“When the Los Angeles Philharmonic announced its centennial season last year, it was a newsworthy lineup,” writes Deborah Vankin in Tuesday’s (2/19) Los Angeles Times. “How do you top that? … Chief Executive Simon Woods said in an interview that the answer is ‘relevance.’ … The 2019-20 season unofficially kicks off with what Woods called ‘a mini L.A. tour into different community environments’ [in] preseason concerts likely taking place in Whittier, Inglewood and Lafayette Park.… Its Power to the People Festival, co-curated by artistic and music director Gustavo Dudamel and [jazz musician] Herbie Hancock, addresses how music can provide solidarity and give voice in social justice movements. Esa-Pekka Salonen will conduct two programs exploring the music and culture of Germany’s Weimar Republic…. 2019-20 will include … 22 commissions … half are by women…. What does Woods personally look forward to most? Two very different evenings conducted by Dudamel, he said, referring to the musical ‘Sunday in the Park With George,’ marking Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday, and Arnold Schoenberg’s ‘Gurrelieder.’ … The L.A. Phil and Deutsche Grammophon will release a 32-CD, three-DVD box set of L.A. Phil recordings from the 1920s to the present.”
Posted February 20, 2019
