Gustavo Dudamel arrives in New York with a mission that goes beyond the podium

It was a star-studded gathering at Lincoln Center , with the likes of Steven Spielberg and Alec Baldwin toasting New York’s new Philharmonic director with champagne, arepas and the din of salsa music.

It’s been a while since the city’s cultural elite has buzzed as it has with the arrival of Gustavo Dudamel, 45.

Dudamel, or “The Dude,” as he was known during his 17 season-run at the helm of the Los Angeles Philharmonic , was a force in LA, both on the stage and in his efforts at tackling the age-old issue of democratizing an artform often seen as elitist. Dudamel broadened the Philharmonic’s reach through educational programs and crossovers with popular culture, notably appearing at the halftime show at the FIFA World Cup final , and conducting scores for films like “West Side Story” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

Now, he has arrived in New York with a similar mission, and has spoken from the beginning of his belief that music is a “fundamental right.”

“You really have to take the risk,” Dudamel said in an interview this summer. “To really make people feel that they belong.”

Dudamel’s sensibility was forged as a child growing up in the Venezuelan city of Barquisimeto, where he learned to play violin through El Sistema, Venezuela’s National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras and Choirs. The program was founded in 1975 by José Antonio Abreu, a musician and economist who believed that classical music — long reserved for a select few — could transform the lives of Venezuela’s poorest children. Since its founding, more than one million people, according to official Venezuelan figures, have taken part in the program, which operates in community centers and offers free instruments and lessons to children, most of whom come from low-income families.

“What my colleagues in Venezuela understand about music is that it’s not just decorative, it’s not just extracurricular, and it’s not just fun, although it is fun,” said Anne Fitzgibbon, founder and executive director of the Harmony Program , a New York City nonprofit that provides free music education to children in underserved communities. Fitzgibbon drew inspiration to create the program after studying El Sistema in Venezuela on a Fulbright fellowship in 2007.

El Sistema was founded decades before Hugo Chavez came to power in a populist revolution that quickly turned authoritarian. He and his successor, Nicolás Maduro, continued funding the program, and so its ties to the state have drawn scrutiny. For years, critics also questioned Dudamel’s silence about Chavez and Maduro and the human rights abuses and corruption that marked their reins. Dudamel broke his silence in May 2017 after a young musician was killed during a protest.

“I raise my voice against any form of repression,” he wrote at the time in an open letter . “Times cannot be defined by the blood of our people.”

Speaking to CNN this summer, Dudamel praised El Sistema. “It’s not a musical factory system,” he said. “El Sistema is using music to transform the lives of children.”

Dudamel has landed in a city with several programs inspired by El Sistema’s model.

Around the US, some 150 organizations inspired by El Sistema — ranging from community programs to YOLA , the youth orchestra Dudamel helped found in Los Angeles — teach music to more than 30,000 students, according to El Sistema USA , the network that connects them.

Carlos Sánchez was just 13 when he first performed alongside Dudamel at a concert in his native Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second biggest city. Years later, after studying bass through El Sistema, he toured the world with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra under Dudamel’s baton.

Now he is the director of UpBeat NYC , a community music center in the South Bronx offering free music education for 230 students aged 5 to 21.

“When I first came to UpBeat, I saw how the program worked with the children. It was what I was feeling back in my country,” Sánchez said.

Funded by private donations and grants, UpBeat also helps families with food and support during difficult times. “It’s not just asking a kid whether they practiced,” said Sánchez. “It’s asking, ‘Are you hungry? Is everything okay at home?’”

Now, groups like UpBeat hope Dudamel’s arrival will bring more attention to them and allow them to grow.

“He’s bringing power to a few levels that we’re interested to see how he utilizes,” said Richard Miller, the program’s co-founder and co-executive director. “We’re going to be there trying to be in his ear to make sure it’s going to the families that we represent and work with.”

Following Dudamel’s appointment, the Philharmonic’s co-chairman, Oscar L. Tang, and his wife, Agnes Hsu-Tang, donated $40 million to advance music education and bring orchestra to new audiences.

“In our generation, we’ve not had a music director that has been both equally committed to what’s happening at the podium, as he is with what is happening in the schools,” said Gary Padmore, the New York Philharmonic’s Vice President for Education and Community Engagement.

Padmore acknowledged that New York’s school system remains deeply segregated and said his team is targeting the city’s “arts deserts,” such as Corona in Queens and Canarsie in Brooklyn. Change will take time, he said. Dudamel will be with the orchestra for only about 15 weeks a year, and Padmore described a conductor’s first season as a period of “deep listening.”

Miller, of UpBeat, tempered his enthusiasm with caution. The issues run deep — he noted that the orchestra must still diversify and that Afro-Latino artists fought for decades to broaden classical music’s audience and that Lincoln Center itself was built on San Juan Hill, a neighborhood whose Black and Puerto Rican families were displaced to make way for it.

A few miles from Lincoln Center, Sánchez said he hoped Dudamel would inspire UpBeat’s students, just as the conductor once inspired a young Sánchez in Maracaibo.

“I didn’t know any of this until they came to me,” he said. “I hope with all my heart that he can come and bring the same hope.”

在林肯中心举行的这场星光熠熠的聚会上，史蒂文·斯皮尔伯格和亚历克·鲍德温等明星举杯香槟、玉米饼，伴着萨尔萨音乐的喧闹声，向纽约新任爱乐乐团总监致敬。

古斯塔沃·杜达梅尔（45岁）的到来，让这座城市的文化精英们兴奋不已，这已经是很久以前的事了。

杜达梅尔，或者像他在执掌洛杉矶爱乐乐团的17个乐季期间所熟知的“老兄”，是洛杉矶的一股强大力量，无论是在舞台上还是在致力于解决艺术民主化这一由来已久的问题上，他都做出了卓越的贡献，因为艺术形式通常被视为精英主义的。杜达梅尔通过教育项目和与流行文化的跨界合作，扩大了爱乐乐团的影响力，尤其值得一提的是，他曾参与世界杯决赛的中场表演，并为《西区故事》和《星球大战：原力觉醒》等电影指挥配乐。

现在，他带着类似的使命来到纽约，从一开始就表达了他对音乐是“基本权利”的信念。

“你真的必须冒风险，”杜达梅尔在今年夏天的一次采访中说道，“才能真正让人们感到归属感。”

杜达梅尔的音乐感悟源于他在委内瑞拉巴基西梅托市的童年生活。在那里，他通过委内瑞拉国家青少年和儿童管弦乐团及合唱团体系“埃尔·西斯特玛”（El Sistema）学习小提琴。该体系由音乐家兼经济学家何塞·安东尼奥·阿布雷乌于1975年创立。阿布雷乌坚信，古典音乐——这种长期以来只有少数人才能接触的音乐——能够改变委内瑞拉最贫困儿童的生活。据委内瑞拉官方统计，自成立以来，已有超过一百万人参与了该项目。该项目在社区中心开展活动，为儿童提供免费乐器和课程，其中大多数儿童来自低收入家庭。

“我在委内瑞拉的同事们对音乐的理解是，它不仅仅是装饰，不仅仅是课外活动，也不仅仅是娱乐，尽管它确实很有趣，”安妮·菲茨吉本说道。她是“和谐计划”（Harmony Program）的创始人兼执行董事，该计划是一家位于纽约市的非营利机构，致力于为服务欠缺社区的儿童提供免费音乐教育。菲茨吉本在2007年获得富布赖特奖学金前往委内瑞拉学习“埃尔·西斯特玛”（El Sistema）项目后，深受启发，创立了“和谐计划”。

“埃尔·西斯特玛”项目创立于乌戈·查韦斯发动民粹主义革命上台数十年前，而这场革命很快演变为威权统治。查韦斯及其继任者尼古拉斯·马杜罗继续资助该项目，因此其与国家的关系一直备受关注。多年来，批评人士也质疑杜达梅尔对查韦斯和马杜罗执政期间侵犯人权和腐败行为保持沉默。2017年5月，一名年轻音乐家在抗议活动中丧生后，杜达梅尔打破沉默，就此事发声。

“我强烈反对任何形式的压迫，”他当时在一封公开信中写道。“时代不能由我们人民的鲜血来定义。”

今年夏天，杜达梅尔在接受CNN采访时赞扬了“音乐救助计划”（El Sistema）。他说：“这并非一个音乐工厂体系。‘音乐救助计划’正在利用音乐改变孩子们的命运。”

杜达梅尔来到了一座拥有多个受“埃尔·西斯特玛”模式启发的项目的城市。

据连接这些组织的 El Sistema USA 称，在美国各地，约有 150 个受 El Sistema 启发而成立的组织（从社区项目到杜达梅尔在洛杉矶帮助创立的青年管弦乐团 YOLA）为超过 30,000 名学生教授音乐。

卡洛斯·桑切斯13岁时，就在他的家乡委内瑞拉第二大城市马拉开波的一场音乐会上首次与杜达梅尔同台演出。多年后，在通过“埃尔·西斯特玛”音乐教育体系学习低音提琴后，他跟随西蒙·玻利瓦尔交响乐团，在杜达梅尔的指挥下进行了世界巡演。

现在他是 UpBeat NYC 的负责人，这是一个位于南布朗克斯的社区音乐中心，为 230 名 5 至 21 岁的学生提供免费音乐教育。

桑切斯说：“我第一次来到UpBeat时，我看到了这个项目是如何帮助孩子们的。这正是我在自己国家感受到的。”

UpBeat 由私人捐款和拨款资助，在困难时期也为家庭提供食物和支持。“这不仅仅是问孩子有没有练习，”桑切斯说，“而是问，‘你饿了吗？家里一切都好吗？’”

现在，像 UpBeat 这样的团体希望杜达梅尔的到来能让他们获得更多关注，并使他们得以发展壮大。

“他现在掌握了多方面的权力，我们很想看看他会如何运用这些权力，”该项目的联合创始人兼联合执行主任理查德·米勒说。“我们会努力向他施压，确保这些权力能够真正惠及我们所代表和合作的家庭。”

在杜达梅尔被任命后，爱乐乐团联合主席奥斯卡·L·唐和他的妻子许淑婷捐赠了 4000 万美元，用于推进音乐教育，并将管弦乐带给新的观众。

纽约爱乐乐团教育与社区参与副总裁加里·帕德莫尔表示：“在我们这一代人中，还没有哪位音乐总监像他一样，既对指挥台上的事情如此投入，又对学校里的事情如此投入。”

帕德莫尔承认纽约的学校系统仍然存在严重的种族隔离现象，并表示他的团队正致力于改善该市的“艺术沙漠”，例如皇后区的科罗纳和布鲁克林的卡纳西。他表示，改变需要时间。杜达梅尔每年只会与乐团合作约15周，帕德莫尔将指挥的第一个乐季描述为“深度聆听”的时期。

《UpBeat》杂志的米勒在表达热情的同时也保持谨慎。他指出，问题根深蒂固——交响乐团仍需实现多元化，非裔拉丁裔艺术家为扩大古典音乐的受众群体奋斗了几十年，而林肯中心本身就建在圣胡安山上，为了给它腾出空间，那里的黑人和波多黎各裔家庭被迫搬迁。

桑切斯说，他希望杜达梅尔能够激励 UpBeat 的学生，就像这位指挥家曾经在马拉开波激励年轻的桑切斯一样。

“在他们来找我之前，我对这些一无所知，”他说。“我衷心希望他也能来，带来同样的希望。”