DUDAMEL’S FAREWELL
BECOMES A HOMECOMING

For his final Bowl concert as LA Phil
Music & Artistic Director, Gustavo Dudamel
turns the spotlight toward Venezuela

Gustavo at The Bowl

What was originally planned as a celebration of Gustavo Dudamel and his extraordinary years with the Los Angeles Philharmonic has become something considerably more urgent.

On Sunday, August 23, Dudamel conducts his final Hollywood Bowl concert as Music & Artistic Director of the LA Phil with A Concert for Venezuela, a benefit for communities affected by the devastating June 24 earthquakes in northern Venezuela. The evening replaces the previously announced Celebrating Gustavo at the Bowl: A Musical Legacy, transforming what might have been primarily a farewell to Dudamel into a musical response to the crisis in the country where he was born and raised.

And it is quite a gathering.

Dudamel leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic alongside members of YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles) and a cross-genre roster of guests that includes Beck, GIVĒON, Carlos Vives, Natalia Lafourcade, Chris Martin, Meme del Real of Café Tacvba, Eduardo Betancourt, Jorge Glem, Lasso, Moisés Torrealba, Adria Duque, Ernesto Laya, Elvis Martinez, Nella and Gregorio Nieto.

The program celebrates Venezuela’s musical heritage, including works by Venezuelan composers alongside performances by the evening’s guest artists. There is something particularly fitting about YOLA taking part. Dudamel’s relationship with the LA Phil has always been closely associated with music education and with YOLA, which was inspired by Venezuela’s El Sistema—the program in which Dudamel himself began making music as a child.

A demolished building with a car displaying ‘Here we go with God’ in Spanish on the side window, in Caraballeda after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Venezuela. The main quake was followed by a 7.5-magnitude aftershock less than a minute later. (Photograph: Edilzon Gamez/Getty Images)

The circumstances behind the concert, however, are anything but celebratory. Donations raised by the event will support earthquake relief and recovery through the United Nations Development Programme and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF), including assistance for El Sistema students, staff, families and facilities affected by the earthquakes. Dudamel and the musicians of the Los Angeles Philharmonic are contributing their time, while the LA Phil has announced a $50,000 charitable donation toward relief efforts.

People look at a wall with the photos of missing people at Parque Ali Primera. A newly created webpage has registered almost 50,000 missing people. (Photograph: Jesús Vargas/Getty Images)

For those who cannot get to the Bowl, this farewell will reach considerably farther than Highland Avenue. A Concert for Venezuela will stream live worldwide exclusively on Dudamel’s YouTube channel beginning at 7 p.m. Pacific/10 p.m. Eastern. A donation button will be available during the livestream, and the complete concert will remain available on demand afterward.

The change in plans gives Dudamel’s final Bowl appearance in his current position an unexpected resonance. Rather than simply looking back at his tenure in Los Angeles, the conductor is using the occasion to look toward the country that formed him—and to enlist the orchestra, fellow musicians and an international audience in helping it recover.

As Dudamel puts it, “Venezuela will always be my home.” On August 23, for one final night of his LA Phil tenure at the Hollywood Bowl, he is bringing that home to Los Angeles.

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A Concert for Venezuela
Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Los Angeles Philharmonic with YOLA and special guests
Hollywood Bowl, 2301 Highland Ave. in Los Angeles
Sun. August 23 at 7
livestream: 7 PT / 10 ET on Gustavo Dudamel’s YouTube channel
(full concert will be available for replay)
for tickets, call 323.850.2000 or visit Hollywood Bowl

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