Gustavo Dudamel

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Gustavo Dudamel Ramírez

Born	January 26, 1981 Barquisimeto, Venezuela

Gustavo Dudamel Ramírez (born January 26, 1981) is a Venezuelan conductor.

Dudamel was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. He studied music from an early age, and took up the violin when he was 10. He soon began to study composition. He attended the Jacinto Lara Conservatory, where he was taught the violin by José Luis Jiménez. He then went on to work with José Francisco del Castillo at the Latin American Academy of Violin.

He began to study conducting in 1996, first with Rodolfo Saglimbeni, then later with José Antonio Abreu. He was appointed music director of the Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela in 1999, and toured several countries.

After winning a number of conducting competitions, Dudamel's began to make a name for himself, and was noticed by conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle and Claudio Abbado, who accepted invitations to conduct the Simón Bolívar orchestra in Venezuela.

Dudamel debuted with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, among others, in 2005, and also signed a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. In 2006 he appeared with yet more world-class orchestras including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Staatskapelle and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Don Giovanni in La Scala in Milano in November 2006, He will be performing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in April 2007. He has been named as the Principal Conductor of Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra from 2007.

[edit] Personal life

Dudamel married his longtime girlfriend, Eloisa Maturen, in 2006 in Caracas. The Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra combined forces with the Schola Cantorum to make the event a special musical celebration. The wedding took place in the cathedral at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Montalban, a suburb of Caracas. Maturen, a Venezuelan native, is a classically trained ballet dancer and aspires to further her work as a political writer in the coming years.