Dudamel unbound

When Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic, an electric charge zips through Walt Disney Concert Hall. It flows between orchestra and conductor, conductor and audience, connecting historic composers and contemporary listeners and subtly shaping the music. In a live concert, the audience, no matter how reverently silent, is as much a participant as are thousands of screaming, hand-waving single ladies at a Beyonce show.

FOR THE RECORD:
Dudamel: A Nov. 13 editorial said that tickets to Gustavo Dudamel’s first concert as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic “sold out in record time.” The tickets were dispensed in record time, but the concert was free. —

In a bold move, the L.A. Phil has decided to test whether such a connection can extend beyond the walls of Disney Hall by broadcasting live concerts in movie theaters, beginning in January. Can high definition and a bucket of popcorn (for $20) capture the magic of the concert hall, the communion of audience and orchestra (for up to $175 a ticket)? The L.A. Phil is counting on three factors: the high caliber of the orchestra, the architectural aesthetics of the hall and most of all, the Dudamel Effect.

The 29-year-old Venezuelan conductor is a “phenomenon,” according to Times music critic Mark Swed. Tickets for his first concert — at the 18,000-seat Hollywood Bowl — sold out in record time, and despite the region’s deep recession, Dudamel-led concerts routinely sell out at Disney Hall too. The ripple effect benefits the entire organization, with audiences at 92% capacity for the current season.

Will watching Dudamel at a remove be less than electric? Perhaps not. When Arthur Fiedler, the venerable conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, set out to make classical music accessible and popular, he did so in part by televising concerts, beginning in 1969. And it worked. Fiedler kept audiences enraptured both in their living rooms and in Boston Symphony Hall — and created a cult of personality that endured until his death in 1979.

Luring listeners to a movie theater is more difficult than luring them to their televisions, but classical music is increasingly reaching audiences through nontraditional outlets. The London Symphony Orchestra, for example, collaborated with YouTube last year to create a YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Musicians around the world uploaded video auditions, performances that garnered 15 million hits before judges selected the winners, who gathered for a concert at Carnegie Hall. This year’s orchestra will perform Nov. 28 at the Sydney Opera House.

The synergy among video, audio, Internet and traditional concert hall is still evolving. Add the L.A. Phil’s charismatic young conductor and some popcorn to the mix, and it may well crescendo.