Venezuelan superstar conductor to make PSO debut
Gustavo Dudamel was nervous, and he told the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as much.
Sure, Mr. Dudamel is arguably the most famous conductor alive. But until Wednesday, it had been several years since he had conducted an orchestra he didn’t know.
“For years, I haven’t made debuts with orchestras,” the 36year-old Venezuelan conductor said in an interview at Heinz Hall.
Perhaps it’s surprising to learn that someone who is in the spotlight as much as Mr. Dudamel can still get stage fright. He has conducted at the Super Bowl and the Hollywood Bowl, made the rounds on late-night talk shows, conducted music for “Star Wars,” stopped by Sesame Street and served as the inspiration for a character on Amazon’s show “Mozart in the Jungle.”
In that sense, he is something of a rare commodity these days. Fewer and fewer classical
music artists — the Renee Flemings and the Yo-Yo Mas of the world — have enough star power to connect with a general audience. But for more than a decade, Mr. Dudamel, who rose through Venezuela’s music education program to become the leader of the Los Angeles Philharmonic while he was still in his 20s, has captured the attention of the classical music world, and beyond.
Mr. Dudamel had watched a video of the PSO performing at the Berlin Philharmonie with music director Manfred Honeck and was impressed with what he heard.
“I knew it already because this is an orchestra of great tradition, of great conductors,” Mr. Dudamel said, wearing blue jeans and gray Converse sneakers, his distinctive black curly hair now flecked with gray. “For me, it was like, it would be great one day to conduct the Pittsburgh orchestra.”
He would soon have his chance. Last month, the PSO was looking to fill the hole left by German conductor Christoph von Dohnanyi, who had to withdraw from this weekend’s performances because of an injury. Mr. Dudamel, also known as “The Dude,” had a rare week off in his schedule following a European tour with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra.
“One of the first orchestras that I worked with was the Philharmonia when [Mr. Dohnanyi] was the music director, and my first time that I was there was a replacement, also,” said Mr. Dudamel. “So I see things as key moments of my life. I remem-ber that my replacement with the Philharmonia was my very first big concert, and I started to conduct everywhere. Maybe this is a point to do also new things.”
Mr. Honeck said Mr. Dudamel’s What: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra with Gustavo Dudamel, conductor When: 8 p.m. Friday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday Where: Heinz Hall, Downtown Tickets: $20-$94, 412-3924900 or www.pittsburghsymphony.org. willingness to take on the gig reveals something about the PSO, too.
“It shows that the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra who has enormous reputation, and is one of the world-class orchestras,” Mr. Honeck said.
The child of a trombonist and a voice teacher, Mr. Dudamel studied violin in El Sistema, Venezuela’s music education program, and has remained involved with youth programs in Venezuela and Los Angeles.
El Sistema is now a global movement. A group called El Sistema Pittsburgh hopes to launch similar initiatives here, said PSO assistant principal violist Joen Vasquez, who grew up in Venezuela and was one of the original coaches in El Sistema.
Although Mr. Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic are known for exploring contemporary music, this weekend’s program includes three pieces from the core repertoire: Strauss’ “Don Juan,” Wagner’s Overture to “Tannhauser” and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.
“It’s very avant-garde,” he said of Beethoven’s famous Fifth Symphony. “It’s kind of crazy when you do this piece. It’s not comfortable.
“It’s also a very important symbol for our times, because we are living in times of pessimism a lot, or times of conflict,” he said. “This piece is about faith and hope, and it’s important to do.”
Mr. Dudamel’s story, energetic conducting style and charismatic presence have made him one of the most recognizable artists in the classical music realm. His nerves at Heinz Hall notwithstanding, he has embraced that public role: Worried that classical music is boxed out from much of society, he welcomes opportunities to introduce classical music to a wide audience.
“If we want to keep doing what we’re doing and be in a box, of course, be sure this will die,” he said. “This will be like Egypt. People will visit the pyramids, and will see us as something really strange there. And it’s not like that. We have to be transformed all the time.”
Still, he insists his celebrity is tangential to the music-making.
“It is not the soul of what you are and what you do,” he said, adding, “I feel I am one musician more of the orchestra.”