Fanfares are traditionally festive or ceremonial music, short instrumental flourishes welcoming guests on important occasions. The Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Hollywood Bowl have stakes in this venerable tradition. For its 75th anniversary season, the Philharmonic received a series of fanfares from composers such as Witold Lutoslawski, William Kraft, and Jacob Druckman.

Arnold Schoenberg used motives from his massive oratorio Gurrelieder to create a fanfare for Leopold Stokowski and the Bowl in 1945, although it was not performed then. In celebration of the new shell and renovation, the Bowl is proud to present new fanfares from two of our most important and distinguished composers. Elmer Bernstein composed Fanfare for John at the Hollywood Bowl (for John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra) for the Opening Night program June 25. James Newton Howard's Fanfare was composed for Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonic. It opens this concert, the Philharmonic's first of the summer (a version of this fanfare for brass and percussion was also performed for the ribbon-cutting ceremony here on June 9). It is orchestrated by Brad Dechter.