Los Angeles Philharmonic

The city of angels's very own Los Angeles Philharmonic was founded by William Andrews Clark, Jr., a philanthropist, multi-millionaire, and amateur musician, in 1919. English conductor, Walter Henry Rothwell, was the symphony orchestra’s first music director, serving until 1927. As the former assistant conductor to Gustav Mahler and former Director of the Royal Opera in Amsterdam, Rothwell was respected by the greatest musicians of the day as a gifted conductor, but also as someone who devoted himself to the highest ideals of musicianship. Bringing those standards into his role in Los Angeles, the orchestra continues to uphold the same qualities of excellence still today. Benefitting from the attraction that California held for expatriates, Rothwell was succeeded by a number of European conductors, including Georg Schnéevoigt, Artur Rodzinski, Otto Klemperer, Alfred Wallenstein, Eduard van Beinum, Carlo Maria Giulini, and André Previn. The LA Phil appointed its youngest ever Musical Director in 1961, appointing Zubin Mehta at the age of 24, who remains as the orchestra’s Conductor Emeritus. Having a young music director at the helm as become part of the orchestra’s identity, appointing Finnish conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen at 34, now the orchestra’s Conductor Laureate, and the currently-in-charge Gustavo Dudamel at 28, who, since 2009, leads the orchestra both as the artistic and music director and spearheads its wide-ranging learning initiatives. Other recognised names associated with the orchestra include Principal Guest Conductors Michael Tilson Thomas, Simon Rattle, and Susanna Mälkki, who presently holds the position. The orchestra reflects its artistry and vision through ground-breaking and diverse programming, creating festivals, artist residencies, and other thematic programmes, championing the music of today through its numerous commissioning initiatives and continuously expanding its cultural offerings. The forward-thinking programming is aided by the orchestra’s Creative Chair: composer, conductor and creative thinker John Adams. Inspired by Venezuela’s El Sistema, the musical training programme that Dudamel himself was a part of in his youth, the LA Phil’s impact on the community is most profoundly felt through the work of the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) that democratises music education by offering free, high-quality instrumental music instruction in under-resourced neighbourhoods across the city. Since 1922, the LA Phil has made its summer home the Hollywood Bowl, one of the largest natural amphitheatres in the world. From 1964, the orchestra spent the winter months performing at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Los Angeles Music Center, until 2003, when their winter home officially became the Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by the world-renowned architect Frank Gehry. The Ford, one of the oldest performing arts venues still in operation in Los Angeles, has been under the stewardship of the LA Phil since December 2019, providing a third venue for the orchestra to perform and present its more than 250 annual concerts.