14 May 2004
Venezuelan director won Mahler Conducting Competition
(The Independent) - "Wanted: great conductor in the making. Must have... what? Musicianship, technique, command, obviously, but that's not enough. And though the first Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition, held in Bamberg, Germany, didn't exactly lift the veil on the requirements, it gave pause for thought - and, in the process, found a winner of such calibre that I'd lay money on his prospects.

Conducting competitions aren't renowned for finding stars, so this was lucky for a first-time event designed around the Bamberger Symphoniker (…) On home territory, it is now ranked among the top five German symphonies, but it remains little known abroad (…)

A governing idea behind it all was that conducting isn't only about beating time and bowing to the audience: 90 per cent of the job takes place unseen by the paying public. It's called rehearsal. And the Mahler Competition is entirely based on rehearsal technique, with a final public concert that only happens after the winner has been selected (…)".

The winner was Gustavo Dudamel "which is the name to remember, because he won the €20,000 first prize. And not by default but with conspicuous brilliance. (…) Dudamel runs a youth orchestra in Venezuela and seems to have picked up exactly the right experience in the process. His technique was sharp, efficient, focused, with an easy self-assurance. And he had the mystery ingredients: vision and charisma".

About Gustavo Dudamel
According to Askonas Holt, one of the world's leading concert management agencies, that announced the general management of Gustavo Dudamel:
"Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel is an accomplished violinist and composer and since 1999 Musical Director of the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. In addition, he recently became Music Director of the Youth Orchestra of the Andean Countries (La Orquesta Sinfónica de Juventudes de los Países Andinos - C.A.F.)

In his position as musical director of the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, he has conducted regularly both at home and abroad. In 2002 performances included a concert at the UN General Assembly dedicated to the UNICEF Children's Summit in New York and a Remembrance Mass for Giuseppe Sinopoli at the Basilica of Saint Mark's in Venice. In the Autumn of 2002 he travelled with the ensemble throughout Germany on the invitation of the German Family Minister, under the patronage of the Jeunesse Musicales Germany, giving concerts in the Cologne Philharmonie, Düsseldorf Tonhalle, Berlin Philharmonie, the Dresden Kreuzkirche and other presigious venues. In 2003 Gustavo Dudamel also appeared with the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela in concert at the Beethoven-Fest Bonn.

Dudamel was born in 1981 in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. He studied violin at the Jacinto Lara Conservatory with José Luis Jiménez and since then has been studying with José Francisco del Castillo at the Latin American Academy of Violin. In 1996 he began his conducting studies with Rodolfo Saglimbeni and during that same year he was named Music Director of the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra. In 1999 he began his conducting studies with José Antonio Abreu".

More information at: Askonas Holt website:
http://www.askonasholt.co.uk/