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LA Observed contributor Iris Schneider has a gorgeous audio slide show of Gustavo Dudamel images on the New York Times website. The accompanying story by Daniel J. Wakin discusses Dudamel frenzy as a "Hollywood-meets-Haydn" phenomenon, cooly managed by L.A. Philharmonic president and CEO Deborah Borda.
“He’s a genuine star,” said Martin Kaplan, a former movie executive and a professor at the University of Southern California. “He’s young. He has amazing hair. He has a great back story. He has a fantastic name. He’s the dude!”[skip]
“Deborah Borda’s rollout of Dudamel was as savvy as any studio mogul marketing a tent-pole movie,” said Mr. Kaplan, the director of the university’s Norman Lear Center, which looks at the impact of media and entertainment on society. “Plus, she had the advantage of what they call in Hollywood a good product. She didn’t have to put perfume on a stink bomb.”
The slide show, currently featured at the top of the NYT website, presents interesting perspectives of Dudamel conducting the orchestra and with children. It's a pop-up script so I can't give you a direct link; click on the story to see it.
Photo: Iris Schneider / New York Times