Photo by Ryan Hunter

It’s a joy every year to welcome you to Walt Disney Concert Hall for the radio broadcasts of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. A new season begins Sunday, April 2 on SoCal Sunday Night. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the opening of Disney Hall — the sleek modern space designed by Frank Gehry to be a living room for the city of Los Angeles — and Gustavo Dudamel’s 14th season as Music and Artistic Director of the LA Phil.

The big news, of course, is that Dudamel will become the next music director of the New York Philharmonic in three years: a giant leap forward for that great orchestra. And there’s lots of music to be made here in LA with Dudamel between now and then and we continue to celebrate him and his artistry this season.

Dudamel conducts two world premieres during this season of radio broadcasts, one by the Pulitzer Prize-winner Ellen Reid and another by California’s own Gabriela Smith. Dudamel also leads an all-Mozart program with the legendary Japanese poet of the piano, Mitsuko Uchida. We shine the spotlight on the musicians of the LA Phil when principal flute Denis Bouriakov and principal harp Emmanuel Ceysson share the stage for Mozart’s flute/harp concerto.

Former music director Zubin Mehta returns this season as well, leading a program of music by George Crumb and Berlioz’s psychedelic Symphonie fantastique.

The LA Phil’s commitment to celebrating diversity in classical music is also reflected in our radio series. Four of the nine different conductors featured are women and six are non-white.

Classical favorites abound as well, with fresh performances of the Symphony No. 5 by Shostakovich, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherezade, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with Randall Goosby making his Walt Disney Concert Hall debut.

Finally, it kind of snuck up on me, but this is my 15th season hosting this series. It has been an honor and a privilege to bring these great performances to you for the last decade and a half. I hope you’ll join me again this season for the Los Angeles Philharmonic in concert, Sunday nights at 7:00 on KUSC.