Gothenburg for a residency with the GSO.  On June 7, Gustavo Dudamel will lead the two orchestras in a joint concert that includes works by two South American composers, Teresa Carreno and Alberto Ginastera, as well as Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.  On June 9, Dudamel will lead the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela in Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4.  In addition to the performances, the residency will include seminars on El Sistema and on using music education to enact social change in Sweden.

Watch a video of Dudamel's rehearsals this week with the GSO

Visit the Gothenburg Symphony web site for more information and to purchase tickets

On Sunday, May 16 Gustavo Dudamel was featured on CBS's "60 Minutes" as part of a segment on El Sistema-based programs in the U.S.  This marks the third time Dudamel has been featured on the weekly Emmy award-winning news program.  

In the segment, Dudamel speaks with correspondent Bob Simon about the impact of Venezuela’s El Sistema program on his life, helping underserved communities in LA through the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA), and his ambitious plans for music education in America.

Click here to watch the segment on "60 Minutes"

Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic kick off their first U.S. tour together this week with concerts in San Francisco (May 10 & 11), Phoenix (May 12), Chicago (May 14), and Nashville (May 15).  To coincide with the performances, Deutsche Grammophon has released an iTunes-exclusive live recording of John Adams’ City Noir from Dudamel’s Inaugural Concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in October 2009.  The work, which is inspired by the Southern California city, is also programmed on many of the tour concerts.

Click here to buy City Noir on iTunes

Click here to follow Gustavo and the LA Phil on their tour blog

Shortly following the release of City Noir, Deutsche Grammophon will release Rite, an all-new recording of Stravinsky and Revueltas with Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.  As a counterpart to the iconic Stravinsky work on this album—his Le Sacre du Printemps, or The Rite of Spring—Dudamel has programmed the lesser-known La noche de los Mayas (Night of the Maya) by the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas.  The recording is currently available for pre-order on Amazon and will be released in the U.S. on June 1.

Click here to pre-order Rite on Amazon

To celebrate the tour and the two new releases, DG is giving away two free tracks from Dudamel’s past recordings on the yellow label.  They are the first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and the “Trepak” from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker.  Both tracks are also featured on the compilation disc Discoveries, which was released last autumn.  Go to www.gustavodudamel.com/freedownload to take part in this limited-time offer.*

*Free download is available only within the U.S.

Earlier this month, Gustavo Dudamel led a campus residency at the prestigious American research university MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  As part of his residency, which was a result of his being named the recipient of the 2010 Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts at MIT, Dudamel conducted the MIT Symphony Orchestra in an open rehearsal and participated in a panel discussion on musical education and its social implications with MIT professors John Harbison and Tod Machover and journalist Maria Hinojosa, who moderated the conversation.

Watch the complete panel discussion with Gustavo Dudamel, John Harbison, Tod Machover, and Maria Hinojosa

Read one MIT Symphony Orchestra member’s account of the open rehearsal with Gustavo Dudamel

View a photo slideshow from Dudamel’s campus residency

Watch Dudamel conduct the MIT Symphony Orchestra in an open rehearsal