'The Dude' has Los Angeles on a string
Gustavo Dudamel won't take over the Philharmonic until 2009, but he's already selling out Disney Hall, cheering the Lakers and endearing himself to the city.
On Friday, for the first time ever, the Los Angeles Philharmonic could boast a sellout crowd for an installment of its "Casual Fridays" concert series at Walt Disney Concert Hall -- and the appeal was not just the chance to see a cellist or a tuba player wearing blue jeans instead of black tie.
The Dude was back in town.
For a two-week run that ends today, Gustavo Dudamel, the 27-year-old Venezuelan wunderkind who will take over as music director of the Philharmonic in 2009, has been in residence in Los Angeles, leading the orchestra for the first time since his appointment was announced a year ago.
Friday's concert featured him conducting Debussy and Bartok -- the latter in a concerto played by live-wire violinist and Los Angeles native Leila Josefowicz, 30, whose youthful zest rivaled Dudamel's.
And if his streak of critically acclaimed, sold-out concerts is any indication, Dudamania will still be at full throttle when the conductor returns on a permanent basis in October 2009.
Just ask the man himself, whom the music blogosphere has already nicknamed "The Dude" or "El Dude." At a post-concert "talk-back" with the audience, Deborah Borda, president of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Assn., ended her remarks with a rallying cry: "How many of you have Dudamania?" The conductor with the wild curls and the infectious grin listened to the applause for only a few seconds before shooting his own hand, school-kid style, into the air.
Of course, one might expect boosterism from Borda, who gave Dudamel his U.S. debut leading the Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl in 2005. She was mainly responsible for signing him to a five-year contract to replace former wunderkind Esa-Pekka Salonen, 49, who is stepping down at the end of next season, after 17 years at the helm, to concentrate on composing.
But consider this live-from-the-venue review from Rudy Wiley, a Disney Hall ticket-taker, who said you could feel the electricity even in the lobby, where more than one patron could be spotted Friday wearing a jacket bearing the Venezuelan flag. "I just gave him a nickname: I call him the super semiconductor. He has so much energy, and he's different. He has so many moves," Wiley said.
He added with a grin, "As the word gets around, tickets are going to get hard to get. It's bad now, and it's only going to get worse."
