¡VIVA MAESTRO!

A Sonic Journey Inside the Personal and Political Crossroads

Of Venezuelan Musical Genius Conductor, Gustavo Dudamel; Documentary Has US Theatrical Premiere Friday, April 8 at Film Forum

Film Forum is pleased to present the US theatrical premiere of Theodore Braun’s ¡VIVA MAESTRO! on Friday, April 8. “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.

¡VIVA MAESTRO! features the music of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Shostakovich and Mexico’s greatest living composer, Arturo Márquez, with performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. Dudamel has served as the Music & Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for thirteen seasons, was named the Music Director of the Paris Opera in April 2021, and was tapped by Steven Spielberg to conduct the recording of the score for the 2021 adaptation of WEST SIDE STORY. He has introduced classical music to new audiences around the globe, and has helped to provide access to the arts for countless people in underserved communities with his tireless advocacy for arts education. 

“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

“The Los Angeles Philharmonic is the most important orchestra in America. Period. It presents a greater sense of the diversity of today’s music and its creators than any other orchestra. It ties its mission to education and social justice in its city more than any other orchestra. And, yes, more than any other orchestra, it combines a commitment to the future with a fresh eye on the past.”

– Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times

(on Dudamel’s post with The Los Angeles Philharmonic, April 2017)

Critics Pick. “The model of a 21st-century maestro.”

– Woolfe, The New York Times 

(on New York Philharmonic’s March 2022 performances of Schumann’s First and Second symphonies, under Dudamel’s baton)

¡VIVA MAESTRO! (2021, 99 min) Written and Directed by Theodore Braun. Producers: Nicolas Paine, Howard Bragman, Braun. Editing: Kate Amend. Cinematography: Buddy Squires with Richard Pearce. Music conducted by and featuring Dudamel. Music performed by Los Angeles Philharmonic, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, Berlin Philharmonic, Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra, Venezuelan National Youth Orchestra, Orquesta Gustav Mahler Del Núcleo Los Chorros, Encounters / Encuentros Art & Citizenship Orchestra, A Mi Maestro International Orchestra. USA. A Greenwich Entertainment Release.

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