Dhe Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel will be the new head of the New York Philharmonic, reports the New York Times. With the 2026/27 season, he will succeed Dutchman Jaap van Zweden, who has been in office since 2018, who will not extend his contract beyond 2024 and will instead switch to the Philharmonic Orchestra in Seoul, South Korea.
Dudamel was born in Barquisimeto on January 26, 1981 and gained early popularity as the conductor of the youth orchestra “El Sistema”. After five years as principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, he took over as conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2009, succeeding Esa-Pekka Salonen. Dudamel has been music director of the National Opera in Paris since 2021.
His move from Los Angeles to New York is considered the work of orchestra manager Deborah Borda, who had already brought Dudamel to Los Angeles and who has been working for New York since 2017. The orchestra, which local critics no longer rank among the top five in the United States alongside Cleveland, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia, is probably hoping for a new start.
