The Los Angeles Philharmonic Announces 2018/19 Season

Los Angeles Philharmonic Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel and CEO Simon Woods announce the 2018/19 season at Walt Disney Concert Hall and beyond. The centerpiece of LA Phil 100, the Centennial program forges an exciting future for the orchestra, its music, its city, and audiences around the world with a forward-looking roster of globe-spanning artistic programs, educational and social-impact initiatives and public celebrations for all of L.A., from September 2018 through October 2019.

Highlights will include:

Premieres of over 50 commissions - the LA Phil's unprecedented investment in music's future

20 programs conducted by Dudamel, ranging from the world premiere of John Adams' piano concerto with Yuja Wang as soloist to a climactic performance ofMahler's monumental "Symphony of a Thousand" in its Walt Disney Concert Hall premiere

Cross-disciplinary collaborations with Benjamin Millepied, L.A. Dance Project and American Ballet Theatre for Romeo and Juliet; LA Phil Artist-Collaborator and MacArthur Fellow Yuval Sharon for exceptional performances of Meredith Monk's ATLAS and John Cage's Europeras 1 & 2; composer-conductor Christopher Rountree and the Getty Research Institute for an ongoing Fluxus festival; and Barry Edelstein and The Old Globe for The Tempest

The return of former LA Phil Music Directors Esa-Pekka Salonen and Zubin Mehta, plus a new work by former Music Director André Previn, along with special programs by former Principal Guest Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas

Major events include the 11-day eclectic season kick-off LA Fest, a Fluxus Festival and a multi-part Stravinsky focus led by Esa-Pekka Salonen

Programs celebrating the relationship between movies and music, pairing the orchestra with screenings of excerpts from Stanley Kubrick's masterpieces and a celebration of scores by John Williams

Appearances by internationally celebrated musicians, including Emanuel Ax, Daniel Barenboim, Andrew Bird, Yefim Bronfman, Lila Downs, Mirga Grazinyt?-Tyla, Hélène Grimaud, Marc-André Hamelin, LA Phil Creative Chair for Jazz Herbie Hancock, Lang Lang, La Santa Cecilia, Audra McDonald, Moby, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Murray Perahia, Bernadette Peters, Itzhak Perlman, Cécile McLorin Savant and many more

Gustavo Dudamel said: "I have been thrilled to help define and shape the LA Phil over the past decade of our great history, when we have worked with such enthusiasm to make ourselves more diverse, more inclusive, and more engaged with our community, while pushing ourselves every day to make music that is magnificent and courageous. This Centennial season, which focuses so strongly on artistic breakthroughs and inspired educational projects, such as our new YOLA center, is going to carry us forward with new momentum."

Simon Woods said: "The LA Phil has earned the reputation of being the orchestra that dares to do more, whether it's for the diverse range of today's composers or for the fast-changing communities that we work within and serve. As I look ahead toward this Centennial season, I feel that Gustavo and the artistic team have not just stood by the wager they've made on boldness and innovation but have doubled down on it. LA Phil 100 is indeed a celebration of everything that has led us to this moment - but, more importantly, it is a new beginning for wonderful things to come for this great orchestra and those who are inspired by its music making."

It all begins on September 27 with a festive opening night concert and gala, California Soul, directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer, in which Gustavo Dudamel and the orchestra will celebrate the abundance of the Golden State's creativity from John Adams to Frank Zappa. Signaling to all Angelenos that the Centennial has begun, award-winning artist Refik Anadol will illuminatethe façade of Walt Disney Concert Hall with WDCH Dreams, a dynamic media installation that draws on imagery, video and audio from the LA Phil's extensive archive of more than 15,000 concerts presented since 1919. From September through October, Anadolwill also presentArchives on Display in the Gershwin Gallery, showing the arc of the LA Phil's first century as a grand visual sweep of art, architecture and music in dynamic relationship to the people of L.A.

The season kick-off continues on September 30 with a free, day-long Celebrate LA! event for the entire city. The day will have a CicLAvia, an open-air event that will feature performances by professionals and amateurs staged throughout the streets from Walt Disney Concert Hall to the Hollywood Bowl and culminating in a free Bowl concert featuring Gustavo Dudamel, the LA Phil, and a once-in-100-years roster of special guest artists. Additional details for the centennial launch events will be announced this summer.

The 2018/19 Centennial seasonwill celebrate the orchestra's living history by welcoming towering figures such as Zubin Mehta, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Michael Tilson Thomasback to the podium, each with his own special focus; revisiting key moments in the past, such as the orchestra's work in the 1930s with African-American composer William Grant Still; and publishing Past/Forward: The LA Phil at 100, a two-volume compilation of photographs, interviews, and essays, including conversations between Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic Tim Page and Gustavo Dudamel, Zubin Mehta, André Previn, and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Beginning in March 2019, the LA Phil will set off an unprecedented year of global touring, performing on three continents, including appearances in Seoul, Tokyo, Edinburgh, London, Mexico City, and New York City.

The celebrations will continue through the 2019 Hollywood Bowl season and come to a close with a once-in-a-lifetime gala featuring Dudamel, Mehta and Salonen sharing the podium on October 24, 2019, 100 years to the day after the orchestra's first concert. The LA Phil looks forward to marking the Bowl's centennial in 2022.

Season subscription tickets are available now at laphil.com, 323.850.2000 or the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office. Single tickets will begin to go on sale Sunday, August 5, 2018. Information about the "100 for the 100" free ticket initiative will be announced later this summer.

Additional details can be found at the LA Phil's newly launched website: laphil.com.

LA PHIL 100

In its Centennial year (September 2018 through October 2019) the LA Phil is inviting people from Los Angeles and around the world to join it in envisioning a future that music can help create. Major initiatives include presenting the orchestra's most ambitious artistic season to date, featuring over 50 commissioned works and the LA Phil's largest roster of artistic collaborations; investing in the future of young people by creating a permanent YOLA center,The Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center @ Inglewood, designed by Frank Gehry; establishing the LA Phil Resident Fellows Program, which will provide musicians representing or serving historically underrepresented populations opportunities for professional advancement; welcoming all of Los Angeles to a free, day-long, open-air festival, Celebrate LA!, featuring performances by professionals and amateurs stretching from Grand Avenue in front of Walt Disney Concert Hall all the way to the Hollywood Bowl, and concluding with a massive free concert at the Bowl; the "100 for the 100" Free Ticket Initiative, which will invite thousands of new listeners into Walt Disney Concert Hall; and a $500 Million Centennial Campaign to fund the future.

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