Gustavo Dudamel Is Determined to Build Bridges Through Music

When Gustavo Dudamel returns to the New York Philharmonic this month, 22 years will have passed from when he became an international, in-demand artist with his seismic win at the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in Bamberg, Germany. During that time he has won nine Grammy Awards, conducted high-profile performances from the Oscars and the Super Bowl to Coachella and the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Concert, and traveled around the world while championing the importance of music being made available to all.

What has remained constant are the core values and artistic curiosities that drive him: a belief in composers working today to speak to our moment, a deep love of music’s timeless and timely power, a quiet confidence to take on ambitious projects, and an enduring hope that music can cross borders and build bridges of understanding. These attributes are evident in his March programs featuring the World Premiere of David Lang’s the wealth of nations and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, Eroica, paired with a new orchestral version of Rzewski’s The People United Will Never Be Defeated. They also inform the Philharmonic’s next chapter, when Dudamel will be the Orchestra’s Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Music & Artistic Director, beginning in the 2026–27 season, which plans are being announced this month.

You’ve often said music can unite North, South, and Central America, a theme that feels relevant to the Rzewski project, which has its roots in a Chilean protest song that was reimagined by an American in 1976, and is now being expanded for orchestra by 18 of today’s most compelling composers. How do you think about that goal of building bridges?

Gustavo Dudamel: For me, building bridges through music is not an abstract idea — it is a living responsibility. When I first came to the United States, I felt music could open doors. Today, I see even more clearly that it can also heal wounds and create shared space for dialogue across cultures. This goal has deepened with time, becoming less about symbolism and more about real human connection. Music can carry history without becoming trapped by it. Rzewski took a song born in a very specific political moment and placed it inside a musical structure that challenges us to listen deeply and critically to understand what truly unites us as human beings. By bringing that work into an orchestral space, the piece turns into a collective performance of shared remembrance and responsibility.

Each of the 18 composers contributing to this orchestral arrangement brings their own distinct style and voice. Does using multiple composers for the orchestral version build on the way that Rzewski’s original variations speak to that message?

Absolutely. Bringing together many composers in this way acknowledges that no single voice can fully contain the meaning of a piece like this. It becomes a conversation, shaped by many perspectives responding to the same ore material. That transformation reflects how ideas of unity and freedom evolve — not by losing their urgency, but by being reexamined through different lived experiences. What moved me most about the composers chosen for the Rzewski is not only their individual brilliance, but their willingness to enter into a shared act of listening and response. Each one brings a distinct language, shaped by different backgrounds and generations, yet all remain deeply respectful of the spirit of Rzewski’s original vision. Together, they forma musical community that mirrors the idea behind the piece itself: that many voices, when united, can speak with extraordinary strength.

Why is it important to you to invest in the composers of today and tomorrow?

Supporting new music is essential because composers are the storytellers of our present moment. When we give life to their work, we are saying that the concert hall is not only a monument to the past, but a platform for today’s questions, dreams, and challenges. Investing in young and living composers is an investment in the future imagination of our society.

You are pairing Rzewski with Beethoven’s Eroica. What about composers like Beethoven continues to resonate and take on new meaning?

Beethoven continues to speak to us because his music is never comfortable—it challenges, provokes, and insists on human dignity. Works like the Eroica remind us that the struggle for freedom, justice, and moral courage is ongoing. Each generation hears Beethoven a new because he wrote music for humanity for all time.

David Lang is a widely respected composer in the contemporary classical world (just last year the Philharmonic named him a Kravis PrizeWinner). What elements in his compositional styles peak to you?

David Lang has a clarity and honesty in his music that I deeply admire. There’s a fearlessness to his writing that strips things down to their essence, and that transparency creates enormous power and focus in the room. Conducting his work feels like entering a space where every sound matters, every silence carries meaning, and where the performers are invited into a very direct, human form of expression.

The concept of the wealth of nations turns an important economics text — and other material responding to its ideas — into an oratorio. What about the idea behind this piece excited you?

What excited me about the wealth of nations is its audacity. This is a piece that encourages us to consider economics as a human story, full of consequences, contradictions, and moral weight rather than a set of inevitable systems. It invites us to question not only how societies function, but who they are meant to serve.

You are well known for your love of and expertise in large-scale choral symphonic works. What are the challenges and opportunities in conducting this combination?

When you work with chorus and orchestra together, everything becomes more physical and immediate. You’re shaping breath, text, and rhythm at the same time, and the communication has to be very clear. I love that these forces create a sense of shared purpose onstage. You feel dozens (and sometimes hundreds) of people moving toward the same expressive goal, and the audience feels that energy instantly.

Both of these concerts are part of US at 250, the Philharmonic’s look at the nation on this milestone anniversary. What about music makes it a compelling part of that conversation?

Music is a compelling part of the American conversation because it holds memory and possibility at the same time. It allows us to reflect on where we have been while imagining where we might go, without needing a single definitive answer. In that way, music becomes a space for listening—to history, to one another, and to the future.

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