Gustavo Dudamel is all the RAGE!

Since last years announcement that Gustavo Dudamel will be taking over the reigns of the renowned LA Philharmonic as the existing Essa Pekka Salonen humbly obliges this new move, Gustavo has not ceased to impress and continues his tour of the world. The orchestra's first tour with its charismatic new conductor gets off to a rousing start at Davies Symphony Hall. Just as he has bewitched Los Angeles audiences since becoming music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic last fall, so the charismatic 28-year-old conductor has quickly brought Bay Area audiences under his spell. A pair of sold-out concerts in San Francisco on Monday and Tuesday evenings marked the launch of Dudamel's inaugural tour as music director of the Philharmonic, the orchestra's first national tour in almost a decade. If audience reactions to Monday's performance are anything to go by, the Philharmonic will be returning home later this month after completing its all-but-sold-out 10-concert journey with eight cities full of Dudamel devotees in its wake.


The audience didn't wait for the end of the concert to show its appreciation for the visiting group and its conductor, who has appeared on the same podium two times previously — with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra in 2007 and the San Francisco Symphony in 2008. Dudamel first arrived on stage Monday amid rapturous applause and yells of "Gustavo!" During the slow sections of the second movement of the symphony, some audience members nodded their heads and even swayed slightly as if hearing a lullaby. As is his habit, the conductor led Mahler's work without the aid of the score.


The Adams piece, a kinetic ode to the city of Los Angeles featuring stampeding percussion and careening solos for the trumpet and alto saxophone written especially for Dudamel's inaugural concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall last fall, had some people sitting at the edge of their seats. This included concertgoers David Lomeli and Leah Crocetto, respectively a tenor and soprano with the San Francisco's Opera's Adler Fellowship program, one of the country's top opera training institutions. The rising opera stars both performed under Dudamel's baton in a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem Mass with the L.A. Philharmonic in November.


It is quite apparent that this gifted man is surely pressing his talent on the masses, however not all are taking a liking to his conducting. As stated from the critique on his performance from some local San Francisco radio station, "we don't know if his take on Mahler is something of his own or if it's just him still trying to iron out the kinks with the group as a whole." Surely this young energetic phenom has taking the Classical music world by storm, but to what extent does hype overshadow the nature of the music? We will have to humbly wait ourselves and see if Gustavo can withstand the high expectations that LA has come to bestow upon its celebrities. I can only wait and hope that Gustavo remains true to his roots and does not get burnt out from the constant invitations coming from the world, and hones in on his talent to another level here in LA.