THE STARS WERE
HERE ALL ALONG

A celebration of the musicians
who make the LA Phil extraordinary

The Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Hall

If you come to the LA Phil often enough, you’ll begin to recognize the individual players. Now consider how often you see them take center stage. Amazing players, all of them, but it’s unusual for them to be the focus themselves. Yes, they get moments to shine in symphonies or whatever, but it’s in the service of the orchestra as a whole or as support for a visiting artist. For Gustavo Dudamel‘s penultimate program as Music and Artistic Director, these incredible musicians were put up front, one after another over 13 pieces, in a sort of mini-festival and one of the most enjoyable concerts of the season.

In keeping with this spirit, composer John Williams gave us a new fanfare, Bravo Gustavo!, for orchestra and trumpet quartet, played by Thomas Hooten (principal), Christopher Still, Jeffrey Strong, and James Wilt. It begins with a feeling of desolation and quiet dissonance, gradually blossoming into bright, optimistic triumph. It’s pretty obvious that it’s a compliment to Dudamel and his fabulous work with the orchestra, but what is Williams saying with the gloomy opening? The way Los Angeles as a city seems to always be crumbling? The state of the orchestra pre-Dudamel? Is that a dig on Esa-Pekka Salonen? It’s weirdly dark. Nonetheless, it eschews bombast in favor of genuine, polite admiration, making a lovely appetizer.

Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil

The bulk of the program consisted of selections from concertos, divided into two parts, classical and modern, seemingly chosen simply for the joy of playing. Principal bassoonist Whitney Crockett played Rossini, principal oboist Ryan Roberts played Alessandro Marcello, principal flutist Denis Bouriakov played his own arrangement of Paganini’s violin concerto, principal horn Andrew Bain played Mozart, Bing Wang (Associate Concertmaster) and Joanne Pearce Martin (keyboardist, on piano) played Mendelssohn, principal cellist Robert deMaine played Tchaikovsky’s Pezzo capriccioso, and principal harpist Emmanuel Ceysson concluded the first half with Glière. It was a dizzying display of virtuosity that made me want to see the complete pieces.

Principal percussionist Matthew Howard and principal timpanist Joseph Pereira played from Philip Glass’s Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra. Sitting in Orchestra East, though, the orchestra never really jelled, and all I got was timpani, while the orchestra itself sounded like an afterthought. Principal clarinetist Boris Allakhverdyan provided the biggest surprise of the night with a scorching performance of Artie Shaw’s Concerto for Clarinet. Principal trombonist David Rejano Cantero played Nino Rota, and principal bassist Christopher Hanulik played Andrés Martín.

Finishing the night was Mujer Arena, a premiere for full orchestra by Gabriela Ortiz, another fanfare that followed the same basic structure as the first piece: a quiet, understated beginning, ending, predictably, with a bang. Because, you know, it’s not a Dudamel concert if it doesn’t end with a final blast of sound.

Gustavo Dudamel and Gabriela Ortiz

I greatly enjoyed seeing our local musicians brought to the forefront of the LA Phil. Seeing international stars is thrilling and all, but ultimately overkill. Do we really need to bring so many visiting soloists at the expense of the amazing players who are already here?

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photos by Timothy Norris

Gustavo Dudamel: Celebrating the Musicians of the LA Phil
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave. in Los Angeles
2 hours with intermission
reviewed on June 4, 2026
for tickets and upcoming concerts, call 323.850.2000 or visit LA Phil

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