What it took for the LA Phil to produce its filmed concerts, which begin streaming this fall

“The Hollywood Bowl summer season has been cancelled, but that doesn’t mean its behemoth stage (5,700 square feet) sits empty,” writes Susan Elliott in Thursday’s (9/10) MusicalAmerica. In a video interview with Elliott, “Chad Smith, CEO of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which operates the Bowl, describes the logistics behind the Phil’s upcoming ‘Sound/Stage’ series. Filmed at the Bowl over a number of weeks in July and August, the performances start streaming September 25, most of them conducted by Music Director Gustavo Dudamel. Players were masked and positioned between six and 12 feet apart, with the winds encased in multiple layers of plexiglass. For musicians used to taking finely honed aural cues from each other, it was a huge challenge. Smith describes how, to surmount it, Dudamel told his charges, ‘Listen less, watch me more!’ ”