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 CARLOS MIGUEL PRIETO is the heart and soul of Youth Orchestra of the Americas. As Principal Conductor, Maestro Prieto has proven to be not only a very special and talented conductor, but a uniquely sensitive human being and teacher. He is an extraordinary role model for our young musicians, teaching them how to combine professional excellence with human kindness and humility. We feel profound gratitude to have his musical talent, professional advice, artistic leadership and warm friendship.
Considered one of the most dynamic young conductors, Mr. Prieto has further widened his exposure in recent years by accepting a total of four music directorships in his native Mexico and the United States. He was named music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico (National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico), Mexico’s most important orchestra, in July 2007. He just completed a very successful European tour (with concerts in Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels, Leipzing, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart and Rotterdam) with this orchestra. He remains music director at his other Mexican orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería. In the US he completed his first season as music director of the Louisiana Philharmonic, where he leads the cultural renewal of the ravaged city of New Orleans, and continues to serve as music director of the Huntsville Symphony (Alabama). Mr. Prieto has made guest appearances with numerous North American orchestras such as the Dallas Symphony, Houston Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Florida Philharmonic, San Antonio Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Dayton Philharmonic, and every major orchestra in Mexico. He has also conducted orchestras throughout Europe, Russia, Israel, and Latin America, notably his recent Teatro Colón debut in Buenos Aires, his Netherlands Radio Orchestra debut in Utrecht, and performances with the Philharmonia of the Nations.
The 2008-09 season includes his Boston Symphony debut as well as his Chicago Symphony debut, both with Yo-Yo Ma as soloist, a return invitation to the Milwaukee Symphony, several concerts with the Houston Symphony and appearances with the Pacific Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Colorado Symphony and Honolulu Symphony. In 2006-07 Prieto gave his debut with the Milwaukee Symphony, Omaha Symphony and the symphonies of New Mexico and Nashville. He also appeared with the Dayton Philharmonic, Naples Philharmonic, and the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and returned again to the Houston Symphony and Louisville Orchestra. Overseas, Prieto made his Budapest Symphony debut at the Franz Liszt Academy in February 2007, the first time an all-Mexican program was performed in Hungary. He was also Mexico’s delegate to the 2007 Davos World Economic Forum.
The 2005-06 season highlights included appearances with the Louisiana Philharmonic (including two fundraising dates in collaboration with the New York Philharmonic), and return engagements with the Phoenix and San Antonio symphony orchestras. In the summer of 2005, Mr. Prieto made festival appearances at Grant Park in Chicago and the Naumburg concerts in New York’s Central Park. He also led the Youth Orchestra of the Americas on a tour of Brazil and guest conducted the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
Carlos Miguel Prieto was Music Director of the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra between 2002 and 2007, one of the most important musical institutions in Mexico, with whom he toured Europe and Mexico and made several important recordings. During his tenure with the Mexico City Philharmonic from 1998 to 2002, Prieto conducted over 100 concerts ranging from classical subscription programs to educational and popular concerts. A champion of contemporary music, Prieto has conducted over 50 world premieres of works by Mexican and American composers, many of which were commissioned by him. Exemplifying Mr. Prieto’s commitment to education, he has conducted the Youth Orchestra of the Americas since its inception in 2002. He has performed with this enthusiastic ensemble at the United Nations and the Kennedy Center, and has toured throughout South America and Mexico.
Carlos Miguel Prieto is the founder and music director of the Mozart-Haydn Festival, an annual series of six concerts dedicated to the symphonic music of these two composers. In October 2005 he led the sixth festival at Sala Nezahualcóyotl in Mexico City.
Prieto, who is also an accomplished violinist, has been a member of the Cuarteto Prieto (a tradition of four generations) from an early age, performing in the most important halls of Mexico, in the U.S., and throughout Europe. As a violinist, he has participated in the festivals at Aspen, Tanglewood, Interlochen, San Miguel de Allende, Cervantino, and has played as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico.
He was voted "Conductor of the Year 2002" by the Mexican Union of Music and Theater Critics, and in 1998 he received the Mozart Medal of Honor presented by the Government of Mexico and the Embassy of Austria. He has recently made a series of recordings of Latin American and Mexican music for the Urtext label.
A graduate of Princeton and Harvard Universities (where he was concertmaster of the orchestra), Prieto studied conducting with Jorge Mester, Enrique Diemecke, Charles Bruck and Michael Jinbo.
"It was while the children, invited by Maestro Prieto to sit with the orchestra on stage, watched in surprise how the sounds emanated from the instruments, that I thought about the impact that the music they were hearing would have on the lives of these young people. It is unique that so many countries have united for this good cause." --Rene Hernández, violin, El Salvador, age 23
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 Sensational podium talent and Principal Conductor of Youth Orchestra of the Americas, GUSTAVO DUDAMEL was recently hailed “a wunderkind from Venezuela – one of the hottest – and youngest – conducting properties around.” We are honored to have Maestro Dudamel’s direction and extraordinary interaction with our young musicians.
Winner of the 2004 Bamberger Symphoniker Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition, this 26-year old Venezuelan prodigy is also an accomplished violinist and composer. Maestro Dudamel has served as Music Director of the Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela since 1999, and in 2005 he was appointed Music Director of Orquesta Sinfónica de Juventudes de los Paises Andinos and Principal Conductor of Youth Orchestra of the Americas. In September 2007, he assumed the post of Principal Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony in Sweden, and débuts with the New York, Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras. In 2009, he takes up the dynamic position of Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Mr. Dudamel has guest conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, among others, and has reengagements to the Bamberger Symphoniker, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra of London, NDR Radio Orchestra Hannover, and Youth Orchestra of the Americas. In April 2007, Maestro Dudamel led the SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra of Stuttgart in an 80th Birthday concert in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.
Dudamel was born in 1981 in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. He studied violin at the Jacinto Lara Conservatory with José Luis Jiménez and continued his studies with José Francisco del Castillo at the Latin American Academy of Violin. In 1996, he began his conducting studies with Rodolfo Saglimbeni and was named Music Director of the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra. In 1999, he began his conducting studies with José Antonio Abreu. Mr. Dudamel regularly collaborates with Sir Simon Rattle, Claudio Abbado and Daniel Barenboim, and has signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon.
"Dudamel conducted a ‘blazing’ Mahler’s Fifth. From the opening trumpet fanfares, which he had painstakingly shaped in rehearsal...the last movement was breathtaking in its exhilaration. Wherever Dudamel turns up next, it will be worth the voyage." -- Financial Times (May 13, 2004)
"I am not going to talk about the quality of the orchestra or about the excellent conducting of Gustavo Dudamel. What I want to describe is the emotional impact that I felt by seeing all these young people from all the Americas, from Canada to Patagonia, sharing their dreams and their commitment to art." -- El Universal (August 3, 2005)
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