Conductor Gustavo Dudamel dedicates final Hollywood Bowl concert to Venezuela relief

Gustavo Dudamel's final concert as music and artistic director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic will double as a benefit for his home country of Venezuela, following twin earthquakes that struck in late June, the Los Angeles Times reported. The August 23 performance at the Hollywood Bowl, previously billed as "Celebrating Gustavo at the Bowl: A Musical Legacy," has been renamed "A Concert for Venezuela," with proceeds supporting communities hit by a disaster that killed more than 3,300 people and left more than 30,000 reported missing.

Dudamel, a conductor born and raised in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, has led the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 17 years and has credited his own musical education to El Sistema, the country's government-funded youth music program. He has also served as music director of Venezuela's Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra since 1999, a role that has kept him closely tied to the country's classical music scene even while based in Los Angeles.

Dudamel and the orchestra's musicians will donate their services for the performance, and the L.A. Philharmonic is pledging $50,000 of its own toward the relief effort, according to L.A. Phil President and Chief Executive Kim Noltemy. Money raised will go to Dudamel's Earthquake Recovery to Support Venezuelan Communities fund, run in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The concert caps a four-night run billed as "Celebrating Gustavo at the Bowl" and marks the end of Dudamel's 17 years leading the orchestra, as he prepares to leave Los Angeles for New York. Fans looking for the date, or for other upcoming shows, can check Musicsuey's tour guide for the latest listings.

The Philharmonic has not yet released a full program or announced special guests for the August 23 show, though organizers say more details will follow closer to the date. Dudamel said in a statement that the concert is meant as "an invitation to stand together and transform our compassion into action" for a country he called forever his home.