The Score | Star Maestro

Conductor Gustavo Dudamel has racked up a lot of honors in the decade since he was named music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, but on January 22 he received what might be the ultimate Tinseltown accolade: he got his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Dudamel joins more than 2,600 stars on the 1.5-mile stretch of sidewalk at the heart of Hollywood Boulevard that draws 10 million visitors per year. Alphabetically, the placement of Dudamel’s name says a lot about the nature of celebrity in Hollywood: he is nestled between Duck, Donald and veteran character actor Duff, Howard. Though classical-music figures are few on the Walk of Fame—Leonard Bernstein, Leopold Stokowski, and Igor Stravinsky number among them—former Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Zubin Mehta got his star in 2011. Joining Rana Ghadban, president and CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, to unveil Dudamel’s star in January were actor Helen Hunt and conductor and film composer John Williams.