Gustavo Dudamel will direct the New York Philharmonic for five years beginning in 2026, the orchestra announced on Tuesday.
Dudamel, 42, will leave the Los Angeles Philharmonic to become the music and creative director of the New York Philharmonic.
The Venezuelan maestro will be the oldest orchestra in America’s 27th conductor and its first Latino chief.
He will follow in the footsteps of such musical luminaries as Gustav Mahler, Arturo Toscanini, and Leonard Bernstein.
Dudamel said in a statement, “I am grateful to the musicians and leadership of the New York Philharmonic as we embark on this new and beautiful journey together.”
Since 2009, Dudamel, who is identifiable by his curly hair, has occupied the same post with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
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He is also the musical director of the Opera National de Paris and the Venezuelan Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra.
Dudamel, the son of a trombonist and voice instructor, is a product of “El Sistema,” a renowned musical education program in Venezuela.
Critics assert that Dudamel, one of the most accomplished conductors in the world, is equally at ease leading a Mahler symphony as well as the music from Star Wars or Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of “West Side Story.”
In 2016, he led the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra and Coldplay in a duet during the Super Bowl halftime show.
The recruitment of Dudamel is viewed as a big coup for the New York Philharmonic, which was founded in 1842, following the $550 million makeover of its Lincoln Center home, David Geffen Hall.
This season, the venue reopened with a new design and vastly enhanced acoustics.
Dudamel will assume the job of music director designate in the 2025–2026 season before assuming the role of music director in the 2026–2027 season.
In the spring of this year, he will conduct three performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 as a guest conductor.
The current director of the New York Philharmonic, Dutchman Jaap van Zweden, has previously declared that he will step down after the 2023-2024 season.
»Dudamel will become leadership of the New York Philharmonic in 2026«