The Los Angeles Philharmonic is well-known as one of the world’s most outstanding orchestras. This 2022/23 marks the orchestra’s 104th season – a marvelous achievement to have been in the industry this long. Currently under the vibrant leadership of Gustavo Dudamel, the LA Phil is driven to provide their audiences with an inspiring array of music through a commitment to fundamental masterpieces and daring discoveries. The LA Phil has won multiple Grammy Awards, including a back-to-back win for “Best Orchestral Performance” in 2020 and 2021. This summer season, they are once again gracing the crowd at the Hollywood Bowl on a series of dates from July to September. Their highly-anticipated shows are sought after by orchestra fans from all over the world. Now is your chance to witness one of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s monumental performances. Get ready for another ambitious set of programs that includes celebrations of Williams and Duke Ellington, the return of the acclaimed Pan-American Music Initiative, and another highly anticipated performance with Mexican supergroup Café Tacvba.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Tickets:
“So far ahead of other American orchestras that it is in competition mainly with its own past achievements.” – The New Yorker
“the most important orchestra in America – period.” – The New York Times
The Los Angeles Philharmonic was founded in 1919 by William Andrews Clark, Jr., a wealthy amateur musician. Its first music director was Walter Henry Rothwell, who served the orchestra until 1927. Since then, 10 other outstanding conductors have taken his place, namely: Georg Schnéevoigt (1927-1929); Artur Rodziński (1929-1933); Otto Klemperer (1933-1939); Alfred Wallenstein (1943-1956); Eduard van Beinum (1956-1959); Zubin Mehta (1962-1978); Carlo Maria Giulini (1978-1984); André Previn (1985-1989); Esa-Pekka Salonen (1992-2009); and Gustavo Dudamel (2009-present).
Since 1992, the Los Angeles Philharmonic has treated Hollywood Bowl as their summer home, playing numerous shows yearly. Gustavo Dudamel began his official tenure as the orchestra’s Music and Artistic Director in 2009 with a concert held at the Hollywood Bowl on the 3rd of October, 2009. With Dudamel’s creative lead and guidance, he and LA Phil have been prized with honorable awards. In 2010 and 2011, they received the Morton Gould Award for Innovative Programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Dudamel was also hailed as “Gramophone Artist of the Year” in 2011. The following year, 2012, Dudamel and LA Phil obtained the highly-coveted Grammy award for “Best Orchestral Performance” for their recording of “Brahms’ Fourth Symphony.” Their most recent significant awards are their back-to-back Grammy Award wins in 2010 and 2011 for their recordings of Andrew Norman’s Sustain (2020) and for the collected symphonies of Charles Ives (2021) – once again naming them “Best Orchestral Performance.”
“The LA Phil is the envy of other bands throughout the country.” – Bachtrack
“Adès’s score is heard by itself, and nothing is felt to be wanting. Given a stupendous performance in the concert hall by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel, the music is a knockout.” – Financial Times
Last year, the LA Phil celebrated 100 years of stellar performances at the Hollywood Bowl. Dudamel led a profoundly emotional, innovative, semi-staged production of Beethoven’s Fidelio. He conducted the LA Phil and a star-studded cast in an outstanding production directed by Alberto Arvelo, co-directed by Joaquín Solano, and produced in collaboration with Tony Award-winning Deaf West Theatre (Artistic Director David Kurs) and El Sistema’s Coro de Manos Blancas (White Hands Choir, Artistic Director, María Inmaculada Velásquez).
Dudamel said, “All art is rooted in the deeply human need to communicate something and to have that communication be received and felt. Fidelio is perhaps Beethoven’s purest expression of our ability to overcome adversity and to reach one another across a seemingly insurmountable divide. That belief in the transformative, transcendent power of music is at the heart of this production, where we have partnered with the extraordinary artists of Deaf West Theatre and the Coro de Manos Blancas in order to offer a performance with equal resonance to both Deaf and hearing audiences and remind us that there is always light through the darkness.”
“Gustavo Dudamel defied expectations.” – The New York Times
“The LA Philharmonic’s conductor and music director Gustavo Dudamel has played a large part in the orchestra earning this [world’s greatest opera] distinction.” – NPR Music
In addition to Gustavo Dudamel, the orchestra is led by a team of talented individuals, including the following outstanding musicians: Zubin Mehta (Conductor Emeritus), Esa-Pekka Salonen (Conductor Laureate ), John Adams (John and Samantha Williams Creative Chair), Herbie Hancock (Creative Chair for Jazz ), and Paolo Bortolameolli (Associate Conductor).
The LA Phil has created an EDI (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) Guiding Statement. Over 200 people representing the LA Phil’s orchestra, board, staff, and Youth Orchestra LA alumni were involved in the creation of the guiding statement.
They mention on their website, “Centering equity, diversity, and inclusion in every aspect of our work is of critical importance in realizing our ability to inspire, empower, and connect through music and the performing arts. In our music making, a commitment to EDI also strengthens the quality of the art itself, opening up new possibilities for musical excellence and invention.”
Something else about the LA Phil that is worth noting is how their involvement in Los Angeles extends far more than just concert venues. They also perform wide-ranging performances in a vastly diverse community’s schools, churches, and neighborhood centers. Along with Dudamel, the LA Phil has also established Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA), which is inspired by Venezuela’s revolutionary El Sistema.1,500 kids from impoverished neighborhoods are being given free instruments, rigorous music instruction, and leadership training by LA Phil and its community partners, enabling them to become effective citizens, leaders, and agents of change. This is all done through YOLA.
This summer season, you get the chance to join Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in one – or more – of their shows from July to September. Immerse yourself in the beautiful and timeless symphonies of the orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl. Hurry and buy your tickets right for an orchestra performance you will never forget!