from Performances Magazine, LA Phil October Issue
On September 13, 2005, a 24-year-old Venezuelan conductor made his Los Angeles Philharmonic and US debuts at the Hollywood Bowl. The electricity of this union was immediately apparent. The headline on the Los Angeles Times review proclaimed, “He holds Bowl in palm of his hands.”
Four years later, that conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, became the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, embarking on a 17-year partnership that saw continent-spanning festivals, ambitious opera productions, the founding and nurturing of YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles), and much more that enriched this city and the symphonic world.
JAWS: THE EXHIBITION at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
SEPTEMBER 13, 2005
Gustavo Dudamel makes his US debut conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl.
FALL 2007
Inspired by El Sistema, the music program through which Dudamel received his early training, the Youth Orchestra LA initiative, a collaboration between the LA Phil, the Harmony Project, and EXPO Center, a City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks facility, is launched. It would eventually become known as YOLA.
APRIL 2010
Dudamel’s inaugural season sees the launch of the Americas & Americans Festival, part of his vision of uniting musical traditions across hemispheres.
JANUARY 4, 2007
Dudamel makes his Walt Disney Concert Hall debut. The Los Angeles Times headline states, “…this guy is the real deal.”
The performance of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra is released on iTunes the following month and by Deutsche Grammophon in July.
APRIL 9, 2007
Dudamel is announced as the next Music Director of the LA Phil, succeeding Esa-Pekka Salonen.
OCTOBER 3, 2009
¡Bienvenido Gustavo!, a daylong celebration at the Hollywood Bowl, marks the beginning of Dudamel’s tenure as Music Director.
WINTER/SPRING 2012
Dudamel and the LA Phil embark on two wildly ambitious endeavors: the Mahler Project, a complete cycle of the composer’s symphonies to commemorate the centennial of his death, presented in LA and Caracas; and the Mozart/Da Ponte Trilogy, beginning with the opera Don Giovanni, featuring sets by Frank Gehry and costumes by fashion house Rodarte.
FEBRUARY 17, 2016
Dudamel and YOLA perform on their biggest stage yet, the Super Bowl 50 halftime show, alongside Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Beyoncé.
FEBRUARY 17, 2016
Dudamel and YOLA perform on their biggest stage yet, the Super Bowl 50 halftime show, alongside Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Beyoncé.
FEBRUARY 24, 2019
Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic perform at the 91st Academy Awards, showcasing the deep ties between the orchestra and film music.
2021/2022
The five-year Pan-American Music Initiative, celebrating musical creativity across the Western Hemisphere, launches with composer Gabriela Ortiz as curator. PAMI has been responsible for 30 commissions in dozens of concerts, as well as three Grammys and two Latin Grammys.
SEPTEMBER 30, 2018
The LA Phil’s centennial season kicks off with a daylong celebration, featuring a parade from Walt Disney Concert Hall to the Hollywood Bowl, where Dudamel leads a free performance featuring the Los Angeles Philharmonic and YOLA, joined by special guests Katy Perry, Herbie Hancock, and Kali Uchis.
OCTOBER 16, 2021
The Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center, the first permanent, purposebuilt facility for YOLA, designed by Frank Gehry, opens its doors. This “is the realization of a beautiful dream: to create a space where young people can have access to beauty,” says Dudamel.
APRIL 2025
The Los Angeles Philharmonic, led by Dudamel, becomes the first major symphony orchestra to play its own set at Coachella. Over two weekends it seamlessly intersperses works by Bach, Strauss, Wagner, and John Williams with pop songs performed by an all-star lineup of guests including Laufey, LL Cool J, Natasha Bedingfield, Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso, Dave Grohl, and Cynthia Erivo.
Read the rest at: Performances Magazine, LA Phil October Issue
Photo credits: Photos courtesy of LA Phil
