Gustavo Dudamel: The Power of Music

What It Takes®

Academy of Achievement

Film, Politics, Arts, Self-help, Sports, Society & Culture, Success, Literature, Humanitarian, Military, Social Justice, Technology, Podcast, Achievement, Music, Science

4.6 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 22 February 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When he was just 26 years old, Gustavo Dudamel arrived from Venezuela to become conductor and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He immediately became one of the world's most beloved figures in classical music. He's collaborated with pop stars (including Billie Eilish, Nas and Christina Aguilera). He's played the Super Bowl half-time show. He even the model for the main character in the hit tv series "Mozart in the Jungle". Sixteen years later, after making an enormous mark on the LA Phil and the city of LA, Gustavo Dudamel is preparing to move east, as music director and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic. He talks here about coming up as a musician and a budding conductor in "El Sistema", Venezuela's classical music training ground for children of all backgrounds. He describes conducting his toy figurines while listening to the world's greatest orchestras, before he even understood what conductors actually do. And he shares his love of music - all music - and his work to erase boundaries between audiences.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, it's Alice. If Gustavo Doudamel wielded an electric guitar instead of a conductor's baton,
0:07.6	he'd be one of the biggest rock stars in history.
0:18.9	For 16 years, Dutemel has been the music and artistic director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic,
0:26.0	otherwise known as the L.A. Phil.
0:29.1	That means he's the head conductor and part of the leadership team with a long-term vision for the orchestra.
0:53.4	Music team with a long-term vision for the orchestra. Sometimes fans scream when they see Dutemel and his trademark curly mop, particularly when he's collaborating with literal rock stars, like Gwen Stefani, Common or Coldplay, Natalie LaFrecade, or Billy Eilish. He has successfully taken classical music off
1:14.6	its pedestal, but it's not just schick. For Gustavo Dutamel, music has always been fluid
1:21.3	since his earliest days growing up in Venezuela. I was listening to Beethoven, to all of this, but at the same time I was listening
1:29.5	to boleros, to all of these Latin music or folk music from Venezuela.
1:35.2	So I think it was very natural.
1:37.2	You know, the musical atmosphere at my house at home, it was very mixed, you know, because it was nothing like, you know, if you listen to Beethoven,
1:49.0	you cannot listen to pop music or you cannot listen to rock or to Latin music, no. It was kind of very natural.
1:56.0	As my father was studying Mallor first symphony. He was playing, you know,
2:02.6	Ector Labour, salsa music, so Fania music.
2:06.8	So this was the big, I think it is a gift for me.
2:12.0	It was a gift, you know, that I had that opportunity to be surrounded by all of that
2:17.1	and not being, you know, push in only one way.
2:20.4	Earlier this month, Gustavo Dutamel received his sixth and seventh Grammy Awards,
2:26.7	best orchestral performance and best classical compendium. Both were for the recording
2:32.3	you're hearing behind me, Revolution Diamantina,
2:36.2	by a contemporary Mexican composer named Gabriella Ortiz.
3:09.3	Music Billboard recently said that Gustavo Dutamel has done more to make classical music accessible than any conductor since Leonard Bernstein.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Academy of Achievement, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Academy of Achievement and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.