Gustavo Dudamel will become music director of the New York Philharmonic in 2026, ending a heralded tenure with the Los Angeles Philharmonic that began in 2009.

The 42-year-old Venezuelan conductor agreed to a five-year contract as the orchestra’s artistic and music director, becoming the first Latino to head the orchestra since its founding in 1842.

“What the orchestra told us very, very clearly was that the person that they wanted, their dream candidate, was Gustavo,” the New York Philharmonic’s chief executive, Deborah Borda, said. “When you’re trying to recruit the most sought-after conductor in the world, you don’t run a sort of classic search.”

Mr. Dudamel — who will hold the title of music director designate in 2025-26 — will also remain music director of the Paris Opera, a role he’s held since 2021, and of Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, a position he took in 1999 that gained him international recognition.

Mr. Dudamel, in a statement, cited the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca’s quote: “Every step we take on earth brings us to a new world.”

“I gaze with joy and excitement at the world that lies before me in New York City, and with pride and love at the world I have shared — and will continue to share — with my dear Angelenos over the next three seasons and beyond,” Mr. Dudamel said. “All of us are united in our belief that culture creates a better world, and in our dream that music is a fundamental right.”

Jaap van Zweden said in September 2021 that he would leave the New York Philharmonic after the 2023-24 season, a six-season tenure as music director that will be the shortest since Pierre Boulez succeeded Leonard Bernstein and led the orchestra from 1971-77.

Ms. Borda told the New York orchestra and Mr. Dudamel informed the Los Angeles musicians of his decision in simultaneous announcements during respective rehearsals at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall and Walt Disney Concert Hall. 

The New York Philharmonic moved back into Geffen Hall in October following a $550 million renovation that improved acoustics, sightlines and amenities. The New York orchestra plans a February 20 news conference to introduce him.

Mr. Dudamel is among the few conductors who in recent years have gained mainstream attention. A character in Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle” appeared to be based on Mr. Dudamel, who conducted the soundtrack to Steven Spielberg’s 2021 remake of Bernstein’s “West Side Story.”

Mr. Dudamel made his New York Philharmonic debut in November 2007. He has conducted the orchestra 26 times and is scheduled to lead three performances of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony from May 19-21.

“This infectious joy and deep musicality and humanism connects with audiences,” Ms. Borda said of Mr. Dudamel.

Ms. Borda, who is retiring as the New York Philharmonic’s CEO at the end of the current season, was the Los Angeles orchestra’s chief executive when she hired Mr. Dudamel to succeed Esa-Pekka Salonen as music director for the 2009-10 season.

“I remember the first day we tried to book him — he didn’t even have a manager. And look at how he’s progressed since then,” Mr. Borda said. “I hadn’t seen a conductor like this since Bernstein.”

Ms. Borda, who returned to New York in 2017 for her second stint in charge, will be succeeded by Gary Ginstling, who had been head of Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra since 2017.

Mr. Dudamel emerged from Venezuela’s music education program known as “El Sistema (The System)” and gained praise from his work with young musicians. 

While Mr. Dudamel at first declined to speak of Venezuela’s economic and political turmoil, he criticized his nation’s government in 2017 for suppressing protests. 

Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, then canceled the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra’s American tours.

Associated Press