Slideshow: Gustavo Dudamel makes whirlwind visit to MIT
Venezuelan composer Gustavo Dudamel — conductor of Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra in Caracas, the Gothenburg Symphony in Sweden, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and one of the most sought-after conductors worldwide came to MIT April 16-17 to accept the $75,000 Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts presented by the Council for the Arts at MIT. In accepting the award, Dudamel took part in a whirlwind of activities on campus. While at MIT, Dudamel led the MIT Symphony Orchestra in a public rehearsal of Mozart's Symphony No. 38 ("Prague") and Rimsky-Korsakov's "Capriccio Espagnol," and he joined MIT professors John Harbison and Tod Machover in a panel discussion moderated by PBS journalist Maria Hinojosa on music as a social and educational project highlighting El Sistema and Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles. "Dudamel gave the orchestra an insightful, honest and helpful dose of what it's like to work with a world-class conductor,"...