Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel has come under fire from his country’s president for turning his back on the regime that he used to champion. Nicolas Maduro, whose four years in charge of the South American country have been marked by increasing levels of lawlessness, corruption and violence, has criticised the maestro for spending time in the US and Europe rather than in his homeland – Dudamel is the music director of both the Los Angeles Philharmonic and, in Venezuela itself, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra (SBSO). ‘I hope God forgives you,’ said Maduro on TV. ‘Welcome to politics, Gustavo Dudamel. But act with ethics, and don’t let yourself be deceived into attacking the architects of this beautiful movement of young boys and girls.’
The president was referring to the government-funded…
