On Thursday, March 6, Los Angeles Philharmonic Music & Artistic Director and Walt and Lilly Disney Chair Gustavo Dudamel and LA Phil President & CEO and David C. Bohnett CEO Chair Kim Noltemy unveiled the 2025/26 LA Phil season at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the last in which Dudamel will serve in his current role.
The announcement was made at a luncheon at Disney Hall that included a conversation between Dudamel and Noltemy and a performance by violinists Dale Breidenthal of the LA Phil and Sergio Paez, an alumnus of YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles), the signature education program that has thrived under Dudamel’s leadership.
The season, affectionately dubbed “Gracias Gustavo,” celebrates the conductor’s 17-year partnership with the LA Phil. Programming will include 25 commissioned works, including 20 world premieres and three U.S. premieres with two projects that feature original choreography and film components.
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.
Noltemy said, “Gustavo’s final Walt Disney Concert Hall season as music and 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.”
The ever-humble and modest Dudamel turned the celebration of him into a celebration of the orchestra and the City of Los Angeles. Throughout the conversation, he repeatedly said how blessed and fortunate he has been to be a part of the LA Phil family and have the privilege to lead the orchestra.
When asked what his fondest memories were of his time in LA, his first was his first “crazy week” with the Phil — when he conducted two premieres, including John Adams’ City Noir, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. He also mentioned the birth of his now 13-year-old son Martin, calling him an Angeleno.
In addition to his relationship with the orchestra, Dudamel mentioned his friendships with the community and with artists at the highest caliber. Walt Disney Concert Hall architect Frank Gehry became like family to him. “And when you have that kind of unique connection, you get crazy and you dream,” Dudamel said. He humorously described drinking tequila with Gehry and getting the idea to stage operas (by Mozart and Wagner) in the concert hall. He also mentioned that he and Gehry would go sailing and discuss artistic ideas, even though Dudamel would get seasick.
Dudamel said he is extremely proud of the YOLA education program for underserved young people, inspired by his experience with La Sistema in Venezuela, where he recalled rehearsing in a garage when there was nowhere else to play. The program has offered life-changing opportunities to young musicians, such as performances at the Super Bowl (2016 and 2022) and collaborations with artists such as Coldplay, Billie Eilish and Carlos Vives. The upcoming season will include more free Neighborhood Concerts and a special YOLA Community Celebration.
Another interesting project and part of the fifth year of Dudamel’s Pan-American Music Initiative is the LA Phil commission of an hour-long symphonic tribute to Angelenos who have shaped the city’s history, inspired by Judy Baca’s iconic mural, The Great Wall of Los Angeles, and featuring a film by Alejandro G. Iñárritu.
Half of the LA Phil’s current musicians were hired by Dudamel. He said it was the players who lobbied for him to be hired in the first place; and what a great decision that was by Debora Borda and the Board of Directors. Not only did he transform the orchestra and the city with his youth and energy, but his position as music director of the Phil catapulted him into the conducting stratosphere making him an international conducting rockstar. That, of course, led ultimately to him being offered the helm of the New York Philharmonic, by former CEO and now Executive Advisor Borda.
At the luncheon, Dudamel said this is the end of a chapter, but it is not the end of his relationship with the LA Phil. He said he will return to finish the Ring Cycle, and otherwise perform and collaborate with the LA Phil, in the years to come. Gracias, Gustavo!
—Henry Schlinger, Culture Spot LA
Check out the entire 2025/26 season at https://www.laphil.com/campaigns/walt-disney-concert-hall-202526-season.
Photo of Los Angeles Philharmonic Music & Artistic Director and Walt and Lilly Disney Chair Gustavo Dudamel and LA Phil President & CEO and David C. Bohnett CEO Chair Kim Noltemy by Henry Schlinger