Upcoming broadcasts
April 28: LA Phil at WDCH: Dudamel Conducts Bruckner
Nicknamed “the saucy maid” by its composer, Anton Bruckner’s First Symphony is bursting with exuberance and grand musical architecture inspired by Wagner and Beethoven. Dudamel leads the LA Phil in a journey through Bruckner’s compelling extremes—from bittersweet melodies to an explosive and fiery finale. The electrifying violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter recorded one of the definitive versions of Brahms’ Double Concerto 40 years ago, but she was inspired to release a new recording of it in 2022 with her protégé and collaborator cellist Pablo Ferrández. The pair reprise that performance, bringing out the joy and turbulence of Brahms’ musical conversation.
May 5: LA Phil at WDCH: Ravel and Adès
Thomas Adès and pianist Kirill Gerstein’s longstanding collaboration has been called “an auspicious meeting of giants” (The Boston Globe), and the pair reunite for Adès’ Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. Gerstein, who brings “the kind of serious, intelligent and virtuosic music-making that keeps classical music alive” (The Observer), interprets both Adès’ concerto and Ravel’s wildly original Concerto for the Left Hand. Adès as a conductor leads the symphony from his critically lauded opera The Tempest as well as Ravel’s emotionally searing La valse.
May 12: LA Phil at WDCH: Mälkki Conducts Brahms
Danill Trifonov, “without question the most astounding pianist of our age” (The Times of London), conjures his unique style and technique to perform the longest major Romantic piano concerto, Brahms’ epic second. The piece is synonymous with the greatest music of its era for its grand yet intimate delicacies. Susanna Mälkki leads the LA Phil in another Brahms offering, his jubilant Academic Festival Overture, as well as Fett on Saturday and Sunday by German composer Enno Poppe, who describes his innovative music as “dented nature.”
May 19: LA Phil at WDCH: Bernstein and Wooten
A multiple Grammy-winning legend in worlds of funk and avant garde jazz, Victor Wooten is a regular in music critics’ lists of best bass guitar players in history. In recent years, Wooten has sought to combine jazz and symphonic traditions, and La Lección Tres showcases the possibilities of a solo electric bass with orchestra, sometimes with plucked rhythmic punch and others lyrical and melodic with a custom bass that’s bowed like a cello. After opening with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s romantic and lush Ballade, Thomas Wilkins conducts Bernstein’s timeless Symphonic Dances from West Side Story.
May 26: LA Phil at WDCH: John Adams’ City Noir
LA Phil Creative Chair John Adams leads the orchestra in Stravinsky’s colorful and Impressionistic Song of the Nightingale, which is set in the court of the Emperor of China. With influences ranging from Brahms and Mozart to Sigur Rós and Radiohead, Timo Andres is a favorite young composer of Adams’ who conducts the world premiere of his concerto written for pianist Aaron Diehl. Adams closes the program with his City Noir, inspired by Los Angeles and classic films that the composer said is reminiscent of “a very crowded boulevard peopled with strange characters… who only come out very late on a very hot night.”
June 2: LA Phil at WDCH: Michael Tilson Thomas Leads Tchaikovsky
The four tableaus of Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka are vividly brought to life by Michael Tilson Thomas, who actually met the composer in Los Angeles in his youth. Thomas once described Stravinsky as an “amazing mind that was searching always for the most original solution” to his inventions, and he brings that keen understanding to conducting Stravinsky’s work. Tchaikovsky wrote his Fourth Symphony as a mirror to the many conflicts in his life, wrestling with fate and personal turmoil, leading to a passionate thrill ride of a symphony.
June 9: LA Phil at WDCH: Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony
Camile Saint-Saëns’ adventurous, final symphony has been engrained in popular culture, with themes from its memorable triumphant last movement appearing in pop songs and as the main theme in the film Babe. Dedicated to Franz Liszt, the “Organ” symphony led fellow composer Charles Gounod to hail Saint-Saëns as “the French Beethoven.” LA Phil Principal Concertmaster Martin Chalifour leads Maurice Ravel’s virtuosic violin showpiece, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Music Director Louis Langrée teams up again with acclaimed composer Jonathan Bailey Holland for a world premiere symphony.
June 16: LA Phil at WDCH: The Labèques, Muhly, and Dessner
Sister pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque are known for their deep artistic interpretations of everything from Mozart to Stravinsky and creative collaborations with composers that have “transformed the piano duo” (The New York Times). The Labèques bring two piano concertos they previously premiered by like-minded composers who are as at home in concert halls as they are in indie rock clubs: Nico Muhly and Bryce Dessner. Toronto Symphony Orchestra Music Director Gustavo Gimeno leads the LA Phil in Prokofiev’s vivid scoring of Shakespeare’s story of forbidden love and warring Montagues and Capulets.
June 23: LA Phil at WDCH: Bartók and Brahms
Grammy Award-winning violinist Nicola Benedetti, whose playing “combines soaring lyrical sweetness with muscular confidence” (The Guardian), breathes new life into Brahms’ Violin Concerto. Alternating between serene moods and a rousing display of fun, the famed concerto embodies the Viennese spirit while putting Brahms’ playful side on full display. Karina Canellakis leads Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, universally praised for its rich themes and thematic dominance.
June 30: LA Phil at WDCH: Dudamel Leads Mozart and Strauss
Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil lead Strauss’ Don Quixote, an epic tone poem that pits the infamous “Man of La Mancha” against a flurry of windmills and wizards, featuring LA Phil Principal Cello and Principal Viola Robert deMaine and Teng Li as soloists. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 is the composer at the top of his game, a piece that flipped conventional baroque traditions on its head by shining a clear spotlight on the soloist, highlighted here by leading Mozart interpreter Maria João Pires.
Recent broadcasts
April 21: LA Phil at WDCH: Mozart’s “Prague” Symphony
Former Dudamel Fellow Gemma New and the LA Phil capture the complexities and sophistications of Mozart’s “Prague” symphony, a triumphant work composed during the peak of Mozart’s celebrity status in the European capital. Danses concertantes marked Stravinsky’s first composition while living in Los Angeles, commissioned at the height of World War II in his signature style. Members of the LA Phil take the spotlight for a world premiere concerto by Veronika Krausus, who composes with a “lyrical sense of storytelling” (Globe and Mail).
April 21: LA Phil at WDCH: Mozart’s “Prague” Symphony
Former Dudamel Fellow Gemma New and the LA Phil capture the complexities and sophistications of Mozart’s “Prague” symphony, a triumphant work composed during the peak of Mozart’s celebrity status in the European capital. Danses concertantes marked Stravinsky’s first composition while living in Los Angeles, commissioned at the height of World War II in his signature style. Members of the LA Phil take the spotlight for a world premiere concerto by Veronika Krausus, who composes with a “lyrical sense of storytelling” (Globe and Mail).