In 2022, Gustavo Dudamel led a production of Beethoven’s opera, Fidelio, featuring the Coro de Manos Blancas, an Venezuelan ensemble comprising of deaf and hard of hearing performers, as well as performers with visual and cognitive impairments. Created for both deaf and hearing audiences by Dudamel and his wife—actor, director, and artist María Valverde—through the Dudamel Foundation, the performance featured both Venezuelan Sign Language (LSV) by deaf actors and singing by hearing vocalists. The production was one of the first times this opera, which was composed by Beethoven while losing his hearing, has been performed by deaf musicians at this scale.

This week, nearly three years after the landmark performance, Valverde’s documentary about the performance, El Canto de las Manos, debuted at Walt Disney Concert Hall in DTLA.  Co-produced by Forty Entertainment and Quinchoncho, the film explores deafness through the modalities of three deaf musicians: Jennifer, Gabriel, and José, as they bring Fidelio to the stage in sign language for the first time. 

“This is a story of justice,” says Valverde of the film. “[And of] how art transcends the visible and transforms its protagonists into guides who illuminate a new way of experiencing music, one that comes from a deeper level of awareness; a declaration of freedom and dignity.” After the West Coast premiere screening, audiences listened to renowned director Ava DuVernay lead a discussion with Dudamel, Valverde and DJ Kurs, Artistic Director of Deaf West Theater. Now, the film is in competition at the 2025 DOC NYC film festival.

Maria Valverde began acting at age 16, when a performance in her first feature film The Weakness of the Bolshevik won her Best New Actress and the Goya Awards. Since then, she has starred in films like Cracks, Exodus: Gods and Kings, produced and directed by Ridley Scott, as well as The Liberator, where she met husband Gustavo Dudamel—the film’s composer. For the last 15 years, Gustavo Dudamel has led the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Music and Artistic Director. Over the course of his career, the 7-time Grammy award-winning conductor has founded the Youth Orchestra program and launched a fellowship program for young conductors at the La Phil. The duo co-chair the Dudamel Foundation, which aims to expand access to music and the arts for young people by providing the tools and opportunities to shape their creative futures.