Arte Para Todos: Gustavo the gifted

It wouldn't be too large of a stretch to call Gustavo Dudamel this generation's Leonard Bernstein; a brilliant young conductor who has wowed the world of classical music. Dudamel is the main success story from "El Sistema"- Venezuela's famed music education program for thousands of youths- and has parlayed his talents to become music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. At the age of 29, the wunderkind he has not forgotten his roots in Barquisimeto as observed in this 2008 "60 Minutes" interview:

"The music saved me. I'm sure of this. With all these bad things around you, you are exposed to these things, very close. The music give me a way to be far of these things," Dudamel says...

Asked if he feels like the ambassador of "the system," Dudamel tells (correspondent Bob) Simon, "In a good way, yes. I think that it's not Gustavo Dudamel. It's the Venezuelan system."

Below is a 2007 performance of Dudamel conducting a stirring rendition from his homeland's Simon Bolívar Youth Orchestra. (Dudamel has served as the Orchestra's artistic director for over a decade).

Online Sources - YouTube, CBS News, BBC News