The Dudamel Circus is finally in L.A. -- surrounded by the usual συκοφάντες.
Friend of OC Tim Mangan was briefed about the whole sorry mess:
There were a number of dumb questions from various members of the press (I expected no less), including stuff like “What’s on your iPod that would surprise us?” (He digs Sinatra.) But the lady from the Huffington Post took the cake. She sounded as if she wanted to have Dudamel’s child. “Sycophant” is the word, I think. She called Dudamel “the Obama of music.”
Dudamel was charming throughout, and genuine. I’m not cynical. The hype surrounding him may be hard to take at times, but he’s good, and appears to have his head on straight. His music directorship is going to be marked by his efforts to take classical music to the people, to the regular guy, but I don’t sense that he equates that with cheapening the product in any way. Just making it available to more folks. The phrase “creative use of digital platforms” was uttered, though not by him.