Dudamel in a barrio

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No, that’s not Las Vegas. It was in the Caracas barrio of La Vega where, over the weekend, Gustavo Dudamel led a free concert. While Angelenos complained about having to stand in line or speed dial the day before in hope of getting a free ticket to Dudamel’s Hollywood Bowl’s “Bievenido Gustavo” Oct. 3 concert, Venezuelans merely needed to show up on the street.

To celebrate the 442nd anniversary of Caracas, Dudamel led the Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra on Sunday afternoon in Rossini’s “William Tell” Overture and other short classical and Venezuelan favorites. And according to an architecture blogger in Caracas, who joined the thousands of people crammed in the streets and watching out their houses, the concert would have been impressive anywhere, “but the unlikely setting in the center of a barrio made in magical.” The Venezuela news source, Noticias 24, has more photos.

One of 22 parishes of Caracas, La Vega, which resembles in places a shanty town has nearly 150,000 residents and is noted for its crime. But the barrio also supports many cultural youth programs, and the concert was sponsored by Caracas’ mayor to bring attention to the more positive side of life there.

We in Los Angeles have a mayor as well. We, sadly, have our barrios. But happily, we will soon have Dudamel. Any chance that those turned away at the Bowl on Saturday and those without means to go to Walt Disney Concert Hall might not get a concert of their own?

-- Mark Swed

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