The conductor has enjoyed a clear run until now. As music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 18 years he enjoyed the confidence of the musicians and the adulation of a star-struck audience. The New York Philharmonic awaits him keenly next year. Even the blip of a two-year attachment to the Paris Opera passed without reputational harm.
The problem is, always was, Venezuela. Dudamel’s lastest tour with the military regime’s Sistema orchestra attracted more hostile comment than anything he has experienced. Venezuela is a pariah state, where elections are faked and opponents exiled or killed. Dudamel has kept renewing his association with the country and can no longer dodge the consequences.
In his mid-40s, the wear and tear is starting to show. He is going grey, almost white in the last night’s pics (below). He needs to reconfigure his position on Venezuela. He cannot afford for the world to think that when Caracas calls, he jumps.
Happy birthday, Gustavo.
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