By Contributor,Ellen Reid,R. Daniel Foster
Copyright forbes
Conductor Gustavo Dudamel launched his final season with the LA Phil on September 25-28, as its Music and Artistic Director.
Photograph taken by Timothy Norris at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, provided courtesy of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association
Known for his innovative commissions, conductor Gustavo Dudamel launched his final season with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on September 25-28 with perhaps his most ambitious commission: Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid’s “Earth Between Oceans,” a world premiere.
An Otherworldly Premiere
(L-R) Composer John Williams, Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, and violinist Itzhak Perlman attend Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Walt Disney Concert Hall Opening Night Gala on September 30, 2014, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Mathew Imaging/WireImage)
Written to honor the Music and Artistic Director’s deep affiliation with Los Angeles and New York, Reid’s standout composition utilizes the four elements to explore the soul of the coastal cities. Intensely atmospheric, the unpredictable 30-minute work for orchestra and choir feels interdimensional, as if the composer hails from a different galaxy. The music envelops listeners in a primal, oceanic space. Vast forces are revealed. Textures hang in the air, as if collectively, the audience has discovered its latent synesthetic powers.
In life, moments of awe are rare. Listening to Reid’s “Earth Between Oceans” is one of them.
Composer Ellen Reid, accompanied by Gustavo Dudamel and Grant Gershon (RIGHT), artistic director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, exit the stage
Photograph taken by Timothy Norris at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, provided courtesy of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association
“He brings such care to the nuances of a new score, and his energy infuses the music with an infectious passion, says Reid of Dudamel. “Working with him is always a complete and total joy.”
The Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall has seen numerous moments of power and grace with superstar Dudamel at the helm. But after 17 years, that golden era is drawing to a close with the philharmonic’s final Dudamel-led season, dubbed “Gracias Gustavo.”
The premier foreshadowed Dudamel’s next chapter. Conductor and baritone Malcolm Merriweather, director of the New York Philharmonic chorus, was spotted in the audience during a Los Angeles launch concert, seated in front of Reid. He’ll work closely with Dudamel during the New York Philharmonic’s 2026-2027 season and beyond, when Dudamel becomes the organization’s Music and Artistic Director. Merriweather will also soon join forces with Reid. The Los Angeles and New York orchestras co-commissioned “Earth Between Oceans,” which the New York Philharmonic will present on April 30-May 2, 2026, with Merriweather directing the chorus.
Conductor and baritone Malcolm Merriweather (LEFT), director of the New York Philharmonic chorus, attended the LA Phil’s season opener. (Photo by Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
In Los Angeles, Grammy Award winner Grant Gershon, Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, masterfully conducted the choir for the season launch. Reid’s piece was aptly paired with Richard Strauss’ “Eine Alpensinfonie” (An Alpine Symphony), Op. 64, a late-Romantic orchestral work that employs monumental orchestral forces.
Los Angeles Says Goodbye To A Legend
Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall on May 2, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
New Yorkers have been been ecstatic about acquiring Dudamel ever since the move was announced in early 2023. Adoring Angelenos, who affectionately call the Maestro “The Dude,” have weathered the news with heartbreak and stoicism. Dudamel elevated the LA Phil, as it’s commonly called, to become one of the world’s premier orchestras. The maestro broke through musical boundaries, sought out novel commissions, and soulfully connected to the city of Los Angeles, embracing and embodying its famous diversity.
For those fortunate enough to travel to downtown Los Angeles to enter Gehry’s architectural masterpiece, an acoustical marvel, observing Dudamel conduct delivered transcendent experiences. They include Dudamel’s insightful interpretations of Gustav Mahler’s symphonies, premieres of LA Phil Creative Chair John Adams’ works, the concerto “Threshold” by LA Phil principal timpanist Joseph Pereira and such classics as Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.
Exterior view of the Walt Disney Concert Hall on May 5, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Santi Visalli/Getty Images)
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Dudamel’s off-the-book direction placed audiences inside the alternate reality that such works encompass. He inhabited the music in ways few accomplish. Indeed, the conductor seems to perform an otherworldly mind-meld with LA Phil musicians, delivering nothing short of astonishment.
Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Portuguese pianist Maria Joao Pires performs at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on May 2, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The Venezuelan native was signed by the LA Phil in a bombshell announcement when he was a 26-year-old rising star sporting untamed hair—“a real conducting animal,” as described by Finnish conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, who Dudamel succeeded in 2009.
Venezuelan Gustavo Dudamel conducts Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 with the Simon Bolivar National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, during a rehearsal before the concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. November 2007. AFP PHOTO/GABRIEL BOUYS (Photo credit should read GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Dudamel was the protégé of José Antonio Abreu, visionary founder of Venezuela-based El Sistema. The publicly-financed music education program drives social change and youth development, enriching children from impoverished neighborhoods.
How Gustavo Dudamel Became A Pop-Culture Phenomenon
In 2007, Dudamel joined the LA Phil and community partners to found YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles), inspired by the El Sistema movement. YOLA provides more than 1,700 young people with musical support, including instruments, instruction and academic and leadership training.
Dudamel became a pop-culture phenomenon, his fame spreading via performances with Gwen Stefani, Ricky Martin, Billie Eilish, Christina Aguilera, Coldplay and Nas—along with television appearances on The Simpsons, Sesame Street and others. In 2019, the conductor was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The conductor has racked up numerous firsts during his tenure with the LA Phil, among them:
In 2025, Gustavo Dudamel led the LA Phil in two Coachella performances, the first time a major orchestra has performed at the event.
In October 2024, Dudamel appeared on the cover of Billboard, looking rakish in a dark high-collared leather coat pulled close. It was the magazine’s first classical musician to be featured on its famed cover.
In 2016, Dudamel brought art to the masses, becoming the first classical artist to participate in a Super Bowl halftime show—leading YOLA musicians in a show headlined by Coldplay, along with guest artists Beyoncé and Bruno Mars.
In 2017, a 35-year-old Dudamel became the youngest conductor to lead the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Day Concert.
‘We Have Reimagined What An Orchestra Can Be’
The LA Phil’s 2025-2026 season includes 14 programs conducted by Dudamel. Works include Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis,” known for its powerful choral and orchestral elements; a premiere of Angélica Negrón’s Cello Concerto with cellist Yo-Yo Ma; “Die Walküre” (The Valkyrie), the second of four operas that comprise Richard Wagner’s The Ring Cycle; and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” with renowned soprano Chen Reiss.
Conductor Gustavo Dudamel leads a rehearsal of the EXPO Center Youth Orchestra, on December 6, 2008 at the EXPO center in downtown Los Angeles. (Photo by ROBYN BECK / AFP) (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
“Together, we have reimagined what an orchestra can be, and how it can serve both the community around it and the world at large,” said Dudamel in the LA Phil’s 2025-26 season announcement. “In these remarkable players, I have found both a profound wellspring of generosity and a visionary commitment to excellence in music-making.”
Deborah Borda, then the LA Phil’s CEO, introduced Maestro Dudamel to his new Los Angeles audience in 2007, focusing on his youth, charisma and drive toward community engagement. The campaign’s centerpiece was “¡Bienvenido Gustavo!”, a free Hollywood Bowl concert held on October 3, 2009, attended by 18,000. Upon release, tickets were snatched up in about an hour. The populist marketing strategy signaled that the conductor was a proponent for all Angelenos, not just classical music aficionados.
Gustavo Dudamel (left) and conductor Benjamin Zander at an event in Cuba, June 1999. (Photo by Mikki Ansin/Getty Images)
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The city was awash with billboards and banners bearing the conductor’s likeness, welcoming him to his new station.
This year, after Gustavo Dudamel’s 17-year run, the billboards and banners are back, but with a new message: “Gracias Gustavo.” For Angelenos, it’s a bittersweet moment.
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