“Welcome to politics, Gustavo Dudamel,” Mr. Maduro said in a televised appearance on Friday, according to The Associated Press. “But act with ethics, and don’t let yourself be deceived into attacking the architects of this beautiful movement of young boys and girls.”

“I hope God forgives you,” Mr. Maduro added.

Mr. Dudamel apparently drew the president’s ire with his increasingly forceful pronouncements about the crisis in Venezuela — pronouncements which came after he faced criticism in some quarters for trying to avoid being drawn into discussions of Venezuelan politics.

In May, after Armando Cañizales, a young El Sistema-trained viola player, was killed during a street protest, Mr. Dudamel issued a statement telling the government “enough is enough.” Last month he wrote an opinion piece in The New York Times condemning the government’s plans to hold a vote that would allow it to rewrite the country’s constitution.

“All Venezuelan citizens have a duty to do what we can to reverse the current situation, to defend our fundamental democratic values and to prevent more bloodshed,” he wrote.

The youth orchestra and Mr. Dudamel had been scheduled to play in September at Wolf Trap in Virginia, the Ravinia Festival in Illinois, the Hollywood Bowl, and the Greek Theater in Berkeley, Calif.