Gustavo Dudamel's Yale Residency Explores the Power of Music to Connect and Inspire
Public conversations, film screenings, and community programs highlight Dudamel's weeklong residency
Yale University, in partnership with the Dudamel Foundation, will welcome internationally acclaimed conductor and arts advocate Gustavo Dudamel for a weeklong residency in November to explore the power of music to connect and inspire. The residency will invite Yale and its communities into a deeper conversation about listening, access, participation, and collective life.
Harkness Tower, New Haven, CT. Photo courtesy of Yale University.
Through a dynamic series of conversations, film screenings, and performances beginning Monday, Nov. 16, the residency will examine how the arts can encourage participation, foster connections, and enrich and transform lives. The residency will culminate on Thursday, Nov. 19, with the presentation of the Henry E. Howland Memorial Prize and a special performance by the Yale Philharmonia, conducted by Dudamel and Grete Pedersen in Woolsey Hall. Tickets for the public performance are sold out; however, a livestream will be available via the Yale School of Music.
“Music has taught me that listening is an active, transformative act. In an orchestra, every voice matters, not because we are trying to become the same, but because we learn to hear one another and to create something together. To receive the Howland Prize from Yale is a profound honor, and I am especially grateful for the opportunity to spend this time in conversation with students, artists, educators, and the New Haven community. I am also grateful that this residency, in partnership with the Dudamel Foundation, creates a space for these conversations to happen. At this moment in my life, I am deeply interested in what we can learn about freedom, belonging, and building a community from each other, and I look forward to exploring these questions together at Yale,” said Dudamel.
Across the week's programs, music will provide a nexus for bringing together artists, students, scholars, and New Haven community members, and the residency will create opportunities for dialogue and engagement across disciplines and experiences.
"This residency reflects Yale's commitment to bringing diverse perspectives into conversation with one another," said Sunil Amrith, vice provost for international affairs and director of the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale. "By convening individuals from such varied backgrounds, it creates opportunities to explore how music can illuminate questions of belonging, participation, and the shared experiences that sustain public life."
Isaac Nakhimovsky, Yale professor of history and humanities, who nominated Dudamel for the Howland Prize, added: "I nominated Gustavo Dudamel for his lived commitment to music as every child's birthright. Through music, he has transformed lives, revitalized a great tradition, and made real the promise that treasures of human culture belong to everyone. His work, locally as well as globally, carries one of the most urgent and meaningful messages of our time."
While performances offer an opportunity to engage with Dudamel's artistic vision and commitment to music education, the residency, designed in partnership with the Dudamel Foundation, serves as a space for exchange and civic engagement. Participants will explore ideas that extend beyond the concert hall, inviting new perspectives. Questions like, “What can music teach us about freedom and collective life?” will shape the arc of the residency week and inform what participants carry home to their own communities.
The residency begins with “Empowerment through Music,” a conversation between Dudamel and David Lang, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and an adjunct professor of composition at the Yale School of Music. The discussion will explore the role of music in expanding opportunity, nurturing creativity, and shaping individual and collective futures. The event will continue with a performance by students participating in Yale's Music In Schools Initiative, highlighting the transformative potential of music education and the importance of investing in the next generation of artists and citizens.
A second public event, “Music Access for All,” will examine questions of accessibility, inclusion, and participation through a screening of the documentary El Canto de las Manos, directed by María Valverde. Following the film, Dudamel will join a panel of Yale faculty members and moderator DJ Kurs, artistic director of Deaf West Theatre, for a conversation about removing barriers to artistic engagement and creating cultural spaces in which more people can fully participate.
The residency is presented through a collaboration with the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale, the Yale School of Music, and partners across the university.
All residency events will be accessible to people with disabilities, with accommodations available as needed, including ASL interpretation, captioning, accessible seating, and other services to support full participation.
Information regarding accessibility, registration links, ticket details, and livestream links are available here.
Woolsey Hall, New Haven, CT. Photo courtesy of Yale University.
Public programming schedule (all times Eastern)
Monday, Nov. 16, 5 p.m.
“Empowerment through Music”
Yale Schwarzman Center Underground, 500 College St.
Registration link
A fireside conversation with Gustavo Dudamel and David Lang, followed by a performance by students from Yale's Music in Schools Initiative. Free and open to the public. Registration required. Refreshments will be served.
Tuesday, Nov. 17, 6:30 p.m. (Panel discussion livestream begins at 8:25 p.m.)
“Music Access for All”
Sprague Hall, 470 College St.
Registration link
A screening of “El Canto de las Manos” followed by a panel discussion with Dudamel and Yale faculty to be moderated by DJ Kurs, artistic director of Deaf West Theater. Directed by María Valverde, the film follows three Deaf Venezuelan musicians as they embark on a journey to perform a groundbreaking sign language version of Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” discovering how music can transcend sound and transform the way we experience connection, expression, and belonging. Free and open to the public. Registration required.
Thursday, Nov. 19, 7:30 p.m.
“Henry E. Howland Memorial Prize Presentation and Yale Philharmonia Performance”
Woolsey Hall, 500 College St
Sold Out (Livestream available)
A concert featuring Dudamel, who will share the podium with Grete Pedersen, principal conductor of Yale Schola Cantorum, on works by Gabriela Ortiz, Beethoven, and Stravinsky. The performance will feature soloists from Yale Opera, and Music in Schools Initiative students will join Yale Philharmonia in Holst’s “Jupiter” as a side-by-side finale.
