Pizzazz on the podium: Gustavo Dudamel.

• Author: Holston, Mark

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Seldom in the history of classical music has an artist ascended as quickly and with as much giddy fanfare to the summit of international acclaim as has Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Virtually overnight, the wunderkind of the baton has become the world's most celebrated young symphony director. To those caught sleeping, the 27-year old native of the provincial city of Barquisimeto seems to have come out of nowhere. With sparkling cacao-colored eyes, a mop of unruly hair, and a smile as broad as his country's vast llanos, Dudamel is the kind of personality classical music promoters dream about. He is the proverbial rock star-style celebrity capable of pumping life into a music tradition that risks becoming moribund without an occasional infusion of new blood.

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In recent months, Dudamel and the music organization he leads, the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, have been treated to two profiles on CBS News' popular 60 Minutes newsmagazine program. His 2007 Carnegie Hall debut, conducting the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, moved the prestigious New York Magazine to proclaim the concert at that storied venue the "Best Performance of the Year." Since 2005, Dudamel has maintained an exclusive association with the prestigious record company Deutsche Grammophon of Germany. Next year, he will become the new music director and conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, one of the premier US symphony orchestras.

Dudamel's frenzied sprint to global fame has brought with it changes to his daily routine. While he still focuses most of his energy on polishing his concert repertoire, he has to deal with the myriad life-complicating details that come with being an international celebrity. His daily routine is now guided by an entourage of handlers, consultants, go-betweens, and advisers whose aim is to make order out of his frenetic schedule and keep at bay those whose untimely intrusions might deflect the star from his meteoric trajectory. Journalists aching for a one-on-one session with the young maestro would have better luck scheduling an interview with a head of state or pop-culture icon.

It's all quite a change for a young man who grew up in his homeland's fourth largest city, where the salsa his musician father performed in a local band was among the first styles of music he heard and came to love. Although far removed geographically from the classical music world, Dudamel, like tens of...