Look up number two in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Number Two, No. 2, or similar may refer to:

Film[link]

• No. 2 (film), a 2006 New Zealand film, also:
  • No. 2 (soundtrack), the soundtrack to the film
• Number 2 (Austin Powers), a character from the Austin Powers films
• Number Two (film), a 1975 film directed by Jean-Luc Godard

Television[link]

• Number Two (Battlestar Galactica) or Leoben Conoy, character from the 2004 TV Series
• Number Two (The Prisoner), a character from the British television series The Prisoner
• Numbuh Two, a character from the animated television series Codename: Kids Next Door

Music[link]

• No. 2 (band), an American alternative rock band
• N° 2, a 1959 Serge Gainsbourg album
• #2, the pseudonym of American musician Paul Gray, when performing with Slipknot
• "Number Two", from They Might Be Giants's album, Here Come the 123s

Other[link]

• 2 (number), the natural number
• No. 2 fuel oil or No. 2 diesel fuel
• Number two, character from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• No. 2, later revealed to be Stanley, an engine from the fictional Mid Sodor Railway of Rev. W. Awdry's Railway Series
• No. 2, a slang term for defecation

See also[link]

• 2 (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Gustavo Dudamel
Dudamel at the European Tour, 2008
Background information
Birth name	Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez
Born	(1981-01-26) January 26, 1981 (age 31) Barquisimeto, Lara, Venezuela
Genres	Classical
Occupations	Composer, conductor
Instruments	Violin
Years active	1999–present
Associated acts	Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Website	www.GustavoDudamel.com

Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez (born January 26, 1981) is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist. He is the principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony in Gothenburg, Sweden, and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles, California.^[1] Dudamel is also the artistic director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela.

Life and career[link]

Early life[link]

Dudamel was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, the son of a trombonist and a voice teacher.^[2] He studied music from an early age, becoming involved with El Sistema, the famous Venezuelan musical education program, and took up the violin at age ten. He soon began to study composition. He attended the Jacinto Lara Conservatory, where he was taught the violin by José Luis Jiménez. He then went on to work with José Francisco del Castillo at the Latin-American Violin Academy. He began to study conducting in 1995, first with Rodolfo Saglimbeni, then later with José Antonio Abreu. In 1999, he was appointed music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, the national youth orchestra of Venezuela, and toured several countries. He attended Charles Dutoit's master class in Buenos Aires in 2002, and worked as assistant for Simon Rattle in Berlin and Salzburg in 2003.

Conducting career[link]

Dudamel began to win a number of conducting competitions, including the Gustav Mahler Conducting Prize in Germany in 2004.^[3] His reputation began to spread, and he was noticed by conductors such as Simon Rattle and Claudio Abbado, who accepted invitations to conduct the Simón Bolívar Orchestra in Venezuela.^[4] Dudamel debuted with the Philharmonia, the Israel Philharmonic, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, among others, in 2005, and also signed a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon.

In 2005, Gustavo Dudamel first conducted the Gothenburg Symphony at the BBC Proms, on short notice as a replacement for the indisposed Neeme Järvi.^[5][6]

In 2006, Dudamel was named Principal Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony.^[7] He continues to retain his position with the Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra.^[8] He took up the Gothenburg post in 2007,^[2] and his current contract there is to 2012.^[9] Dudamel made his US conducting debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (LAP) at the Hollywood Bowl on September 13, 2005 in a program consisting of "La Noche de los Mayas" by Silvestre Revueltas and the Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5.^[10]

He made his debut at La Scala, Milan, with Don Giovanni in November 2006. On September 10, 2007, he conducted the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time at the Lucerne Festival.

On April 16, 2007, Gustavo Dudamel conducted the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra in a concert in commemoration of the 80th birthday of Pope Benedict XVI, with Hilary Hahn as solo violinist, with the Pope himself and many other church dignitaries among the audience.^[11]

In March 2008, he made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony. Dudamel was subsequently invited back to the US, to conduct the orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall in January 2007 in performances of "Dances of Galánta" by Zoltán Kodály, the third piano concerto of Sergei Rachmaninoff with Yefim Bronfman as soloist, and Béla Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra (the latter of which was recorded live and subsequently released by Deutsche Grammophon).

Music Director, Los Angeles Philharmonic[link]

In April 2007, during a guest conducting engagement with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Dudamel was named the LAP's next music director as of the 2009–2010 season, succeeding Esa-Pekka Salonen. His initial contract in Los Angeles is for five years, beginning in September 2009.^[12][13][14] Dudamel began his tenure as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic on September 28, 2009 with a rehearsal of Beethoven's 9th Symphony that included the Los Angeles Master Chorale and representatives of eight community-based choruses. His first official rehearsal with the orchestra followed on September 30. On October 3 he conducted Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the Hollywood Bowl in "Bienvenido Gustavo," a free concert, and conducted his official inaugural concert featuring the world premiere of John Adams' "City Noir" and Mahler's Symphony No. 1 with his new orchestra in Walt Disney Concert Hall on October 8.

Awards and media[link]

Dudamel is featured in the documentary film Tocar y Luchar, which covers El Sistema. Dudamel and the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar received the WQXR Gramophone Special Recognition Award in New York City in November 2007. Another US television news feature on Dudamel was on 60 Minutes in February 2008, entitled "Gustavo the Great".

On July 23, 2009, Dudamel was selected by the Eighth Glenn Gould Prize laureate José Antonio Abreu as winner of the prestigious The City of Toronto Glenn Gould Protégé Prize.

Dudamel is featured in the 2011 documentary "Let The Children Play," a film which focuses on his work advocating for music as a way to enrich children's lives.^[15]

Gramophone, the British classical music magazine, named Dudamel its 2011 Gramophone Artist of the Year. Past recipients of the award include Yo-Yo Ma, Michael Tilson Thomas, Riccardo Chailly, Cecilia Bartoli and Antonio Pappano, to name only a few. The announcement was made at the Gramophone Awards in London on October 6, 2011.

In 2011, Dudamel appeared in the Visit California promotional film aimed at boosting tourism from the UK.

On February 12, 2012, Gustavo Dudamel won a Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance, for his recording of Brahms Symphony No. 4 for the label Deutsche Grammophon.

Personal life[link]

Gustavo and his wife, Eloísa Maturén

Dudamel married his girlfriend, Eloísa Maturén, in 2006 in Caracas. Maturén, also a Venezuelan native, is a classically trained ballet dancer and a journalist.

The Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra combined forces with the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela and the Orfeon Universitario of the Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado to make the event a special musical celebration. The wedding took place in the chapel at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Montalbán, a suburb of Caracas.

They have a son, Martín Dudamel Maturén, a U.S. citizen.^[16]

Discography[link]

• 2006: "Beethoven, Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7"
• 2007: "Birthday Concert for Pope Benedict XVI"
• 2007: "Mahler, Symphony No. 5"
• 2008: "Fiesta"
• 2008: "The Promise Of Music"
• 2008: "Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5, Francesca Da Rimini"
• 2009: "Gustavo Dudamel - Live From Salzburg"
• 2009: "Discoveries"
• 2009: "El Sistema - Music To Change Life"
• 2009: "The Inaugural Concert"
• 2009: "State Of The Art - The Story Of Deutsche Grammophon"
• 2010: "Stravinsky: Le Sacre Du Printemps; Revueltas: La Noche De Los Mayas"
• 2011: "Tchaikovsky & Shakespeare"
• 2011: "New Year's Eve Concert 2010"
• 2011: "Sibelius: Symphony No. 2; Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5; Bruckner: Symphony No. 9"
• 2012: "Beethoven: Symphony No. 3"

References[link]

Notes

Further reading

• Tunstall, Tricia, Changing Lives: Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema, and the Transformative Power of Music, New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 2012 ISBN 978039307896

External links[link]

• Gustavo Dudamel official website
• Gustavo Dudamel biography at Deutsche Grammophon
• Conductor Gustavo Dudamel at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with performance schedule
• Gustavo Dudamel collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Profile (2008) and interview (2010) at The Guardian
• Works by or about Gustavo Dudamel in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Gustavo Dudamel at the Internet Movie Database
• Gustavo Dudamel and Eloísa Maturen's civil wedding (Spanish), el universal.com, 25 November 2005 – includes wedding photographs
• Fundación de Estado para el Sistema Nacional de Orquesta Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela (El Sistema)

Video

• 60 Minutes (CBS-TV): "Gustavo the Great" February 17, 2008 (video and transcript)
• Celebracion! Dudamel, Florez, and the L.A. Philharmonic, 1:55:22, Great Performances on PBS, December 29, 2010, video-only link with related videos
• Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic: The Inaugural Concert, 51:41, Great Performances on PBS, October 21, 2009, video-only link with related videos
• JANERA: Dudamel in da House, by Nicole E. Foster (article and video)
• WQXR Press Release, 12 November 2007, "The 2007 WQXR Gramophone Special Recognition Award Is Presented to Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela on the Stage of Carnegie Hall on November 10".
• Danzón no. 2 on YouTube by Arturo Márquez. Gustavo Dudamel and Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra
• Gustavo Dudamel and the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra performing for TED 2009
• Suite Concertante for World-WWs & Orch, Movs. 6 & 7 on YouTube by Pedro Eustache (composer-soloist). Gustavo Dudamel and Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra
• Mahler 5, Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela

Photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1937

Arthur Rubinstein (January 28, 1887 – December 20, 1982) was a Polish-American classical pianist who received international acclaim for his performances of the music written by a variety of composers; many regard him as the greatest Chopin interpreter of his time.^[1][2] He is widely considered one of the greatest classical pianists of the twentieth century.^[1]

Early life[link]

Rubinstein grew-up on Piotrkowska street, Łódź, Poland

Rubinstein was born in Łódź, Congress Poland (part of the Russian Empire for the entire time Rubinstein resided there) on January 28, 1887, to a family of assimilated Jews. He was the youngest of eight children,^[3] and his father was a wealthy factory owner.^[4]

Rubinstein's birth name was Artur Rubinstein, although in English-speaking countries, he preferred to be known as Arthur Rubinstein. However, his United States impresario Sol Hurok insisted he be billed as Artur, and records were released in the West under both versions of his name.^[5]

At the age of two, Rubinstein demonstrated perfect pitch and a fascination with the piano, watching his elder sister's piano lessons. By the age of four, he was recognised as a child prodigy. Rubinstein first studied piano in Warsaw. His early piano training came from Karl Heinrich Barth.

As a student of Barth, Rubinstein inherited a renowned pedagogical lineage: Barth was himself a pupil of Liszt, who had been taught by Czerny, who had in turn been a pupil of Beethoven. The Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim, on hearing the four-year-old child play, was greatly impressed, and began to mentor the young prodigy. In 1894, at the age of 7, Rubinstein had his first public performance.^[6]

At the age of ten, Rubinstein moved to Berlin to continue his studies, and made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1900, at the age of 13.^[1]

Career[link]

In 1904, Rubinstein moved to Paris to launch his career in earnest, where he met the composers Maurice Ravel and Paul Dukas and the violinist Jacques Thibaud. He also played Camille Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No. 2 in the presence of the composer. Through the family of Juliusz Wertheim (to whose understanding of Chopin's genius Rubinstein attributed his own inspiration in the works of that composer) he formed friendships with the violinist Paul Kochanski and composer Karol Szymanowski.^[7]

Rubinstein in 1906

Rubinstein made his New York debut at Carnegie Hall in 1906, and thereafter toured the United States, Austria, Italy, and Russia. According to his own testimony and that of his son in François Reichenbach's film L'Amour de la vie (1969), he was not well-received in the United States. By 1908, Rubinstein, destitute and desperate, hounded by creditors, and threatened with being evicted from his Berlin hotel room, made a failed attempt to hang himself. Subsequently he said that he felt "reborn" and endowed with an unconditional love of life. In 1912, he made his London debut, and found a home there in the Edith Grove, Chelsea, musical salon of Paul and Muriel Draper, in company with Kochanski, Igor Stravinsky, Jacques Thibaud, Pablo Casals, Pierre Monteux and others.^[7]

During World War I, Rubinstein stayed in London, giving recitals and accompanying the violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. In 1916 and 1917, he made his first tours in Spain and South America where he was wildly acclaimed. It was during those tours that he developed a lifelong enthusiasm for the music of Enrique Granados, Isaac Albéniz, Manuel de Falla, and Heitor Villa-Lobos. He was the dedicatee of Villa-Lobos's Rudepoêma and Stravinsky's Trois mouvements de Petrouchka.

Rubinstein was disgusted by Germany's conduct during the war, and never played there again. His last performance in Germany was in 1914.^[7]

In the fall of 1919 Rubinstein toured the English Provinces with soprano Emma Calvé and tenor Vladimir Rosing.^[8]

In 1921 Rubinstein gave two American tours, travelling to New York with Karol Szymanowski and his close friend Paul Kochanski, who died in 1934. The autumn voyage was the occasion of Kochanski's permanent migration to the USA.^[7]

In 1932, the pianist, who stated he neglected his technique in his early years, relying instead on natural talent, withdrew from concert life for several months of intensive study and practice.

During World War II, Rubinstein's career became centered in the United States. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1946.

A cast of the pianist's hands, at the Łódź museum

Although best known as a recitalist and concerto soloist, Rubinstein was also considered an outstanding chamber musician, partnering with such luminaries as Henryk Szeryng, Jascha Heifetz, Pablo Casals, Gregor Piatigorsky, and the Guarneri Quartet. Rubinstein recorded much of the core piano repertoire, particularly that of the Romantic composers. At the time of his death, the New York Times in describing him wrote, "Chopin was his specialty . . . it was [as] a Chopinist that he was considered by many without peer".^[1] With the exception of the Études, he recorded most of the works of Chopin. ^[9] He was one of the earliest champions of the Spanish and South American composers and of French composers who, in the early twentieth century, were still considered "modern" such as Debussy and Ravel. In addition, Rubinstein was the first champion of the music of his compatriot Karol Szymanowski. Rubinstein, in conversation with Alexander Scriabin, named Brahms as his favorite composer, a response that enraged Scriabin.^[10]

Rubinstein, who was fluent in eight languages,^[11] held much of the repertoire, not simply that of the piano, in his formidable memory.^[11] According to his memoirs, he learned César Franck’s Symphonic Variations while on a train en route to the concert, without the benefit of a piano, practicing passages in his lap. Rubinstein described his memory as photographic, to the extent that he would visualize an errant coffee stain while recalling a score.^[12]

Rubinstein also had exceptionally developed aural abilities, which allowed him to play whole symphonies in his mind. "At breakfast, I might pass a Brahms symphony in my head" he said. "Then I am called to the phone, and half an hour later I find it's been going on all the time and I'm in the third movement." This ability was often tested by Rubinstein's friends, who would randomly pick extracts from opera and symphonic scores and ask him to play them from memory.^[1]

By the mid-1970s, Rubinstein's eyesight had begun to deteriorate. He retired from the stage at age eighty-nine in May 1976, giving his last concert at London's Wigmore Hall, where he had first played nearly seventy years before.

Personal life[link]

Rubinstein in 1963

Family[link]

Of his youth, Rubinstein once said: "It is said of me that when I was young I divided my time impartially among wine, women and song. I deny this categorically. Ninety percent of my interests were women."^[1] At the age of forty-five, in 1932, Rubinstein married Nela Młynarska, a twenty-four-year-old Polish ballerina (who had studied with Mary Wigman). Nela was the daughter of the Polish conductor Emil Młynarski and his wife Anna Hrynewicz, who was from a Lithuanian aristocratic family. Nela had first fallen in love with Rubinstein when she was eighteen, but when Rubinstein began an affair with an Italian princess she married Mieczysław Munz.^[13][14] Nela subsequently divorced Munz and three years later married Rubinstein.^[14] They had five children (one died in infancy), including daughter Eva, who married William Sloane Coffin, and son John Rubinstein, a Tony Award-winning actor and father of actor Michael Weston.^[15] Nela subsequently authored Nela's Cookbook, which included the dishes she prepared for the couple's legendary parties.^[16]

Both before and during his marriage, Rubinstein carried on a series of affairs with women, including Irene Curzon. In 1977, at age 90, he left his wife for the young Annabelle Whitestone, though he and Nela never divorced. Rubinstein also fathered a daughter with a South American woman,^[6] and he may have been the father of Muriel Draper's son, Sanders, who perished in World War II.^[6]

Jewish affiliation[link]

While he was an agnostic, Rubinstein was nevertheless proud of his Jewish heritage.^[17] He was a great friend of Israel,^[18] which he visited several times with his wife and children, giving concerts with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, recitals, and master classes at the Jerusalem Music Centre.

Polish affinity[link]

Throughout his life, Rubinstein was deeply attached to Poland. At the inauguration of the UN in 1945, Rubinstein showed his Polish patriotism at a concert for the delegates. He began the concert by stating his deep disappointment that the conference did not have a delegation from Poland. Rubinstein later described becoming overwhelmed by a blind fury and angrily pointing out to the public the absence of the Polish flag. He then sat down at the piano and played the Polish national anthem loudly and slowly, repeating the final part in a great thunderous forte. When he had finished, the public rose to their feet and gave him a great ovation.^[19]

On practice[link]

Rubinstein believed that a foremost danger for young pianists is to practice too much. Rubinstein regularly advised that young pianists should practice no more than three hours a day. "I was born very, very lazy and I don't always practice very long," he said, "but I must say, in my defense, that it is not so good, in a musical way, to overpractice. When you do, the music seems to come out of your pocket. If you play with a feeling of 'Oh, I know this,' you play without that little drop of fresh blood that is necessary – and the audience feels it." Of his own practice methods, he said, "At every concert I leave a lot to the moment. I must have the unexpected, the unforeseen. I want to risk, to dare. I want to be surprised by what comes out. I want to enjoy it more than the audience. That way the music can bloom anew. It's like making love. The act is always the same, but each time it's different."^[1][20]

Pupils[link]

Rubinstein was reluctant to teach in his earlier life, refusing to accept William Kapell's request for lessons. It was not until the late 1950s that he accepted his first student Dubravka Tomšič Srebotnjak. Other students of Rubinstein include François-René Duchâble, Avi Schönfeld, Ann Schein Carlyss, Eugen Indjic, Dean Kramer, and Marc Laforêt. Rubinstein also gave master classes towards the end of his life.^[21]

Death and legacy[link]

Rubinstein died in his sleep at his home in Geneva, Switzerland, on 20 December 1982, at the age of ninety-five, and his body was cremated.^[1] On the first anniversary of his death, an urn holding his ashes was buried in Jerusalem — as specified in his will — in a dedicated plot now dubbed "Rubinstein Forest" overlooking the Jerusalem Forest. This was arranged with Israel's chief rabbis so that the main forest wouldn't fall under religious laws governing cemeteries.^[23]

In October 2007, his family donated to the Juilliard School an extensive collection of original manuscripts, manuscript copies and published editions that had been seized by the Germans during World War II from his Paris residence. Seventy-one items were returned to his four children, marking the first time that Jewish property kept in the Berlin State Library was returned to the legal heirs.^[24]

In 1974, Jan Jacob Bistritzky established the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, held every three years in Israel, intended to promote the careers of young and outstanding pianists. The Arthur Rubinstein Award and other prizes are presented to the winners. The Rubinstein Competition also commissions works by Israeli composers.^[25]

Recordings[link]

In 1910, Rubinstein recorded Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 10 for the Polish Favorit label.^[6] The pianist was displeased with the acoustic recording process, saying it made the piano sound "like a banjo" and did not record again until the advent of electrical recording. However, Rubinstein made numerous player piano music rolls for the Aeolian Duo-Art system and the American Piano Company (AMPICO) in the 1920s.

Beginning in 1928, Rubinstein began to record extensively for RCA Victor, making a large number of solo, concerto and chamber music recordings until his retirement in 1976. As recording technology improved, from 78-rpm discs to LPs and stereophonic recordings, Rubinstein re-recorded much of his repertoire. All of his RCA recordings have been released on compact disc and amount to about 107 hours of music.

Rubinstein preferred to record in the studio, and during his lifetime approved for release only about three hours of live recordings. However, since the pianist’s death, several labels have issued live recordings taken from radio broadcasts.

Honors[link]

Sculpture of Arthur Rubinstein on Piotrkowska Street, in Łódź, Poland, where Rubinstein once lived

• Sonning Award (1971; Denmark)
• On April 1, 1976, Arthur Rubinstein was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Gerald Ford.
• In 1977, he was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE).^[26]
• Grand Officier of the Legion of Honour.
• Kennedy Center Honors (1978)
• Officer's Cross (Krzyż Oficerski) of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
• Commendatore of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
• Member of the Order of Alfonso X the Wise.
• Officier of the Order of Leopold of Belgium.
• Voted into Gramophone's Hall of Fame in 2012.^[27]

Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance:

• Pierre Fournier, Arthur Rubinstein & Henryk Szeryng for Schubert: Trios Nos. 1 in B-flat, Op. 99 and 2 in E-flat, Op. 100 (Piano Trios) (Grammy Awards of 1976)
• Pierre Fournier, Arthur Rubinstein & Henryk Szeryng for Brahms: Trios (Complete)/Schumann: Trio No. 1 in D Minor (Grammy Awards of 1975)

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra):

• Arthur Rubinstein for 'Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-flat/Schumann: Fantasiestücke, Op. 12 (Grammy Awards of 1978)
• Arthur Rubinstein for Beethoven: Sonatas No. 21 in C (Waldstein) and No. 18 in E-flat (Grammy Awards of 1960)

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1994)

Bibliography[link]

• Rubinstein, Arthur (1973). My Young Years. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-46890-2. 
• Rubinstein, Arthur (1980). My Many Years. New York: New York. ISBN 0-394-42253-8. 

See also[link]

• List of Polish people (music)
• Arthur Rubinstein – The Love of Life

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Arthur Rubinstein

• Arthur Rubinstein at Allmusic
• Arthur Rubinstein profile at PBS American Masters
• (Italian) Arthur Rubinstein Musical Association – Italy
• Homage to Arthur Rubinstein (Fansite)
• The Arthur Rubinstein International Competition
• The Presidency Project – Remarks Upon Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Arthur Rubinstein.