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Alberto Arvelo

About this Artist

Film director and writer Alberto Arvelo returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic after directing the critically acclaimed production of Beethoven’s opera, Fidelio, in 2022. Arvelo’s Latin jazz documentary Guaco: Semblanza received a Grammy nomination in 2017. His film The Liberator, starring Édgar Ramírez, María Valverde, Danny Huston, Iwan Rheon, and Gary Lewis, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and was part of the Best Foreign Film short list for the 2015 Academy Awards. His film A House with a View of the Sea (2001) was an official selection of the Cannes Film Festival and received 18 international awards.

Arvelo initiated an original film movement known as Cine Átomo, focused on creating opportunities for young Latin American directors. The concept stems from the idea of producing uncommon, reflective, and humane movies with minimal and essential crew and production components. Based on a Cervantes short story, the first movie produced using the mechanics of this movement was Habana Havana (2004), directed by Arvelo. The film received a dozen international recognitions.

In 2015, Arvelo directed the stage and video artwork of the multimedia performance of Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Hollywood Bowl, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and starring Bryce Dallas Howard. In 2010, Arvelo directed the staging of the multimedia Cantata Criolla, for the Los Angeles Philharmonic festival “America and Americas,” starring Helen Hunt, Erich Wildpret, and Édgar Ramírez.


Arvelo’s much awarded Cyrano Fernández (2007) is an adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand’s classic play. Premiered at the AFI Festival in Los Angeles, Arvelo’s film preserves the essence of the love triangle, depicting it in the complex and breathtaking environment of a slum in Caracas.

His acclaimed documentary To Play and to Fight (2006), premiered at the AFI Festival, delves into the lives of children from the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra (El Sistema), empowered by renowned classical music figures such as Claudio Abbado, Simon Rattle, and Gustavo Dudamel.