The apparently departing music director has gone to great lengths to reassure the West Coast that, whatever happens in New York, home stays home. From an interview with Mark Swed of the LA Times:
“I was talking to a friend yesterday,” Dudamel told me, “and I said, ‘L.A. is home.’ I am going to New York, of course, but L.A. is home.”
In his first dozen years as music director of the L.A. Phil, he happily cruised L.A. in his Aston Martin convertible, delighting in its diversity of neighborhoods. He knows all the good restaurants. He has many Angeleno friends from many walks of life. He loves Hollywood and movies. Our climate reminds him of Caracas. His son was born here, and he learned L.A. as a father….
“It’s not like I have a relation with the orchestra and then say goodbye,” he said. “No, no, no. This is something that we have been building for 15 years.” And he has no intention of it not continuing well into the future.
“There has been an evolution, and maybe there can now be a space for creating new things. Of course, I am wishing that what is the best orchestra will find the best decision for a music director.”…
To that end, he is already making post-music director plans for L.A. in 2027 and 2028. He wants to return four weeks a year. including a week at the Bowl. He also has proposed joint projects between the L.A. Phil and the New York Philharmonic, just as he has united YOLA with young players around the world, creating a giant international family of future musicians.
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