Dudamel

According to Sir Simon Rattle, Gustavo Dudamel is the most important thing happening in music today—so important that he brought the 26-year-old conductor and his Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela (SBYOV) to Carnegie Hall as part of Berlin in Lights.

Rattle has lauded Dudamel as “the most astonishingly gifted conductor I have ever come across,” and anyone who has seen him conduct the SBYOV can see why. His dark curly mane personifies Dudamel, a whirlwind of addictively refreshing energy that sparks and guides this talented group of South American musicians, all under the age of 19.

The intimacy of the SBYOV is that of family, one that Dudamel, himself Venezuelan, joined as a young boy. With a sparkle in his animated brown eyes, Dudamel describes the SBYOV, whose members he calls his “brothers and sisters,” as the “final stage” of el sistema—a music-education program (like none the United States has ever seen) launched by petroleum economist and conductor José Antonio Abreu—which has given a quarter of a million underprivileged children the gift of music and has literally, in some cases, replaced a weapon in a youngster’s hands with a violin.

This invaluable part of Venezuela’s cultural life has caught the eye of many around the world, including Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker, who have developed a mentorship with the SBYOV and Dudamel in recent years. As a result of this close relationship, Dudamel and Venezuela's finest young musicians came to Carnegie Hall for the unprecedented monthlong Berlin in Lights festival, which includes an eight-day residency by the Berliner Philharmoniker and its chamber ensembles. In harmony with Carnegie Hall’s own devotion to community education, the musicians of SBVYO themselves gave back to America's youth, performing at Neighborhood Concert venues throughout the city.

As the face of SBYOV, Dudamel could not be a better fit; his dimpled grin is as contagious as the el sistema concept itself. He conducts with the natural spontaneity and wonderment of hearing each piece for the first time, as he exchanges musical energy with his fellow Venezuelan brothers and sisters, an electrifying give-and-take for both musician and audience.

What makes a great conductor is humility, Dudamel insists—an especially endearing quality, as he has much to be proud of. In 2009, he will join the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with whom he recently signed a five-year contract, as its Music Director. Dudamel’s recent performances at Carnegie Hall with the SBYOV gave New York its first sneak peek at this Venezuelan sensation and showed that we have a lot to learn from the children of South America.