Paris Opera | Music director Gustavo Dudamel resigns

(Paris) Venezuelan superstar conductor Gustavo Dudamel has resigned from his post as musical director of the Paris Opera, for “personal reasons”, the institution announced Thursday.

“It is with a heavy heart, and after careful consideration, that I announce my resignation from the position of musical director of the Paris Opera in order to spend more time with my family,” said in a press release. Opera, the maestro who arrived in Paris in 2021 for a six-year contract.

“We live in a time that I believe has profoundly and intimately changed our beings,” said the 42-year-old conductor. “I have no other plans than to be with my loved ones,” he said.

In February, the New York Philharmonic named him as its future artistic and musical director from 2026, which was seen as a big blow in the music market.

Gustavo Dudamel, one of the highest paid conductors in the world and one of the best known, had also conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic until recently (since 2009).

“I thank Gustavo Dudamel whose passion and immense talent have brought a lot to the repertoire of our house,” reacted the general manager of the Paris Opera, Alexander Neef, in the press release.

“He was able to forge a special relationship with the musicians of the Orchestra, the artists of the Choirs, the singers and the artistic teams, a relationship marked by mutual respect and the desire to put on the most beautiful shows together,” he said. he says.

“The recent success of Nixon in China is one of the most striking illustrations of this. Gustavo Dudamel is an immense musician. I express my deep appreciation to him for the work accomplished during his tenure, and I fully respect his decision,” the Director further stated.

Fervent defender of wider access to music, Gustavo Dudamel, son of a trombonist and a singing teacher, is a pure product and one of the most illustrious representatives of “El Sistema”, the National System of Youth Orchestras of Venezuela, a well-known popular classical music education project founded in 1975.

Recognizable by his curly hair, he led the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra for a duet with Coldplay at the 2016 Super Bowl halftime concert in the United States.