Gustavo Dudamel makes his case for keeping quiet on Venezuelan politics

As the Los Angeles Philharmonic prepares for its season-opening gala concert on Tuesday at Walt Disney Concert Hall, music and artistic director Gustavo Dudamel has taken the unusual step of penning an editorial in the Los Angeles Times in which he addresses the touchy subject of politics in his native Venezuela.

The conductor explains why he has studiously avoided discussing current affairs and will continue to hold a neutral public position on the subject.

Dudamel’s editorial, headlined “Why I Don’t Talk Venezuelan Politics,� is a 650-word essay in which he describes himself as “neither a politician nor an activist.� He says, “I will not publicly take a political position or align myself with one point of view or one party in Venezuela or in the United States.�

The conductor explains that if he aligns himself with one political philosophy or another, then he would be politicizing El Sistema, the Venezuelan music education system that provided Dudamel with his training.

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Dudamel has come under increasing pressure in recent years from critics who want him to speak out against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s crackdown on political dissenters who have taken to the streets in protest of the country’s worsening economic and social conditions.

Last year, Dudamel was greeted by protesters at Disney Hall who excoriated him for his close relationship with the Venezuelan government.

El Sistema, which was founded 40 years ago, receives government financing and has maintained strong ties to the regimes of Hugo Chavez and his successor. In 2013, Dudamel canceled an L.A. Phil appearance to attend Chavez’s funeral.

The Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, which Dudamel leads and which consists of current and past El Sistema musicians, has played at state functions and is seen by some as an official orchestra of the current regime.

To his detractors, Dudamel’s editorial may come across as a tightrope-walking piece of say-nothing equivocation.

“El Sistema is far too important to subject to everyday political discourse and battles. It must remain above the fray,� he writes.

Dudamel’s representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

A Tuesday gala concert will feature musicians from the L.A. Phil and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra in a program of music by Beethoven. The Venezuelan musicians will stay in L.A. through mid-October to perform concerts as part of the L.A. Phil’s “Immortal Beethoven� series.

Twitter: @DavidNgLAT