Ernest Fleischmann, the influential impresario who led the orchestra as its Executive Director from 1969 to 1998, was a visionary. Many of his innovations have become hallmarks of the LA Phil, from the Green Umbrella new music series to the creation of Walt Disney Concert Hall to the expansion of summertime programming at the Hollywood Bowl. He is, however, best known for his ability to find and nurture talent.

To commemorate what would have been Fleischmann’s 100th birthday, the LA Phil has dedicated the May 11, 2025 concert, Esa-Pekka Salonen Leads Debussy & Boulez, to his memory.

Here, four artists and arts leaders whose creative pathways he helped shape contributed personal tributes to this remarkable figure...

Ara Guzelimian

Artistic and Executive Director of the Ojai Music Festival; served as radio producer and then Artistic Administrator at 
the LA Phil under Fleischmann

This past December marked the centennial of Ernest’s birth, so it is an apt moment to remember and celebrate the legacy of the orchestra’s hugely influential longtime Executive Director. It was Ernest who set in motion many artistic initiatives and a culture of innovation that remains central to the LA Phil’s DNA to this day. He worked particularly closely with Music Directors Zubin Mehta, Carlo Maria Giulini, and Esa-Pekka Salonen—fruitful relationships that each defined a golden era of music-making (the relatively brief tenure of André Previn in the 1980s was marked by tension between the two).

Ernest had an amazing nose for talent—the very young Simon Rattle made his American debut at the Hollywood Bowl at the age of 21(!) in 1976, and there was a glorious period during the Giulini years when Rattle and Michael Tilson Thomas were Principal Guest Conductors. He famously got on a plane in 1983 to be in attendance for the 25-year-old Esa-Pekka Salonen’s last-minute debut in London with the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducting no less than Mahler’s epic Third Symphony, an encounter that led to Salonen’s being appointed Music Director in LA a few short years later. Fleischmann and Salonen were both on the jury of the first Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in Bamberg, Germany, in 2004, won by the 23-year-old Gustavo Dudamel, which first brought the Venezuelan conductor to international prominence.

Ernest, working with Principal Timpanist and composer William Kraft, launched the LA Phil New Music Group in 1981 with a series of inaugural concerts at the Mark Taper Forum. In a memorable 1987 staff meeting (I know, I was there!), Ernest spontaneously announced that the series would be called “The Green Umbrella” for no apparent reason other than his creative whim.

– Ara Guzelimian

His most enduring legacy is the eloquent presence of Walt Disney Concert Hall, made possible by an initial gift from Lillian Disney in 1987. There was, to be sure, an international architectural competition to create the design of the hall but no question whatsoever of Ernest’s determination and sheer will to make certain that the commission went to a local hero, Frank Gehry. "He was very demanding when he got going," Gehry later remembered. 

"For Disney Hall, this was his dream and I was being entrusted with delivering that dream. He was quite specific on the issues he wanted to address. Besides the acoustics, he talked a lot of the intimacy of the building, he talked about the democracy of the seating so that all the seats were equal. He thought it through and spent a lot of time thinking about it and he wanted it to be special.”

It took 16 years for the hall to become a reality, a project guided to completion by Ernest’s successor, Deborah Borda. Happily, Ernest was present to savor the moment.

Ernest could be imperious and impossible at times but was a most thoughtful leader and loyal friend when needed. His devotion to music and his restless drive for innovation were unwavering. We are all the lucky beneficiaries of his life and work.

Zubin Mehta

Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director (1962–1978) and current Conductor Emeritus

Our discussions always ended in inventing new ways to foster excellent orchestra relationships with the public, like when we introduced marathons of the music of Beethoven and Mozart. Also, our now-famous Star Wars concert at the Hollywood Bowl promoted national tours of the music of John Williams.

From the day I spoke to him about leaving London to come to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, we became friends for life, and I miss him earnestly to this day. I wish his family all the best for their future from the bottom of my heart, and my wife joins me, as she and Ernest were great friends.

– Zubin Mehta

Esa-Pekka Salonen

Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director (1992–2009), current Conductor Laureate, and noted composer

I was of course very curious to see this obviously legendary person. On my way from the hotel to Hammersmith, I was nervously trying to imagine what he wanted from me. It was a relief to be greeted warmly by an affable gray-haired man in his late 50s. I noticed his old-world accent and an unmistakable charisma that seemed to fill the entire room.

Much to my surprise Ernest, without much of an introduction, laid out a scenario which sounded utterly unrealistic and far-fetched. He said he was sure that I would enjoy working with the musicians of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and that I should become their next Music Director. I had read somewhere that Californians liked to smoke little things they called joints and thought that detachment from reality to that degree was possible to achieve only chemically.

I believe everyone has had these seemingly random encounters that define or at least influence the course of one’s life. For me, meeting Ernest was one of those. Less than 10 years after that initial conversation, I started my long and happy journey as the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Ernest was a fantastic partner on that journey. He taught me essentially everything I know about running a symphonic organization in this country. Stuff you don’t learn in music schools. He guided me gently (and sometimes less than gently) in programming: how to create a balanced season without losing the sense of curiosity and adventure. His crisis-management skills were amazing—it was almost as if he really enjoyed those difficult moments when everything seemed to be disintegrating and he, with his magic touch, was able to put everything back together again.

I got my driver’s license late in life and never developed into an instinctive, skilled driver. I was consoled by the fact that Ernest was a legendarily terrible driver who nevertheless seemed to enjoy some particular kind of protection from the universe.

I could tell hundreds of anecdotes, but one (related to driving) will suffice here:
When the Los Angeles Philharmonic was starting a monthlong residency at the Salzburg Festival in 1992, Ernest offered to drive me from the Munich airport to my house in Anif, a municipality just outside Salzburg. I realized he hadn’t seen a stick-shift car in decades but decided to keep quiet. We stalled at every set of lights, and the car started to make strange whining noises on the motorway. Ernest said something like BMW doesn’t make cars like they used to. I finally suggested that he shift up from the second gear. We made it to Salzburg in the third gear. For reasons unknown to me, Ernest drove straight into the garage door of the house I was going to stay in and left a considerable dent in both the door and the car. The owner and the realtor were standing on the porch witnessing our arrival. Ernest decided not to notice this little insignificant incident. He got out of the car, greeted the stunned hosts in his beautiful Rhenish-Franconian German accent, introduced me, and finally offered the whiny BMW to me to use for the duration of the festival.

There are still moments when I ask myself: What would Ernest do in this situation? During institutional turmoil: If Ernest were here this would never have happened. And most often: Ernest, what would be the best wine with this food? We mostly agreed on artistic matters, but things could get a little heated when discussing food and wine.

A preopening acoustic test at Walt Disney Concert Hall with Ernest, Pierre Boulez, and Frank Gehry is an especially happy memory. I will never forget the sight of the elderly statesmen Pierre and Ernest running around the hall like two mad gazelles, making sure they heard the Bach E-major Prelude from every sonic angle imaginable. It gives me a lot of joy to know that Ernest could see the game-changing building that wouldn’t have been built without his vision and commitment.

I’ve been fortunate to have had Ernest as a mentor, close collaborator, and friend. I wouldn’t be where I am today without him. And I’m not the only one.

– Esa-Pekka Salonen

Gustavo Dudamel

Music & Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic

I first met him in Bamberg, Germany, in 2004, at the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition, where he was  on the jury. Ernest took a keen and personal interest in my life after Bamberg, regularly visiting and sharing fatherly-like wisdom. It was with his enthusiastic blessing that I became Music & Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the orchestra he had nurtured for nearly 30 years.

His having played such a critical role in my professional life would have been enough, but Ernest was also responsible for everything I love about the LA Phil. He created a supportive environment for musicians, expanded programming at the Hollywood Bowl, made serious investments in living composers, and backed new music in ways that were novel for an American orchestra at the time. Under Ernest’s leadership, the LA Phil was among the first orchestras in the country to dedicate its resources to diversifying our field and lifting up musicians from all walks of life. His is a legacy we continue to build on today.

Ernest is something of a mythic figure in the classical music world, but whether you knew him or not, if you are a music lover in Los Angeles, you have been impacted by his work. I am grateful to have known him, grateful for what he created, and grateful for the music he brought into our world.

– Gustavo Dudamel