Bienvenido Maestro!

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has a new conductor, whose innaugural concert is playing as I write these words. He is a 28 year-old Venezuelan Gee-whiz kid. Another Mozart type. But most engaging and entertaining to watch. He started out his career in Los Angeles by conducting a group of young inner city children playing in an orchestra formed only two years ago. They screeched and sawed, a bit out of tune. The parents were straining to see and hear their little ones, and you could see lots of tired hard working faces of laborers in the front section where they were seated as guests of honor. Most of the children were Latino, and the fact that Gustavo is, too, made the crowd go wild. Particularly that he would give his first attention to the inner city children of Los Angeles. The place went wild when he walked onto the stage of the Hollywood Bowl.

Then, Gustavo conducted the L.A. Philharmonic performing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. From memory. It is one of the best renditions I"ve ever heard, and certainly one of the most excitingt ones. He tends to play with the orchestra as he conducts, bowing and mincing at times when the orchestra plays marching tune portions. Other times, he looks a bit spastic as he conducts with short shaky jabs of his baton. But as I commented to Sam, his hair is what makes him a fabulous conductor. It bobs and shakes long after his body stops moving. To see a bald conductor isn't terribly exciting, but what this guy's hair does as he gesticulates and weaves back and forth. Particularly during the loud sections with drums and loud chorale passages, and of course, Beethoven's Ninth has plenty of this!
At the end, he addressed the crowd first in English, then said in Spanish, "I understand that some of you here speak Spanish." The crowd went wild. He continued in English and said that he was so proud to be an American. It was terrific. At the end of the concert, the applause went on for a good 10 minutes, bringing him and the soloists back to the stage time and time again. As he left the stage for the last time, he stooped down to greet some of the young kids he had conducted earlier in the program. What a role model, and what a thrill to have him recognize them. You know that the inner city of Los Angeles will be pressing over into the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Disney Concert Center to hear him every time they can.
Let Los Angeles have music!