Film Forum

“More like champagne, less like moonshine,” Gustavo Dudamel, the charismatic Music & Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, implores a choir singing “Ode to Joy.” One of the few classical music figures of rock-star fame, Dudamel has been music director of Venezuela’s Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra since he was 18 years old. His precise directives to musicians enliven a whirlwind tour from Berlin to Mexico City, Hamburg, and Santiago, Chile. ¡VIVA MAESTRO! considers the personal and political crises with which Dudamel  contends: his long-established efforts to remain apolitical in the face of recent violent unrest in his native country. Should he speak out and enrage powerful figures in the political and musical establishments or remain silent against the strains of his own conscience?  Ultimately his public stand will reinforce his belief in music as an inspiration and force for justice. Featuring the sublime music of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Shostakovich, and Mexican composer Arturo Márquez.  

Presented with support from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation Fund, the Richard Brick, Geri Ashur, and Sara Bershtel Fund for Social Justice Documentaries, and the Robert E. Appel Fund for Spanish and Portuguese Language Films

2021       99 MINS        USA      GREENWICH ENTERTAINMENT

Reviews

“Character is at the heart of ¡VIVA MAESTRO! — Dudamel’s personal character and the character of his music making. With conductors, those aren’t always the same thing, which, of course, is what makes them interesting. In Dudamel’s case, however, what you see is what you hear, and that’s what makes him and the movie riveting.”
– Mark Swed, Classical Music Critic, Los Angeles Times

“Gustavo Dudamel has ignited classical music performance as few others have this century. (The film is) a celebration of the ever-youthful superstar’s acclaim and popularity. One of (Venezuela’s) greatest cultural achievements and, by extension, its most beloved ambassador. Dudamel’s commitment to the boundary-dissolving, universal pleasures of making music is unstoppable. (The film) is plenty inspiring.”
– Robert Abele, The Wrap

“The model of a 21st-century maestro.”
– Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times, on New York Philharmonic’s March 2022 performances of Schumann’s First and Second symphonies under Dudamel’s baton.
Read the full Critic's Pick review

“A terrifically exciting conductor. Gustavo Dudamel has accomplished so much in his blazing career that it’s easy to forget he’s only 40.”
– Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times