Gustavo Dudamel conducts Abreu and Mahler — With Marianne Crebassa

The bold and charismatic Gustavo Dudamel returns to his roots, leading the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra — the first orchestra he ever conducted as a teenager — in one of the most formidable and poignant monuments of classical music: Mahler's Third! The longest symphony in the standard repertoire, Mahler's Symphony No. 3 in D minor is a six-movement masterpiece, a paean to life, love, and nature that received a 15-minute standing ovation at its 1902 premiere and has enraptured generations of audiences since. To round out the grand forces in this monumental undertaking, award-winning mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa and the women's and children's choirs of the Orchestre de Paris join maestro Dudamel and the world-class Venezuelan orchestra — founded in 1978 by José Antonio Abreu, whose works Sol que das vida a los trigos and Luz Tú open the festivities.

Photo © Danny Clinch / LA Philharmonic