Los Angeles Philharmonic Unveils Gustavo Dudamel's Final Walt Disney Concert Hall Season

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has unveiled details of its 2025/26 season at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the last in which legendary maestro, Gustavo Dudamel, will serve in his current role.

The announcement was made at a luncheon that included a performance by violinists Dale Breidenthal of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Sergio Paez, an alumnus of YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles), the signature education program that has thrived under Dudamel's leadership.

Affectionately dubbed “Gracias Gustavo,” the season celebrates the conductor's 17-year partnership with the LA Phil. The 10 months of programming will revisit and expand upon the acclaimed artist's passion, humanity and vision throughout his tenure at the LA Phil. Programs include the return of such longtime collaborators as Frank Gehry and Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the juxtaposition of core repertoire with contemporary voices, investments in the meeting of art and social action and some of the very best compositions fostered by Dudamel's border-transcending Pan-American Music Initiative. Taken together, they offer a statement of the legacy and culmination of nearly two decades of deep connections, extraordinary music-making and community-building.

As part of the event, LA Phil Board Chair Jason Subotky announced that conductors Kinga Głowacka, Ana María Patiño-Osorio, José Ángel Salazar and Miguel Sepúlveda have been selected as participants in the final Fellowship Program under Dudamel's leadership. 

Kim Noltemy says, “Gustavo's final Walt Disney Concert Hall season as Music & Artistic Director is an opportunity for us to say ‘thank you' for the incredible joy he has given all of us, from the unforgettable performances to the loving commitment he has made to the young people of Los Angeles. The 2025/26 season is yet another gift, a beautiful culmination of everything he has built and inspired in his time with the LA Phil. There will be visits from longtime collaborators, groundbreaking productions and programs that combine the old and new. It's a remarkable season musically, as well as an opportunity for us to convey our immense gratitude for everything Gustavo has done, and continues to do, to uplift our great city through music.”

Gustavo Dudamel will conduct the LA Phil in 14 different programs from September 2025 through June 2026, including world premieres, explorations of some of the most monumental works in the symphonic repertoire, new additions to Dudamel's innovative Pan-American Music Initiative and collaborations with outstanding guest artists such as Yo-Yo Ma and Yunchan Lim. In addition, he will lead a special series of performances of Wagner's Die Walküre, which follows the acclaimed production of Das Rheingold that was also staged with Frank Gehry and Alberto Arvelo.

Gustavo Dudamel says, “As I look toward my final season as Music & Artistic Director of the LA Phil, I am filled with gratitude for the journey we have shared, and all that we have collectively achieved.

Together, we have reimagined what an orchestra can be, and how it can serve both the community around it and the world at large. In these remarkable players, I have found both a profound wellspring of generosity, and a visionary commitment to excellence in music-making. It has been humbling to see how our programming, from new interpretations of classics, to contemporary works and new commissions, has helped to broaden the vision of the art form—looking not only from the New World back toward Europe, but also across the Americas, and beyond.

I'm deeply proud of our groundbreaking, innovative audio and video recordings, which have reached millions around the world with music ranging from Brahms to Mozart, Ives to Adès, Márquez to Ortiz, Billie Eilish to Common. We have also expanded to four magnificent venues across Los Angeles—Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, the Ford, and the Beckmen YOLA Center—and built an orchestral concertgoing audience whose size and diversity is unmatched. And my beloved YOLA, with its mission of transformational access to the arts, and its extraordinary teachers, students and families, has ensured that music education now sits at the very core of the institution.

We have achieved all of this only by working together, towards the same goals; our musicians, our administration, our board and our community. Every moment we spend together is a gift, and every note will be a memory that continues to resonate for many years to come. With all my heart, I thank my LA Phil family.”

In its fifth and final year, Dudamel's Pan-American Music Initiative (PAMI) continues to showcase new work by composers from North, Central and South America while taking stock of the commissions, tours and recordings that it has realized. Curated in its final three years by composer Gabriela Ortiz, PAMI brought to life more than 25 new works; generated tours to CDMX, Bogotá and New York; produced the Encuentros cultural exchange program for young musicians; and garnered a combined six Grammy and Latin Grammy awards. In 2025/26, PAMI commissions include new works by Ricardo Lorenz, Angélica Negrón, Lido Pimienta, Ellen Reid, Roberto Sierra and Gabriella Smith, a performance by Grupo Corpo and a concert inspired by Judy Baca's The Great Wall of Los Angeles. Exceeding its goals, PAMI has helped forever shift and diversify American orchestral repertoire and is now an integral part of the LA Phil's curatorial ethos. 

During the season, the LA Phil will present 25 commissioned works, including 20 world premieres and three U.S. premieres with two projects that feature original choreography and film components.

Gustavo Dudamel SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

Dudamel opens the 2025/26 season with the world premiere of a work for orchestra and choir by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid, co-commissioned by the LA Phil and the New York Philharmonic. Known for her interactive soundscapes and innovative fusions of art, nature and technology, Reid has written a work evoking the contrasting experience of the five elements in Los Angeles and New York. Her new work is paired with Richard Strauss’ tone poem An Alpine Symphony (September 25-28).

In October, Dudamel conducts music from Stravinsky’s ballets—The Firebird Suite (1919 version) and The Rite of Spring—and leads the U.S. premiere of LA Phil Creative Chair John Adams’ Frenzy, which reflects on the processing of today’s incessant digital drip of news (October 2, 4 and 5).

Dudamel then conducts the LA Phil and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, led by Artistic Director Grant Gershon and Associate Artistic Director Jenny Wong, in Mahler’s Second Symphony, “Resurrection,” with acclaimed soprano Chen Reiss (October 9-12).

The Los Angeles Philharmonic will embark on a two-week, three-country tour to Asia, returning to Seoul, Tokyo, and Taipei and Tainan, Taiwan (October 20-30).

Dudamel returns in February to conduct Beethoven’s music for the play Egmont. The evening kicks off with the world premiere of Humboldt’s Nature by Venezuelan-born composer Ricardo Lorenz, inspired by the South American travels of Beethoven’s like-minded contemporary, philosopher and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt. The program includes Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto with soloist Yunchan Lim (February 12-15).

For the first time in his LA Phil tenure, Dudamel conducts Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, bringing together its massive choral and orchestral forces and even grander musical ideas with soprano Pretty Yende, mezzo-soprano Sarah Saturnino, tenor SeokJong Baek, bass Nicholas Brownlee and Barcelona’s Orfeó Català and Cor de Cambra del Palau de la Música Catalana (February 20-22).

Dudamel revisits the Grammy-winning, LA Phil-commissioned ballet score Revolución diamantina, Gabriela Ortiz’s response to the 2019 feminist uprising around Mexico’s epidemic of violence against women, featuring the world premiere of the accompanying ballet by internationally renowned dance company Grupo Corpo with choreographers Cassi Abranches and Rodrigo Pederneiras. The performance also features the Los Angeles Master Chorale (February 26-28 and March 1).

In March, Dudamel leads Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony, before plumbing the depths of Thomas Adès’ “Inferno” from Dante—the LA Phil-commissioned ballet score that won the Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance in 2024 (March 5, 6 and 8).

Inspired by Judy Baca’s iconic mural The Great Wall of Los Angeles, the world premiere of an LA Phil commission of the same name honors Angelenos who have shaped the city’s history. Gustavo Dudamel and Gabriela Ortiz have brought together a group of L.A.-based composers including Juhi Bansal, Nicolás Lell Benavides, Viet Cuong, Xavier Muzik, Estevan Olmos, and Nina Shekhar to create an hour-long symphonic tribute. The program will include an original film component by director Alejandro G. Iñárritu (March 7).

From May 19 to 24, Dudamel, famed architect Frank Gehry and director Alberto Arvelo reunite for Wagner’s Die Walküre, following the LA Phil’s acclaimed 2024 production of Das Rheingold. Envisioned as a three-part saga with each act standing on its own, this production boasts a cast of international opera superstars who bring to life Wagner’s tale of love, fate, duty and self-determination, with each act presented as a stand-alone concert experience (Act I will be performed May 19 and 22, Act Two May 20 and 23, and Act Three May 21 and 24.)

Legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma shares the stage with Dudamel for the world premiere of a cello concerto by sought-after Puerto Rican composer and multi-instrumentalist Angélica Negrón. Paired with the concerto is Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life), one of his most adventurous and ambitious tone poems, which Dudamel conducts for the first time in Los Angeles (May 28 and 30).

Dudamel leads two additional performances of Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben, preceded by the world premiere of the LA Phil commission Estudios sinfónicos by Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra, known for his fusion of European modernism and Latin American folk elements (May 29 and 31).

Dudamel celebrates the musicians of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in an evening of concertos, with the full program dedicated to the great artistry of the orchestra. Featured soloists will include Boris Allakhverdyan, Andrew Bain, Denis Bouriakov, Emmanuel Ceysson, Whitney Crockett, Robert deMaine, Christopher Hanulik, Thomas Hooten and David Rejano Cantero (June 4).

Dudamel completes his Walt Disney Concert Hall tenure as Music & Artistic Director of the LA Phil by honoring his Venezuelan and American identities in “Gracias Gustavo: Celebrating 17 Years,” presiding over two works for chorus and orchestra inspired by poetry: John Adams’ Harmonium, based on texts by Emily Dickinson and John Donne, and Cantata Criolla by Antonio Estévez, a work that created an emerging Venezuelan national style. Driven by his belief that music can build bridges between cultures, Dudamel selected the Estévez cantata as one of the first pieces he brought to Los Angeles in his inaugural season as Music Director. It rounds out his tenure at his finale concert of the 2025/26 season (June 5-7).

John Adams, JOHN AND Samantha Williams CREATIVE CHAIR SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

John Adams has a long-standing and deep connection with the LA Phil, serving as Creative Chair since 2009. As a composer, Adams has had an indelible effect on American musical life and is celebrated as “arguably our greatest living composer” (The New York Times, 2023). As a conductor, he has appeared with orchestras around the world including the London Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony. Adams is a stalwart champion and advocate for the next generation of American composers and has conducted more than 100 premieres of new works over the course of his career.

Adams features throughout the 2025/26 season in multiple roles: as composer, conductor and creative thinker.

As composer: Dudamel conducts John Adams’ Frenzy in its U.S. premiere (October 2, 4 and 5). Dudamel also conducts Adams’ landmark composition Harmonium, which he has chosen to celebrate the season’s closing and his tenure as Music & Artistic Director (June 5-7).

As curator: Adams oversees a Green Umbrella program conducted by Elim Chan, featuring world-premiere compositions commissioned by the LA Phil. These include Adams’ Dolce Pianissimo, as well as works from composers Anthony Cheung, Silvia Lanao Aregay, Samuel Adams and Nico Muhly (February 3).

As conductor: Adams conducts two programs featuring Víkingur Ólafsson performing as soloist in his two most recent piano concertos: Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? (April 25 and 26) and 2024’s After the Fall (January 23-25), both LA Phil commissions. Repertoire across the two programs includes works by Ives, Harris, Copland, Piazzolla, Stravinsky and Prokofiev.

GUEST CONDUCTOR HIGHLIGHTS

The 2025/26 season at Walt Disney Concert Hall will feature an impressive lineup of internationally acclaimed guest conductors, including the annual returns of Conductor Emeritus Zubin Mehta and Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen, while showcasing the conducting of John Adams, the LA Phil’s John and Samantha Williams Creative Chair. The season also includes performances led by Thomas Adès, Ryan Bancroft, Elim Chan, Gustavo Gimeno, Roberto González-Monjas, Anna Handler, Manfred Honeck, Paavo Järvi, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Matthias Pintscher, Lorenzo Viotti, Thomas Wilkins and Simone Young. 

In November, LA Phil Conductor Emeritus Zubin Mehta leads the orchestra in Bruckner’s monumental Eighth Symphony (November 7-9).

Matthias Pintscher then leads Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite and La valse, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 with celebrated soloist Emanuel Ax and the LA premiere of his work and LA Phil commission Neharot (November 13, 14 and 16).

Roberto González-Monjas conducts the world premiere of the LA Phil-commissioned Cello Concerto by Edmund Finnis featuring cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Elgar’s Enigma Variations and Korngold’s Theme and Variations (November 21-23). 

In December, Gustavo Gimeno, Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, leads a program of works by Ligeti and Sibelius, along with Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 with Renaud Capuçon (December 12-14).

Los Angeles favorite Thomas Wilkins, Principal Conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall for a holiday program of Duke Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite paired with Tchaikovsky’s enchanting First Symphony and Carlos Simon’s Four Black American Dances (December 18-21).

Opening January 2026, LA Phil Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen returns to lead two programs: first with violinist Pekka Kuusisto in the world premiere and LA Phil commission of Gabriella Smith’s Violin Concerto, soprano Liv Redpath, mezzo-soprano Jingjing Xu and the Los Angeles Master Chorale in Debussy’s cantata La damoiselle élue, and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet in Scriabin’s Prometheus, Poem of Fire (January 9-11); followed by Busoni’s Piano Concerto with pianist Igor Levit and the Los Angeles Master Chorale (January 17 and 18).

Former Dudamel Fellow Anna Handler unites with LA Phil Principal Trumpet Thomas Hooten for John Williams’ Trumpet Concerto. Handler also leads the orchestra in Williams’ Theme from Jurassic Park and closes the program with Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances (March 13-15).

John Adams returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall twice this season with pianist Víkingur Ólafsson. The first visit features the LA premiere of his new piano concerto, After the Fall (an LA Phil commission) written for the soloist, as well as Harris’ Symphony No. 3 and Copland’s Appalachian Spring (January 23-25). He then pairs his piano concerto Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? with Piazzolla’s liberating Two Tangos and two impassioned Russian works—Stravinsky’s lavish and visceral Song of the Nightingale and the suite from Prokofiev’s first film score, Lieutenant Kijé (April 25 and 26).

Elim Chan leads the orchestra in Ravel, Bartók and Mahler, with soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha making her LA Phil debut in Mahler’s Fourth Symphony (January 29-31 and February 1).

Thomas Adès leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a program that includes the U.S. premiere of William Marsey’s Man with Limp Wrist (an LA Phil commission), Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini and Adès’ Aquifer. The virtuosic Yuja Wang joins Adès and the orchestra for Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto (February 6-8).

Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi, Music Director of Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra, joins Italian pianist Beatrice Rana, who returns to the LA Phil for the first time in five years, for Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. He also leads Robert Schumann’s Overture, Scherzo and Finale and Brahms’ Second Symphony (March 27-29).

Manfred Honeck conducts Reinecke’s Flute Concerto, featuring LA Phil Principal Denis Bouriakov, and leads the LA Phil in Haydn’s Symphony No. 93 and Tchaikovsky’s beloved Fifth Symphony (April 2-4).

Conductor Simone Young leads the LA Phil in Messiaen’s Turangalîla-symphonie featuring pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Cynthia Millar on ondes martenot and director Zack Winokur. This performance will include special lighting to highlight Messiaen’s synesthesia, as well as color-specific notations from the score enhancing the immersive experience of the iconic work (April 10-12).

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall to perform Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 2 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conductor Ryan Bancroft, Chief Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Bancroft also leads Shostakovich’s Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1 and Sibelius’ Lemminkäinen Suite (April 17-19).

María Dueñas makes her highly anticipated return to Walt Disney Concert Hall to perform Korngold’s beloved Violin Concerto under the spirited baton of Colombian conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada, who makes his LA Phil debut. The work will be performed with Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas’ Agnegram (May 1-3).

Lorenzo Viotti makes his LA Phil debut, leading the orchestra in Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2. Violinist Lisa Batiashvili joins for Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 1 (May 8-10).

COLBURN CELEBRITY RECITALS

This season’s Colburn Celebrity Recitals will bring solo and duo performances by some of today’s greatest artists in classical music to audiences, experienced within the iconic setting of Walt Disney Concert Hall. The series offers a variety of programs featuring star performers spanning generations, some in the early years of their musical careers such as Yunchan Lim, Clara-Jumi Kang and Sunwook Kim, as well as legendary figures such as Sir András Schiff and Itzhak Perlman.

After performing back-to-back summers at the Hollywood Bowl, Yunchan Lim, the youngest-ever winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, makes his Walt Disney Concert Hall debut (October 16).

Sir András Schiff returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall with a program of Classical and early Romantic works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and more, with each selection announced from the stage (October 26).

Longtime reigning virtuoso of the violin Itzhak Perlman makes a highly anticipated appearance in Los Angeles with his longtime musical partner Rohan De Silva with “An Evening with Itzhak Perlman,” a special program celebrating the violinist’s life and legacy (October 28).

Violinist Clara-Jumi Kang and pianist Sunwook Kim, known for their exceptional technique and electrifying stage presence, make their Walt Disney Concert Hall recital debuts (January 21).

Korean star pianist Seong-Jin Cho returns with a colorful program of pieces that span nearly 200 years, including Bach’s Partita No. 1 in B-flat, Schoenberg’s Suite for Piano, Schumann’s Faschingsschwank aus Wien (Carnival Scenes from Vienna) and Chopin’s 14 Waltzes (January 27).

Hear Philip Glass’ operas inspired by films of Jean Cocteau, reimagined as suites for two keyboards and performed by Katia and Marielle Labèque with a scenography designed by Nina Chalot and artistic direction by Cyril Teste (March 31).

Tens of millions of viewers watched in awe as Alexandre Kantorow played Ravel in the rain at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The pianist described as “Liszt reincarnated” (Fanfare) returns to LA to play selections from Liszt, Medtner and Beethoven (April 28).

After more than 20 years of recording and performing together, MacArthur “genius” Jeremy Denk and Grammy winner Joshua Bell return for their first joint recital at Walt Disney Concert Hall since 2010 (June 3). 

ORGAN

Organ recitals will showcase incredible artists on Walt Disney Concert Hall’s striking Frank Gehry-designed organ, famously nicknamed “Hurricane Mama” by Terry Riley, in performances that highlight its power and versatility.

Paul Jacobs, Grammy Award-winning organist, returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall to perform Bach’s complete The Art of the Fugue (October 12).

Organist Clark Wilson brings audiences back to 15th-century Paris with his spine-tingling accompaniment to the 1923 silent film The Hunchback of Notre Dame (October 31).

French organist Thomas Ospital, known for exceptional improvisation, makes his Walt Disney Concert Hall debut (February 8).

An organist who incorporates gospel and jazz influences into his performances, Alcée Chriss III “plays with clarity, imagination, musicality, virtuosity, and yes, personality” (American Record Guide). A featured star in the PBS documentary Pipe Dreams, the Texas-born keyboardist has won international competitions from Miami to Montreal and beyond (March 15).

The internet sensation known as “the world’s most visible organist,” Anna Lapwood returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall to perform a selection of film music that unleashes the astounding power of 6,134 pipes (May 3).

GREEN UMBRELLA / NEW MUSIC

A five-part series of Green Umbrella concerts will take LA Phil audiences to the cutting edge of today’s music, including evenings curated by Creative Chair John Adams and composers Gabriella Smith and Angélica Negrón. Composer Gerald Barry returns to Green Umbrella with his inventive take on Salome, conducted by Thomas Adès, and filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu joins in a musical tribute to Judy Baca’s iconic mural The Great Wall of Los Angeles in a world-premiere concert program organized by Gustavo Dudamel and Gabriela Ortiz.

Composer Angélica Negrón curates an evening exploring Latin American nostalgia through a contemporary lens in a concert conducted by Raquel Acevedo Klein. The program features the world premiere of an LA Phil-commissioned piece (PAMI program) by Colombian Canadian artist Lido Pimienta, who features as the vocal soloist on her piece, and also Negrón’s Arquitecta, a poetic ode to maternal energy. Violinist Darian Donovan Thomas expands his rendition of the classic ranchera song Volver, Volver by presenting the world premiere of a new arrangement for string ensemble joined by Thomas himself on violin and vocals (November 11).

John Adams curates a program exclusively of world-premiere compositions commissioned by the LA Phil with Elim Chan conducting. Pianist Gloria Cheng performs a new chamber orchestra work from Anthony Cheung and Catalan composer Sílvia Lanao Aregay offers her debut commission for the LA Phil New Music Group. The LA Phil Etudes series continues with Book 3, featuring John Adams’ Dolce Pianissimo with Principal Clarinet Boris Allakhverdyan, a Samuel Adams etude with Principal Bass Christopher Hanulik and a Nico Muhly etude featuring Principal Harp Emmanuel Ceysson (February 3).

Gustavo Dudamel and Gabriela Ortiz unite a group of L.A.-based composers including Juhi Bansal, Nicolás Lell Benavides, Viet Cuong, Xavier Muzik, Estevan Olmos, and Nina Shekhar to create The Great Wall of Los Angeles, an hour-long symphonic work inspired by artist Judy Baca’s celebrated mural of the same name. The world premiere and LA Phil commission features an original visual component by filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu and pays tribute to those underrepresented communities that have shaped Los Angeles’ history since its inception (March 7).

Conductor Thomas Adès leads the orchestra in the U.S. premiere of Gerald Barry’s Oscar Wilde-inspired Salome. In this, his third LA Phil-commissioned opera, the Irish composer returns with a wonderfully idiosyncratic work that upends expectations of the storied source material, voiced by an international cast of singers (March 24).

Gabriella Smith curates a concert of new music inspired by natural ecologies. The program opens with 2bd, Michael Gordon’s world-premiere offering for the LA Phil Etudes series featuring Principal Percussionist Matt Howard. Smith and Gabriel Cabezas then take the stage for a duo performance on violin, cello, voice and electronics. The concert continues with another LA Phil Etudes installment from Esa-Pekka Salonen featuring Principal Bassoon Whitney Crockett followed by John Cage’s Child of Tree, a composition performed using exclusively organic materials. The Billy Childs Trio joins the musicians of the LA Phil New Music Group for a performance of Childs’ My Roots Spread Far and Wide, before cellist Cabezas returns to the stage to close the program with the world premiere of a work composed for him by Smith (May 5).

BODY AND SOUND / INSIGHT

Stretching from January through April 2026, the Body and Sound festival is aimed at transforming audiences’ perception of music by drawing attention to a full range of senses. Created out of a desire to counteract the forces that conspire to numb these senses, from the obsessive use of mobile phones to the generalized anxiety of modern life, Body and Sound events will offer unconventional concert experiences. Listening to music in complete darkness, in atypical and even moving spatial arrangements or while heightening a sense like smell sharpens our awareness, making it possible to hear familiar compositions anew. The LA Phil has partnered with Liquid Music, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), and the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT) to stage Body and Sound events at Walt Disney Concert Hall and sites throughout the city. Body and Sound’s offsite programming is part of the LA Phil Insight initiative.

Director Zack Winokur stages Messiaen’s Turangalîla-symphonie with visuals reflecting the composer’s color-hearing synesthesia (April 10-12). 

JACK Quartet performs Georg Friedrich Haas’ String Quartet No. 3 “In iij Noct” in complete darkness at REDCAT. Co-produced by Liquid Music (Date TBA).

Crossing Open Ground by John Luther Adams, staged outdoors and with musicians and audiences in motion, receives its Los Angeles premiere led by conductor Christopher Rountree and director Dimitri Chamblas. Co-produced by Liquid Music (Date TBA).

Multidisciplinary artist Mary Prescott investigates the intersection of music, taste and identity with Ancestral Table. Co-produced by Liquid Music (Date TBA).

Additional performances to be announced.

SONGBOOK, JAZZ, KCRW SERIES, HOLIDAYS AND MORE

The 2025/26 Songbook, Jazz, KCRW, and Holiday Series will bring a star-studded lineup of internationally acclaimed artists to Walt Disney Concert Hall. Highlights include LA Phil Creative Chair for Jazz Herbie Hancock, legendary singer-songwriter Patti Smith, versatile performers Nicole Scherzinger and Seth MacFarlane, iconic trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and more.

Grammy-nominated artist and producer RY X is constantly in pursuit of connection: to nature, to spirit, to the human experience. He brings that multifaceted and deeply emotional expressiveness to Walt Disney Concert Hall in a performance with instrumental ensemble (September 29).

Ledisi’s love for classic songs and legendary singers knows no bounds. The Grammy-winning vocalist celebrated the catalog of Nina Simone at the Hollywood Bowl in 2021, and now the powerhouse pays tribute to blues icon Dinah Washington (October 3).

Jazz performances include Ivan Lins, with the acclaimed pianist performing Brazilian jazz from throughout his career (October 17).

Over the course of their career, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs have constantly evolved, moving through and incorporating sounds from the worlds of ska, reggae, rap, rock and salsa. The Grammy and Latin Grammy winners celebrate their 40th anniversary with a career-spanning concert (October 18).

Boz Scaggs’ mix of rock, blues and R&B–not to mention his love of heart-aching ballads–made him a star in the 1970s. The singer brings his catalog of hits to Walt Disney Concert Hall (October 25).

Grammy nominee Nicole Scherzinger performs music from throughout her career for her Walt Disney Concert Hall debut (October 30).

Experience the dreamy indie-folk, alt-country and jazz R&B of Atlanta’s Faye Webster reimagined through stunning orchestral arrangements. In this special performance, Webster’s masterful, confessional vocals will be accompanied by a 40-piece orchestra (November 1).

To mark the 50th anniversary of Horses, Patti Smith and her band will perform her seminal debut album live to a sold-out Walt Disney Concert Hall. She will be accompanied by two members of the original group, guitarist Lenny Kaye and drummer Jay Dee Daugherty, along with keyboardist/bassist Tony Shanahan, a part of her band for 30 years. Jackson Smith joins on guitar (November 15).

Revelers at Walt Disney Concert Hall will ring in the season at the annual Holiday Sing-Along hosted by Melissa Peterman, complete with a jazz combo, choir and pipe organ (December 13).

The holiday season gets jazzed up with multiple Grammy Award winner Arturo Sandoval performing a program of holiday favorites (December 23).

A true multi-hyphenate, Seth MacFarlane is behind some of today’s most popular content in television, music and film, but his profound appreciation for orchestral jazz and the legendary arrangers of popular song separate him from the rest. Backed by a world-class orchestra, he makes his Walt Disney Concert Hall debut in a night dedicated to the music of Frank Sinatra (February 17).

Sarah Hicks leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a chilling rendition of Bernard Herrmann’s score to Hitchcock’s classic thriller Vertigo, live to picture (March 21).

From paragon of Blue Note cool to space-age synth wizard, LA Phil Creative Chair for Jazz Herbie Hancock seems like he’s been everywhere and done everything—but every time he comes around, he’s got a new discovery to share. The jazz legend and 14-time Grammy winner graces the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage once again (April 14).

Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Ichiko Aoba encompasses jazz, folk, bossa nova, ambient and classical in her sweeping, awe-inspiring music. Known for her unassuming but utterly transfixing solo performances, she explores connection, nature and climate change in her writing, and she’s collaborated with everyone from Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cornelius to Mac DeMarco and Black Country, New Road. She makes her Walt Disney Concert Hall headline debut following the release of her latest album, Luminescent Creatures (April 24).

DUDAMEL FELLOWS

In 2009, Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic together created the Dudamel Fellowship Program to provide opportunities for emerging conductors from around the world to develop their craft and enrich their musical experience through personal mentorship and participation in the LA Phil’s orchestral, education and community programs. Former Fellows include Elim Chan and Anna Handler (both featured in the 25/26 season), as well as notable conductors such as Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Rafael Payare, David Afkham, Jonathon Heyward, Gemma New, Marta Gardolinska and Tianyi Lu. The four conductors selected by Dudamel and the LA Phil to participate in the 16th and final class of the Dudamel Fellowship Program, which will run throughout the 2025/26 season, are:

Kinga Głowacka (Poland): Głowacka won the 2024 CySO International Conducting Master Class and Competition in Cyprus and the 2023 Ionel Perlea International Conducting Competition in Romania. Upon completion of conducting studies at the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków, she worked as an assistant conductor to Marin Alsop with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and founded, in 2018, the Kraków Chamber Orchestra Arco Andare, which she continues to direct.

Ana María Patiño-Osorio (Colombia): Patiño-Osorio won the Second Prize, Audience Prize and Youth Jury Prize at the 2024 Malko Competition in Copenhagen. Following completion of a master’s program at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, she served as assistant conductor of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and conducted the Iberacademy Orchestra at Mozartwoche in Salzburg, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia and Philharmonic of Bogotá. 

José Ángel Salazar (Venezuela): Salazar was educated within El Sistema and attended conducting studies at the Special Program for Academic Development in Caracas. He was a 2020 finalist for the first Arthur Nikisch Competition in Bulgaria, served as the Artistic and Music Director of El Sistema Greece until 2023 and was later appointed the Jette Parker Ballet Conductor at the Royal Opera House in London and worked with the Royal Ballet until 2025.

Miguel Sepúlveda (Portugal): Sepúlveda was the inaugural Runnicles Fellow at the Dresdner Philharmonie and is a Designate Winner (Finalist) in the June 2025 Rotterdam International Conducting Competition. He studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and has conducted the BBC Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony and Munich Chamber Orchestra.

During the LA Phil’s 2025/26 season at Walt Disney Concert Hall and the 2025 Hollywood Bowl season, the Fellows will work with Dudamel and musicians of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as well as with visiting artists and conductors and students in select LA Phil education programs. The Fellows will hone their skills through observation and application, such as conducting Los Angeles Philharmonic youth concerts at Walt Disney Concert Hall, participating as cover conductors and serving as mentors themselves through participation in programs such as YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles).

YOLA COMMUNITY CELEBRATION AND LA PHIL NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERTS

To celebrate the LA Phil’s ongoing commitment to community engagement and outreach, YOLA and the Los Angeles Philharmonic will be active in neighborhoods across the city throughout the season.

This fall marks the inaugural YOLA Community Celebration, a daylong event hosted by Gustavo Dudamel at the Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center in Inglewood. The celebration will feature free musical performances, interactive activities and food, bringing together families, students and music lovers from across Los Angeles. The event will also serve as a fundraiser for YOLA, ensuring the program’s continued growth and impact (October 11).

A defining highlight of Dudamel’s tenure, YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles) has provided free, high-quality music instruction to thousands of young musicians from historically marginalized communities for the past 17 years. The program has offered life-changing opportunities, including performances at the Super Bowl (2016, 2022) and collaborations with globally celebrated artists such as Coldplay, Billie Eilish, and Carlos Vives.

The LA Phil will also present free concerts across Los Angeles County, including performances at the Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center (Inglewood), Southeast Los Angeles (SELA) and the San Fernando Valley, conducted by Dudamel Fellow Miguel Sepúlveda (December 4-7).

Through its Neighborhood Concerts, the LA Phil brings world-class music directly into local communities, offering free performances in schools and cultural centers. These concerts reflect the orchestra’s deep commitment to accessibility and cultural engagement, ensuring that live music remains an essential and inclusive part of Los Angeles’ vibrant artistic landscape.

In October, the LA Phil and Platoon release their latest album, featuring Stravinsky and Villa-Lobos. Recorded in concert in 2023, Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in two pieces inspired in part by mystical birds: the 1919 version of Igor Stravinsky’s majestic Firebird Suite and Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Uirapuru, the latter of which is inspired by a bird in the composer’s homeland of Brazil that can create a stunning variety of songs (October 2025).

In December, Deutsche Grammophon will release an all-Prokofiev recording featuring Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in two of the composer’s most famous works. It pairs performances of the complete ballet music to Romeo and Juliet, recorded in October 2019 during the LA Phil’s centennial season, with the beloved musical fairy tale Peter and the Wolf, captured at the Hollywood Bowl in July 2021 (December 2025).

The “Gracias Gustavo: Celebrating 17 Years” concert will be captured in a live-to-vinyl recording, available only by prepurchase and delivered by mail in the weeks following the performance.

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