World-renowned conductor Gustavo Dudamel grew up in Venezuela and it was thanks to a program to help children progress that he became a superstar in the world of classical music. Thanks to a scholarship from his native Venezuela, conductor Gustavo Dudamel was able to work his way up to becoming a superstar in the world of classical music. Now he passes on his energy and enthusiasm to a new generation.

View the Encuentros 2022 journey. In honor of the Hollywood Bowl’s first 100 seasons, the LA Phil and Dudamel Foundation partnered up to bring over 100 top-tier young musicians from around the world to work side-by-side in the Encuentros Orchestra, exploring cultural unity and celebrating harmony, equality, dignity, beauty, and respect through music.

“I tell them, look, when you are walking on the street,” he explains, “you are normal people like everybody else. But you cannot imagine the power you have in your hands when you take an instrument and you play. You can transform the feeling of that person. People cry. People laugh. You are magicians.”

Under the leadership of Gustavo Dudamel and María Valverde, the Dudamel Foundation and the LA Phil will co-present LA Encuentros 2022, their first Encuentros (Encounters) in the United States, July 19–August 6, 2022.

Under the leadership of Gustavo Dudamel and María Valverde, the Dudamel Foundation presented its first European Encuentros in Spain in June 2021. Students from ten countries across the Americas joined students from Spain and Portugal to explore cultural unity and celebrate harmony, equality, dignity, beauty, and respect through music.

These life-changing experiences, Encuentros, challenge, inspire, and teach a new generation of young leaders to build a better world.

‘The most important thing is to create spaces so that these young people who come from such diverse realities can meet and enrich themselves,’ says [Gustavo Dudamel] in his dressing room, minutes before the concert. ‘That is what I experienced as a child. After a week and a half, they are absolutely musically transformed. And how? Through the challenge.’

“A dare: bring together 59 young people from 12 countries for 12 days in the midst of a pandemic to tackle a high-profile musical challenge. We accompany the Venezuelan teacher and his clan during an intense human and sound journey.” –by Ana Alfageme for El País

Under the leadership of co-chairs Gustavo Dudamel and María Valverde, the Dudamel Foundation presented its first European Encuentros in Spain in June 2021 in partnership with Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Union, and Cooperation and Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB). A champion of the belief in music's power to unite and inspire, Gustavo created the idea of Encuentros (English: “encounters”) in 2018 through his Foundation as a way to explore cultural unity and celebrate harmony, equality, dignity, beauty, and respect through music. Through this vision, Encuentros inspires and teaches a new generation of young leaders to build a better world.

The Dudamel Foundation presents its first European Encuentros in Spain in June 2021 in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Secretary for International Cooperation of Spain. Students from the Americas — México, the United States, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Perú, and Nicaragua — and Spain will work together side-by-side in the Orquesta del Encuentro con Dudamel.

The Gustavo Dudamel Foundation will be supporting YOLA’s first international tour this November, celebrating music without borders and the vital importance of cultural exchange, as 96 YOLA students and alumni from three YOLA sites join 100 young musicians from Sistema Nacional de Fomento Musical en México and the Music Schools of Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura to celebrate music without borders and cultural exchange.

Mexico’s National Institute of Fine Arts, Secretary of Culture, and the Arturo Márquez Foundation partnered with the Gustavo Dudamel Foundation to create a four-day intensive Art and Citizenship workshop for young musicians from across the Americas.

In cooperation with the Hilti Foundation and El Sistema Sweden, the Gustavo Dudamel Foundation was proud to support a Nobel Day of Music on Friday, December 8th. As part of the occasion, musical performances were given in communities across Sweden from morning to night, culminating in the Nobel Prize Concert that evening.