Next week Gustavo Dudamel kicks off the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra’s 2010/11 season—the Meastro’s fourth as its Music Director—with concerts of Mahler's "Tragic" Sixth Symphony.  The opening night is on Thursday, September 2nd, with further performances on the 3rd and 4th.  Dudamel’s decision to program this work to open the GSO season is especially appropriate this year, as 2010 marks the 150th anniversary of Mahler’s birth.

Visit the GSO website for more info

Four conductors from around the world have been chosen to participate in the  2010/11 Dudamel Fellowship Program. Each of the four fellows have established themselves as leaders in their musical communities.  The fellowship will provide them with a unique opportunity to develop their craft and enrich their musical experience through personal mentorship and participation in the LA Phil’s orchestral, education, and community programs. This years fellows are Manuel Lopez (Venezuela), Jean-Michaël Lavoie (Canada), Joshua Weilerstein (United States), and David Afkham (Germany).

Starting in the 2010/11 season, the fellows will have a chance to work alongside Dudamel and musicians of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and collaborate with students on key LA Phil education programs. The program for each of the fellows will run separately for approximately four-to-six weeks each.  The fellows will hone their skills through observation and application, including the opportunity to lead Los Angeles Philharmonic youth concerts at Walt Disney Concert Hall, conducting Los Angeles Philharmonic Neighborhood Concerts, participating as a cover conductor, and serving as mentors through participation in LA Phil education programs including YOLA.

Created in 2009 by Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil, the Dudamel Fellowship program was launched in conjunction with Dudamel’s inaugural season as Music Director of the orchestra.

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As part of its continued partnership with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Classical KUSC radio will broadcast Gustavo Dudamel’s three recent performances with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl—his first Bowl subscription concerts as Music Director—beginning on August 28.  

The first of Dudamel’s concerts that will be aired is his performance of Bizet’s Carmen.  Recorded live on August 1, the occasion marked the Venezuelan Maestro’s U.S. opera debut.  On September 4 KUSC will broadcast Dudamel’s concert from August 3: a program that included Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, performed with Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero, and selections from Bernstein's On the Town.  The final of the three Dudamel-led concerts, which featured an international selection of musical works including Ravel's beloved Bolero, will air on September 7.

The concerts will be broadcast throughout much of Southern California on 91.5 Classical KUSC, 88.5 KPSC in Palm Springs, 91.1 KDSC in Thousand Oaks, 99.7 KESC in Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo, and 88.7 KQSC in Santa Barbara. The programs can also be heard online at KUSC.org, and each concert will be available for online streaming for one week following the broadcast.

Visit the Classical KUSC website for more information

Last Sunday Gustavo Dudamel made his U.S. opera debut leading the LA Phil in a concert version of Bizet’s Carmen at the Hollywood Bowl.  Although this was his first operatic appearance in the States, Dudamel has already gained a reputation for his work in the genre at theaters including Milan’s Teatro alla Scala—where he has conducted performances of Don Giovanni and La bohème—and Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden.  Last month the Maestro led a production of Verdi’s La traviata at the Teatro Teresa Carreño in Caracas, and this October he returns to La Scala to preside over a production of Carmen.

Read the LA Times review of Carmen at the Hollywood Bowl

Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic kick off the second season of their partnership on October 7 with an opening-night gala concert featuring the renowned Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez. But before he opens the LA Phil’s regular season at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Dudamel makes three appearances during the first week of August with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl.  For his first concert on August 1, he conducts a concert version of Bizet's Carmen with the Austrian mezzo-soprano Natascha Petrinksy singing the title role.  On August 3 Dudamel leads the orchestra in a program that includes Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and selections from Bernstein's On the Town.  Gabriela Montero, a fellow Venezuelan, is the piano soloist for the Gershwin.  For his final Hollywood Bowl performance of the summer on August 5, he and the orchestra perform an international selection of works that includes Ravel's beloved Bolero. These concerts mark the first time Dudamel has conducted the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl since his first concert as Music Director last October.

In the 2010/11 season, momentum and initiatives of Dudamel’s inaugural season with the LA Phil continue with 12 new commissions, 9 world premieres, 5 U.S. premieres, 5 West Coast premieres, 2 composer-based festivals, a major European tour, and a series of artistic partnerships. The vibrancy of the season is further embodied by the expansion of YOLA (the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles), a spectrum of imaginative presentations, and the continuing tradition of introducing rising artists and composers.

Click here for more info on the Hollywood Bowl Concerts
Click here for more info on the LA Phil’s 2010/11 season and to subscribe
Read the LA Times’ preview of the LA Phil’s upcoming season

This September Gustavo Dudamel and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra open their 2010/11 season with concerts of Mahler's "Tragic" Sixth Symphony.  While Dudamel frequently performs works by Mahler, his selection of this piece to kick off his fourth season as Music Director of the GSO is especially appropriate since 2010 marks the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth.  The three performances of this program are on September 2, 3, and 4.

Other highlights of Dudamel’s upcoming season with the GSO include performances of Berg’s rarely heard Seven Early Songs and Stravinsky’s The Firebird in November, programs of Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto—played by Lars Vogt—and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 in March, and concerts of Prokofiev’s monumental Fifth Symphony in April.  Later in the spring, Dudamel and the GSO embark on a Scandinavian tour before returning home for concerts of Brahms and Nielsen.

Visit the GSO web site for more information and to purchase tickets or subscriptions

Gustavo Dudamel will lead the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela in two fully-staged performance of Verdi's La traviata on July 18 and 20 at the Teatro Teresa Carreño.  Opera features prominently in the Maestro's schedule over the coming months: he leads the the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a concert performance of Bizet's Carmen at the Hollywood Bowl on August 1, and at the end of October he opens a new production of the same opera at Milan's renowned Teatro alla Scala. 

In the week following the performances of La traviata in Caracas, Dudamel conducts the Bolívars in two ballet galas at the Teatro Teresa Carreño as part of the Festival Viva Nebrada.  During these performances, pieces by four young Venezuelan choreographers will be premiered (July 24 and 25).

Visit the web site for the Teatro Teresa Carreño for more information on the performances of La traviata and the Festival Viva Nebrada

Visit La Scala’s web site for more information on the performances of Carmen in October and November

This September Gustavo Dudamel performs concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic in Lucerne, Switzerland and at the orchestra's home in Vienna, the Musikverein.  Dudamel and the orchestra then fly to the United States for a concert at the Norton Center for the Arts in Danville, Kentucky and for two performances at New York City's Carnegie Hall. 

The program for the concerts on September 17 in Lucerne and October 3 in New York includes Brahms's Tragic Overture, Schumann's Cello Concert in A Minor, and Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World".  In New York, the soloist for the Schumann will be the legendary Yo-Yo Ma; in Lucerne, it will the young German-French cellist Nicolas Altstaedt. 

Works to be performed on the Lucerne concert on September 18, the Vienna concerts on September 23 and 24, and the New York concert on October 2 include Rossini's Overture to La Gazza Ladra, Orbon's Tres Versiones Sinfónica, Bernstein's Divertimento for Symphonic Band, and Ravel's Pavane pour une infante defunte and Bolero.

Click here for Gustavo Dudamel’s complete schedule and for links to purchase tickets

Dudamel makes three appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl this summer.  On August 1 he will conduct a concert version of Bizet's Carmen, with Natasha Petrinksy singing the title role.  On August 3 Dudamel will lead the orchestra in a program that includes Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, with pianist Gabriela Montero, and selections from Bernstein's On the Town. For his final Hollywood Bowl concert of the summer on August 5, he and the orchestra will perform an international selection of works that includes Ravel's beloved Bolero. Maestro Dudamel has a special connection to the Hollywood Bowl. The Venezuelan conductor made his U.S. debut in September 2005 in a concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the iconic outdoor venue.  The August performances will mark the first time he has performed at the venue since October 2009, when he led the orchestra in his first concert as Music Director.

Last week Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela were in Sweden for a residency with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.  In addition to performances by both orchestra under the baton of Maestro Dudamel, the residency included seminars on El Sistema and using music education to enact social change in Sweden.  On June 7, Dudamel led members of both orchestras in a joint performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.  A video from this concert is available here.

The Bolívars’s European tour continued this week with concerts in St. Petersburg and Moscow, where Dudamel led the orchestra in programs that included Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4, Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, and works by Latin American composers.  Further stops along the tour include in Warsaw (June 20), Athens (June 23), and Granada (June 25).

To coincide with the tour, Deutsche Grammophon has released Rite, an all-new recording of Stravinsky and Revueltas with Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.  As a counterpart to the iconic Stravinsky work on this album, The Rite of Spring, Dudamel has programmed the lesser-known La noche de los Mayas (The Night of the Mayas) by the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas.

Click here to buy Rite on Amazon
Click here to download Rite on iTunes
Read more about the tour and see pictures from the concerts on the FESNOJIV web site