How conductor Gustavo Dudamel communicates his love of music to audiences
Conductor Gustavo Dudamel communicates his love of music to the audience and his orchestra
On a quiet Friday morning, the day after Thanksgiving, Gustavo Dudamel strolled on to the stage at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, where his orchestra was already warming up. Carrying a stack of music books, and wearing a brown T-shirt and jeans, he uttered a brief good morning to the musicians and launched straight into rehearsals.
Over the next two-and-a-half hours, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's famed music director bantered and laughed with his colleagues, and wielded the baton like it had life of its own - crouching low, stretching high, and flexing and thrusting as if he were a dancer, as if the music lived inside him.
"I hosted a concert series when he was a guest conductor here, years ago, and I was so, so excited about him I almost wanted to say to the audience, 'You are in for a treat'," says Bing Wang, who is the associate concertmaster of the LA Phil. "But I held back because I didn't want to be inappropriate."
Wang's reaction remains a typical one. Dudamel, 33, has a mystique that eludes most conductors, even the seasoned ones, and draws audiences the world over as much as the repertoire. He took over as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in September 2009, succeeding Esa-Pekka Salonen, and has had his contract renewed till the end of the 2018-2019 season - the 100th anniversary of the Philharmonic.
Under his tenure, the LA Phil has been reinvigorated and re-energised. Their relationship is, he says, "a happy marriage".
Hong Kong audiences will have their first opportunity to see Dudamel when he makes his Asian debut with the LA Phil as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival in March. The orchestra will play two consecutive nights at the Cultural Centre.
