Gustavo Dudamel, conductor

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 16 August 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

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Summary

Gustavo Dudamel is a Venezuelan conductor, violinist and composer. He is known for bringing humour and joy to the podium. He is currently director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra and in 2026 will take up the post of music director of the New York Philharmonic, following in the footsteps of Gustav Mahler and Leonard Bernstein.

Gustavo was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela in 1981, the son of a trombonist who played in a salsa band, and his mother who was a singing teacher. Growing up in a musical household, young Gustavo used to gather his toys together and put them on the floor in the shape of an orchestra, put a record on and conduct.

His parents enrolled five year old Gustavo in the El Sistema music programme and he learned the violin. After showing a flair for conducting he eventually became the conductor of the Venezuelan National Youth Orchestra.

After winning the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in Germany in 2004, his talent was spotted on a global stage. He was appointed the director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2008. Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Sarah Taylor

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:04.8	Hello, I'm Lauren Levern, and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast from BBC Radio 4.
0:09.6	Every week, I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury that they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island.
0:17.0	For rights reasons, the music's shorter than on the original broadcast, but you can find a version with longer music tracks on BBC Sounds.
0:24.4	Listeners will also get access to episodes 28 days earlier than everyone else.
0:28.8	I hope you enjoy listening. My castaway this week is the conductor Gustavo Dudamel. He's a music superstar whose popularity transcends traditional genre expectations.
0:59.7	As musical director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the past 17 years, nobody has done more to bring classical music to new audiences or to inspire young musicians.
1:10.4	He was born in Venezuela in 1981 and at the age of five joined El Sistema, the country's
1:16.2	youth music programme.
1:17.6	He first picked up the baton at 12 and became director of the LA Philharmonic just 14 years
1:23.1	later.
1:24.3	Under his leadership, the orchestra has, as well as exploring the classical canon, embraced collaborations with the pop world,
1:30.8	playing the Super Bowl halftime show and Cicello Festival, as well as introducing a US version of the program he grew up in.
1:38.1	Youth Orchestra Los Angeles reaches almost 2,000 young musicians in L.A. and many more nationwide.
1:44.6	His accolades include seven Grammys,
1:46.8	the America Society Cultural Achievement Award,
1:49.3	the Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award,
1:51.8	the Gish Prize, the gold medal for merit in fine arts from Spain,
1:55.1	and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1:58.1	At 44, he's about to begin a new chapter at the New York Philharmonic,
2:01.9	stepping up to the podium where Toscanini, Marla and Leonard Bernstein stood before him.
2:06.9	He says, I've made it my personal mission not to rest until music is truly a fundamental human
	...

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