Gustavo Dudamel Met With Protests in Los Angeles Over Maduro

Last week, tThe Human Rights Federation protested the music director-designate of the New York Philharmonic Gustavo Dudamel. The conductor has been called a “puppet and henchman” for Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

Driving the news: Last week, the Human Rights Federation (HRF) held protests against Gustavo Dudamel outside the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. The Venezuelan Conductor-designate of the New York Philharmonic Gustavo Dudamel was conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Dudamel has been criticized for his silence over the human rights violations of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, from whom Dudamel receives millions of dollars in off the books payments. Dudamel leads El Sistema, a Venezuelan state-run music education program that also serves as a propaganda tool for the Venezuelan government.

Digging deeper: Nicolás Maduro has served as president of Venezuela since 2013. As president, he has been accused of corruption, violent repression of civil society, economic collapse, mass exodus, and for recently stealing an election from Edmundo Gonzalez. Maduro is currently being investigated by the International Criminal Court.

In a letter to LA Philharmonic concertgoers, the HRF wrote that while Dudamel occasionally criticizes Maduro in public, he serves as an unofficial ambassador for the regime in private. Dudamel has stayed silent over the recent election results, in which Venezuelans voted overwhelmingly for Gonzalez, and refuses to condemn the Maduro regime’s human rights violations.

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Sara Schabas

Sara Schabas is a Dora-nominated soprano, writer and yoga teacher. She has performed and created leading roles with companies including Vancouver Opera, Pacific Opera Victoria, the Dayton Opera, and Aspen Opera, and is a former member of Barbara Hannigan’s Equilibrium Young Artists. Currently based in Montreal, she is a doctoral student at McGill University — where she recently received the Wirth Vocal Prize — and editor of Art Song Canada magazine.