Glenn Gould Prize awarded to acclaimed conductor Gustavo Dudamel

Gustavo Dudamel, one of the world’s most acclaimed conductors, is the 2022 winner of the $100,000 Glenn Gould Prize.

The award was announced in Toronto at the Royal Conservatory of Music’s TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning on Sunday. It was the highlight of a weekend of events organized by the Glenn Gould Foundation to mark the 90th anniversary of the renowned Canadian pianist’s birth.

“It was one of the greatest honours of my life when, in 2008, my maestro José Antonio Abreu was named the Glenn Gould Prize Laureate. To now be awarded this prestigious prize myself, is something that fills me with a profound gratitude,” Dudamel said in a statement.

He is music and artistic director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and music director of the Opéra National de Paris and Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra. His intense schedule did not permit him to be present for the announcement.

“The greatest art shines a light on our best selves, and offers a reminder of all that unites us. Likewise, the work of geniuses like Maestro Abreu and Glenn Gould is a beacon that shows us the path to create a better world together,” the Venezuelan conductor said.

The Glenn Gould Prize celebrates artistic excellence, innovation and humanitarianism. Candidates across a broad spectrum of creative disciplines are nominated globally by members of the general public. Originally given every three years but since 2014 biennially, the prize was first awarded in 1987 to Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer.

Among the prize’s 14 laureates to date are such luminaries as American composer Philip Glass, American soprano Jessye Norman, Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson and José Antonio Abreu, the Venezuelan musician and activist best known for founding a publicly-funded and internationally influential music education program called El Sistema.

The foundation launched a complementary protege award in 1993, with the recipient the choice of the main prize winner. In 2008, Abreu named the then 27-year-old Dudamel. He is the first winner of the Glenn Gould Prize to be a previous recipient of the protege award. In due course, Dudamel, 41, will announce his own choice of winner for the $25,000 prize.

In October 2009, Abreu and Dudamel were celebrated in Toronto when Dudamel conducted the Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra from Caracas — made up of El Sistema graduates like Dudamel himself — in its sold-out Canadian debut. Not long after, Dudamel took up his current post with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He was named music director of the Opéra National de Paris in August 2021. Dudamel retains his association with what is now called the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra.

Dudamel is one of the most prominent, popular and popularizing conductors in the world today. He conducted the score to Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of “West Side Story” in 2021, the opening and closing credits for John Williams’ “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in 2015, performed with the L.A. Philharmonic at the 2019 Academy Awards, and participated in the 2016 Super Bowl halftime show along with Coldplay, Beyoncé, and Bruno Mars.

His stellar reputation is built not merely on his charismatic podium presence and extraordinary musicianship but on his passionate commitment to music education and to bringing classical music to underserved communities.

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