\n<\/p>\n
\n\tGustavo Dudamel celebrated his 17 years conducting the LA Phil on Tuesday night with Gustavo\u2019s Fiesta, a gala concert and dinner after-party at Walt Disney Concert Hall that raised more than $5 million for the orchestra and its Learning and Community Initiatives program.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe guest list included Chris Martin, Alejandro I\u00f1\u00e1rritu, LL Cool J, \u201cThe Pitt\u201d star Supriya Ganesh, Helen Hunt, Beck and Drew Scott of the \u201cProperty Brothers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe evening marked the beginning of Dudamel\u2019s final chapter as the music and artistic director of the LA Phil before he officially takes the helm of the New York Philharmonic in September 2026.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI\u2019m so grateful,\u201d Dudamel said at the start of the concert, adding, \u201cI had only one dream when I was a child, to play with my friends. I didn\u2019t have any ambition. I didn\u2019t have any ambition to go out of Barquisimeto [in Venezuela], my hometown, and conduct\u2026My dream was to get out of the school, El Sistima, and play with my friends and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThat desire to have fun extends to today, he said: \u201cThat is my motto.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tDudamel reflected on his years with the LA Phil, joking about times he may have let anger get the best of him. \u201cI can get a little angry [at times] but it always gets to the funny place,\u201d he said, turning to the orchestra. \u201cWe always finish with a smile. We look at each other with respect.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tOne of Dudamel\u2019s signature accomplishments is YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles), which he launched in 2007 and now provides free instruments and music education to 1,700 young people. Several of the current students, wearing black shirts with \u201cGracias Gustavo\u201d emblazoned on the back, joined the orchestra on Wednesday night for a performance of the finale of Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s Symphony No. 9 \u201cFrom the New World.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhat I found here was generosity to open space to others to make their dreams come true,\u201d Dudamel said.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe evening\u2019s concert ended with three encores before guests headed to dinner followed by a dance party, where Dudamel\u2019s father, trombonist\u00a0Oscar Dudamel, was joined on stage by his son playing the violin.<\/p>\n
\n\tA video tribute played before the concert highlighted Dudamel\u2019s career, including performing at Coachella, multiple Grammy wins and having a playful lightsaber battle with \u201cStar Wars\u201d composer John Williams at the Hollywood Bowl. \u201cThe bond [Dudamel] has built here with us is indelible,\u201d the narrator says, in part. \u201cIt is family. It is forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n\tSee more photos from the gala below.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tOscar Dudamel, Gustavo Dudamel at the LA Phil Opening Night Gala held at Walt Disney Concert Hall on October 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMichael Buckner<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tChris Martin, Beck at the LA Phil Opening Night Gala held at Walt Disney Concert Hall on October 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMichael Buckner<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tGustavo Dudamel, LL Cool J at the LA Phil Opening Night Gala held at Walt Disney Concert Hall on October 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMichael Buckner<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tGustavo Dudamel, Mar\u00eda Valverde at the LA Phil Opening Night Gala held at Walt Disney Concert Hall on October 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMichael Buckner<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tSupriya Ganesh at the LA Phil Opening Night Gala held at Walt Disney Concert Hall on October 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMichael Buckner<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tD-Nice at the LA Phil Opening Night Gala held at Walt Disney Concert Hall on October 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMichael Buckner<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tJeffrey Nordling, Helen Hunt at the LA Phil Opening Night Gala held at Walt Disney Concert Hall on October 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMichael Buckner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gustavo Dudamel celebrated his 17 years conducting the LA Phil on Tuesday night with Gustavo\u2019s Fiesta, a gala concert and dinner after-party at Walt Disney Concert Hall that raised more than $5 million for the orchestra and its Learning and Community Initiatives program. The guest list included Chris Martin, Alejandro I\u00f1\u00e1rritu, LL Cool J, \u201cThe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[9131,795,16825,13855,16824,16826,3500,14235],"class_list":{"0":"post-28297","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-alejandro","9":"tag-chris","10":"tag-dudamel","11":"tag-gala","12":"tag-gustavo","13":"tag-inarritu","14":"tag-martin","15":"tag-phil"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}