The end of a golden era approaches as the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Thursday announced details of the final season at Walt Disney Concert Hall for Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, who after 17 years will move on to helm the New York Philharmonic.
The 2025-26 L.A. Phil season is being dubbed “Gracias Gustavo.” Dudamel will conduct 14 programs from this September through June 2026, including the second Wagner “Ring” opera, “Die Walküre,” with sets by friend and collaborator Frank Gehry. The season will also feature Dudamel’s first time conducting one of Beethoven’s most spectacular but lesser-known works, “Missa Solemnis.”. Dudamel also will bring back — and add dance to — two ballet scores that he had previously premiered: Thomas Adès’ “Inferno” and Gabriela Ortiz’s ‘’Revolución diamantina.”
The world premiere of a work for orchestra and choir by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid is on the schedule, as well as a premiere of Angélica Negrón’s Cello Concerto with Yo-Yo Ma; and new editions to Dudamel’s Pan-American Music Initiative — now its fifth year — which is close to the conductor’s heart. The L.A. Phil will also embark on a two-week tour through South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
“Together, we have reimagined what an orchestra can be, and how it can serve both the community around it and the world at large,” Dudamel said in the season announcement. “In these remarkable players, I have found both a profound wellspring of generosity, and a visionary commitment to excellence in music-making.”
Dudamel first conducted the L.A. Phil almost 20 years ago at the Hollywood Bowl. In January 2007, he again conducted the orchestra, this time at Disney Hall. Three months later, the L.A. Phil announced he was to become its next music director, beginning with the 2009-2010 season. During his tenure, the charismatic conductor became a bona fide celebrity in the city and elevated the orchestra to wide recognition as the most important in the country.
The search for Dudamel’s replacement is ongoing.
