LA Phil’s “Power to the People! festival, March 5-April 11

The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Power to the People! festival, celebrating artists’ role in advancing social change, will take place from March 5 to April 11 at Walt Disney Concert Hall, California African American Museum, and the A Noise Within theater. LA Phil Music Director Gustavo Dudamel and Creative Chair for Jazz Herbie Hancock will bring together musicians, artists, and activists representing multiple musical traditions and social movements. The March 5 concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall will feature Dudamel and Hancock leading the LA Phil in Jessie Montgomery’s Banner, Courtney Bryan’s White Gleam of Our Bright Star, Wayne Shorter’s Aurora, and Hancock’s Ostinato: Suite for Angela and I Have a Dream. Other programs will feature Frederic Rzewski’s Which Side Are You On and The People United Will Never Be Defeated!; movie music by Terence Blanchard, performed by Blanchard and the E-Collective; Ted Hearne’s Place, featuring the LA Phil’s New Music Ensemble; and Imani Uzuri’s Revolutionary Choir. Among the performers will be singer/songwriter Patti Smith; jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant; cellist Seth Parker Woods; and interdisciplinary composer Spencer Topel. Angela Davis, the scholar and political activist, will speak about the role art has played in social justice movements and its potential to effect change today.