One of the most anticipated chapters in New York classical music is now officially underway. On Thursday, September 10, Gustavo Dudamel led the New York Philharmonic at Radio City Music Hall, the first concert of his inaugural season as the orchestra’s Music and Artistic Director. BroadwayWorld described him as “the first Latin American to lead the nearly 200-year-old institution.”
An opening built for the city
The one-night program set orchestral works by Gershwin, Philip Glass, Jessie Montgomery and Arturo Márquez alongside a roster of popular artists, according to Madison Square Garden’s event listing, which also noted the use of Sphere Immersive Sound. Tony Award winner Liev Schreiber hosted, and the guests included Lizzo, St. Vincent, Aaron Tveit and the Latin Grammy-winning singer Joaquina.
BroadwayWorld reported that St. Vincent performed “Smoking Section” and “New York,” while Lizzo closed the evening with several songs, including a turn on the flute. The choice of venue was deliberate. The orchestra’s season announcement framed the evening as part of an effort toward “Reaching New Communities Across New York City,” and noted that the concert “builds on the Philharmonic’s first-ever appearance at Radio City in January of this year, also led by Dudamel.”
What Dudamel promises
In the season announcement released in March, Dudamel set out the philosophy behind the programming. “This season is built on a single belief: that music, like this great city, can unite us across cultures, generations, and art forms, in a single, shared human experience,” he said. “When we truly listen together, we can begin to imagine a better world.”
The weeks ahead
The Radio City evening is only the overture. The Philharmonic’s announced schedule for the coming weeks includes:
- September 16 to 19, David Geffen Hall: Dudamel’s first concerts in the hall as Music and Artistic Director, with the world premiere of a new work by Zosha Di Castri, John Adams’s Pulitzer Prize-winning On the Transmigration of Souls, written to commemorate the victims of 9/11, and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, as BroadwayWorld reported.
- September 25 to 27 and 29: the world premiere of Imágenes mestizas by Pulitzer Prize winner Tania León, commissioned by the Philharmonic, paired with Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, per the orchestra.
- September 30: Gustavo Dudamel’s Inaugural Gala and Concert, honoring board co-chairmen Peter W. May and Oscar L. Tang.
- October 3: the US premiere of a new director’s cut of Tocar y luchar (To Play and To Strive), the 2006 documentary about Venezuela’s El Sistema youth orchestra program, which the orchestra describes as core to Dudamel’s educational vision.
Later in the season, Dudamel will conduct the world premiere of Gustavo Santaolalla’s El Payador perseguido, a multimedia production commissioned by the Philharmonic, from March 3 to 6, 2027, with Santaolalla appearing as soloist and imagery by Venezuelan director Alberto Arvelo, the orchestra has announced.
Why it resonates
For New York’s Latin American and Hispanic communities, the significance is plain: a conductor who has long championed Venezuela’s El Sistema now leads the New York Philharmonic, and his first month places works by León and Márquez on the same stages as the canon. For everyone else, the invitation is just as clear. Dudamel has started his New York chapter by meeting the city where it gathers, and then asking it to follow him inside.
See all sources
- New York Philharmonic Conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden Entertainment, 2026-09-10
- Photos: Gustavo Dudamel New York Philharmonic Tenure Begins With Aaron Tveit, Lizzo, St. Vincent, and More, BroadwayWorld, 2026-09-14
- Gustavo Dudamel and the New York Philharmonic: The Inaugural Season, 2026-27 (press release), New York Philharmonic, 2026-03-10
- Gustavo Dudamel and the New York Philharmonic Unveil The Inaugural Season, 2026-27, BroadwayWorld, 2026-03-10
Lead image: illustrative photo by Manuel Nägeli on Unsplash.
