Fidelio
On April 14-16, 2022, Gustavo will conduct the LA Phil and a star-studded cast in a new production of Ludwig van Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The event is directed by Alberto Arvelo and Joaquín Solano (Ximo Solano) and produced in collaboration with Los Angeles’s Tony Award®-winning Deaf West Theatre, Deaf performers of El Sistema Venezuela’s Coro de Manos Blancas (White Hands Choir), and The Dudamel Foundation.
Created for both Deaf and hearing audiences, the semi-staged production draws on both American and Venezuelan Sign Language’s expressive, gestural poetry and Beethoven’s music, to tell a powerful tale of redemption and liberation. The idea for the production was originally developed by Gustavo through The Dudamel Foundation, which he co-chairs with his wife, María Valverde, as a means of elevating Deaf artistry to illuminate the opera’s central theme: the fight to overcome obstacles in order to discover one’s own personal freedom.
