Gustavo Dudamel and pianist Lang Lang at a recent performance by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Photo by Farah Sosa/LA Phil.
In Friday’s (10/4) Billboard, Leila Cobo writes, “Gustavo Dudamel is the closest thing to a rock star the classical music world has…. After nearly two decades [as Music and Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic], Dudamel hobnobs with the likes of Chris Martin and John Williams, is close friends with Frank Gehry (who designed the stunning Walt Disney Concert Hall, the L.A. Phil’s home that opened a little over 20 years ago) and counts … dozens of pop world luminaries who’ve guested under his baton. He has won five Grammy Awards (including, this year, best orchestral performance for the L.A. Phil’s recording of composer Thomas Adès’ Dante) and placed nine albums at No. 1 on Billboard’s Traditional Classical Albums chart…. From the end of August to mid-September, Dudamel conducted Strauss with the Vienna Philharmonic in Salzburg, Austria, and then flew to Los Angeles where, including the two Marvel shows, he led the L.A. Phil in nine concerts … plus two evenings of contemporary Latin music with Mexican pop/folk singer Natalia Lafourcade…. [He will conduct] the L.A. Phil on Oct. 8 at the opening night of Carnegie Hall’s 2024-25 season in New York…. ‘He connects the orchestra with different kinds of music, collaborating with artists [in other genres] with which we wouldn’t typically perform,’ L.A. Phil president/CEO Kim Noltemy says.”
