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NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 When Gustavo Dudamel<\/a><\/span> first walked into the New York Philharmonic music director\u2019s office, he noticed black-and-white photos that included Leonard Bernstein, Gustav Mahler and Willem Mengelberg.<\/p>\n Ready to succeed them as music director on Sept. 1, he added the only color shot in the room: himself with his mentor, Jos\u00e9 Antonio Abreu.<\/p>\n Dudamel plans on a colorful tenure atop one of the world\u2019s premiere podiums, realizing times have changed in the seven decades since Bernstein injected his energetic personality into the orchestra and audience.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very fast,\u201d Dudamel said of contemporary culture during a Jan. 23 interview with The Associated Press. \u201cWe have social media, it is a different world. Everything is very ephemeral.\u201d<\/p>\n Dudamel\u2019s first season will have a triple opening, the orchestra announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n The 45-year-old Venezuelan begins as music director with a performance at 6,000-capacity Radio City Music Hall on Sept. 10 followed by a 9-11 25th anniversary concert the next day at the World Trade Center\u2019s Perelman Performing Arts Center.<\/p>\n Dudamel\u2019 subscription concerts at Lincoln Center\u2019s 2,200-capacity<\/a><\/span> David Geffen Hall start Sept. 16 with John Adams\u2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning \u201cOn the Transmigration of Souls,\u201d written following the terrorist attacks; a Zosha Di Castri world premiere; and Prokofiev\u2019s Fifth Symphony, conducted by Dudamel during his New York Philharmonic debut on Nov. 29, 2007.<\/p>\n Dudamel\u2019s season includes the world premiere of Tania Le\u00f3n\u2019s \u201cof Im\u00e1genes mestizas\u201d (Sept. 25) paired with Mahler\u2019s Fifth Symphony, which he conducted during his second appearances with the New York Philharmonic in January 2009.<\/p>\n \u201cNew York, is a very symbolic place,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is the orchestra of the Americas.\u201d<\/p>\n He is appointing Serbian performer Marina Abramovi\u0107 and Argentine composer Gustavo Santaolalla as artists in residence.<\/p>\n Dudamel will conduct the world premiere of Santaolalla\u2019s \u201cEl Payador perseguido\u201d to video and still images by Venezuela director Alberto Arvelo (starting March 3, 2027) and Abramovi\u0107\u2019s staged production of Stravinsky\u2019s \u201cThe Soldier\u2019s Tale\u201d and de Falla\u2019s \u201cEl Amor brujo\u201d (March 10, 2027).<\/p>\n His initial season includes a 10-concert European tour from Oct. 9-22; Puccini\u2019s \u201cTosca\u201d with tenor Jonas Kaufmann (Nov. 13) that begins a five-year concert opera commitment at Carnegie Hall; and the orchestra\u2019s first performances of Bernstein\u2019s \u201cMASS,\u201d commissioned to open the Kennedy Center in 1971 (June 9, 2027).<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s powerful is the vision and the inspiration that we\u2019re conveying, and everything else falls into place,\u201d said Mat\u00edas Tarnopolsky, who became the New York Philharmonic\u2019s CEO last year.<\/p>\n Hired in February 2023 to start this fall<\/a><\/span>, Dudamel spoke with 83-year-old conductor Daniel Barenboim about the challenges of a 21st-century music director.<\/p>\n \u201cThe orchestras, a little bit they sound the same. Everything is becoming very uniform,\u201d Dudamel quoted Barenboim as saying. \u201cIn the past you didn\u2019t have access to recordings. It was very difficult to listen to another orchestra. So we have to go back to build that culture — not only about making a sound, understanding why we make the sound.\u201d<\/p>\n Dudamel concludes 17 seasons as Los Angeles Philharmonic music director this summe<\/a><\/span> r and in New York succeeds Jaap van Zweden, whose six-season tenure ended with 2023-24<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n Dudamel intends to conduct in Harlem and Brooklyn.<\/p>\n \u201cArt institutions have to go to the people, not only (be) expecting the people to come to you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n While Bernstein was able to emphasize music education with 53 Young People\u2019s Concerts on CBS from 1958-72, Dudamel faces a fractured media landscape where classical music has lost prominence. Tarnopolsky is hoping to develop \u201cGustavo\u2019s connection to education plus whatever it is in digital media\u201d in an effort \u201cto connect globally on a music education platform that we don\u2019t know what it is yet.\u201d<\/p>\n Dudamel is obsessed with trying to schedule what would be the New York premiere of Messiaen\u2019s 1983 opera \u201cSaint Fran\u00e7ois d\u2019Assise\u201d but says it would have to be in a special place, not Geffen Hall.<\/p>\n He grew up in El Sistema, Venezuela\u2019s famed music education system. His nation has endured political turmoil, including the U.S. capture of President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.<\/p>\n \u201cI have to say it\u2019s a sense of hope. We need that. My country needs that. Not only to see the light far (away), if not to arrive at that light,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have been talking with the team in El Sistema to create connections with the young people. We have that program that I want to bring here, the fellows, to have to open more opportunities for young conductors to be assistants here.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nSeveral world premieres are scheduled<\/h2>\n
Trying to find orchestra\u2019s unique sound in homogenized era<\/h2>\n
Times and tastes have changed since Bernstein was television force<\/h2>\n