Gustavo Dudamel

Music & Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Walt and Lilly Disney Chair

Gustavo Dudamel is committed to creating a better world through music.

His belief in art’s power to inspire and transform lives fuels his unifying presence on and off the podium, his commitment to education and access for underserved communities, and his mission to expand the reach of classical music. His rise, from humble beginnings as a child in Venezuela to an unparalleled career of artistic and social achievements, offers living proof that culture can bring meaning to the life of an individual and greater harmony to the world at large. He currently serves as the Music & Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. In the 2025–26 season Gustavo Dudamel becomes the Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Music and Artistic Director Designate of the New York Philharmonic before becoming the Orchestra’s Music and Artistic Director in September 2026, continuing a legacy that includes Gustav Mahler, Arturo Toscanini, and Leonard Bernstein. Throughout 2025 Dudamel celebrates the 50th anniversary of El Sistema, honoring the global impact of José Antonio Abreu’s visionary education program across five generations.

From appearances from the United Nations and the White House in the United States to the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Sweden, Dudamel has served as a passionate advocate for music education and social integration through art, sharing his own experience in Venezuela’s El Sistema program as an example of how music can give a sense of purpose. In 2007 Dudamel, the LA Phil, and its community partners founded YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles), which now provides more than 1,700 young people with free instruments, music instruction, academic support, and leadership training, while also welcoming them to YOLA’s purpose-built, Frank Gehry-designed facility, the Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center at Inglewood. In 2012 Dudamel launched the Dudamel Foundation — which he co-chairs with his wife, actress and director María Valverde — with the goal of expanding access to music and the arts for young people by providing tools and opportunities to shape their creative futures. The Dudamel Foundation has hosted its Encuentros initiatives around the world, from Spain to the Hollywood Bowl, as a way to explore cultural unity and celebrate harmony, equality, dignity, beauty, and respect through music.

As a conductor, Dudamel is one of the few classical musicians to become a bona fide pop-culture phenomenon and has worked tirelessly to ensure that music reaches an ever-greater audience. In 2025 he leads the LA Phil in two performances at Coachella, marking the first time a major orchestra has performed at the festival. In 2024 Dudamel was the first classical musician to be featured on the cover of Billboard. He was the first classical artist to participate in the Super Bowl halftime show and the youngest conductor ever to lead the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Day Concert. He has performed at global mainstream events, from the Academy Awards to the Olympics, and has worked with musical icons like Billie Eilish, Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin, Gwen Stefani, Coldplay, and Nas. Dudamel conducted the score to Steven Spielberg’s new adaptation of West Side Story, and at John Williams’s personal request, he guest conducted the opening and closing credits of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. His film and television appearances include Sesame Street, The Simpsons, Mozart in the Jungle, Trolls World Tour, and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. A documentary on his life titled ¡Viva Maestro! was released in 2022, and in 2019 Dudamel was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

"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 continue to scale 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.

Gustavo Dudamel was born in 1981 in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. His father was a trombonist and his mother a voice teacher, and he grew up listening to music and conducting his toys to old recordings. He began violin lessons as a child but was drawn to conducting from an early age. As a member of his youth orchestra, he put down his violin and picked up the baton when the conductor was running late. He studied conducting with Rodolfo Saglimbeni, and in 1996 was named Music Director of the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, where José Antonio Abreu spotted his talent and became his mentor. In 1999 Dudamel was appointed Music Director of the Simón Bolívar Youth Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, composed of El Sistema graduates. He gained international attention when he won the inaugural Bamberger Symphoniker Gustav Mahler Competition in 2004. He went on to become Music Director of the Gothenburg Symphony (2007–12), of which he now holds the title of Honorary Conductor. Dudamel’s talent was widely recognized, notably by other prominent conductors of the day, but it was the Los Angeles Philharmonic that took the initiative in 2007 to sign the then 26-year-old Dudamel as Music Director, beginning in the 2009–10 season. Dudamel also held the position of Music Director of the Paris Opéra from 2021 to 2023, leading acclaimed productions of Puccini’s Turandot and Tosca, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, and John Adams’s Nixon in China, adding to an extensive operatic resume that includes more than 30 staged, semi-staged, and concert productions around the world.

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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.

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

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.

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.