What Makes Superstar Conductor Gustavo Dudamel So Good?

So even though these musicians had played the Ninth countless times, and Dudamel was merely fine-tuning, he remembered what Abreu taught him: Each opportunity to make music is a chance to bring about a better world, and each encounter with beauty is something to be taken seriously. And so, again and again, he signaled the orchestra to stop. “We have to get out of the routine of the music,” he said, “and bring the feeling back. We have to believe in the text. Freude, Freude!” he sang — Joy, joy! “We have to end by embracing each other!” More…