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LA Phil on Tour: 2024

Watch & Listen

On the first leg of the tour in Europe, the Los Angeles Philharmonic—joined by the rising violin virtuoso María Dueñas as well as the cast and choruses of Fidelio—presented seven performances at four venues, winning applause and accolades along the way.

We kept the party going on leg two, bringing our own gala program to New York City to kick off Carnegie Hall’s 2024/25 season. Across three nights in the Big Apple, Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil shared the stage with a variety of world-class performers, some of whom came along on our six-day stop in Bogotá, Colombia with YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles).

Explore how much fun we had as you scroll through our tour recap below!

Spring 2024

Barcelona

The LA Phil and cast of Fidelio at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Photo credit: David Ruano

The tour began with two performances of the LA Phil’s landmark semi-staged production of Fidelio at the Gran Teatre del Liceu on May 26 and 27. Featuring a cast of opera singers alongside Deaf actors who performed the libretto in International Sign Language, the production, “united two communities in an opera house: those with hearing functionality and those who are Deaf like Beethoven himself,” reported La Vanguardia.

On May 28, the orchestra performed at the modernist gem, the Palau de la Música Catalana. John WilliamsOlympic Fanfare and Theme opened the program before Dueñas joined in for Gabriela Ortiz’s violin concerto Altar de cuerda. The second half of the program featured Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.” La Vanguardia summed up the programs: “The maestro leaves a new success at the Palau de la Música and a human lesson on deafness with Fidelio.”

Paris

A pair of sold-out houses greeted the orchestra in the City of Lights, where it performed both programs at the Philharmonie de Paris. On May 30, composer Gabriela Ortiz joined Dueñas to a rapturous reception for her Altar de cuerda. Efecto Cocuyo described the evening’s concert as “a sensory journey that left the audience paralyzed and breathless.”

The following night, the cast of Fidelio was equally applauded. “The recitatives, exclusively performed in sign language, are performed in a striking silence that captures the attention,” wrote Forum Opéra, and Le Point remarked on how this integrated production “touched on the transformative power of art.”

London

María Dueñas with the LA Phil at the Barbican in Paris. Photo credit: Mark Allen
The LA Phil cast and choruses of Fidelio take a bow. Photo credit: Ask Knotek

The third and final leg of the tour took the orchestra to the Barbican on June 2 and 3. Reporting on the first concert, featuring the music of Williams, Ortiz, and Dvořák, Scene and Heard International wrote, “The LA Phil has no weak sections…. This was a performance of exactitude: Gustavo Dudamel wasted no time getting started, and from then off, razor-sharp precision was the order of the day.”

The production of Fidelio provided a fitting finale for the 2024 European tour, an extraordinary union of orchestra, two casts, three choirs, and the opera’s message of “brotherhood” under Dudamel.

Fall 2024

The LA Phil on Tour: NYC & Colombia

New York City

The second leg of the tour began in New York City with Carnegie Hall’s 2024/25 season gala. Featuring Rachmaninoff’s heart-wrenching Second Piano Concerto with pianist Lang Lang and Ginastera’s heroic ode to the gaucho—Estancia—with baritone Gustavo Castillo, these first few concerts reflected Dudamel’s “gift for must-hear programming and his open-minded disregard for genre” (The New York Times).

Actress María Valverde lent her captivating Spanish narration to Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Alisa Weilerstein joined in for Gabriela Ortiz’s latest cello concerto, titled Dzonot. Vulture wrote that “Ortiz tailored the work to Weilerstein’s way of gripping each note and squeezing it for the last drop of expressive juice, and to Dudamel’s love of a crazy musical party.” (And that it was!)

Tying the three-day run together, Natalia Lafourcade reprised her Hollywood Bowl performance with the LA Phil in September 2024, singing selections from her recent Grammy-winning releases.

Bogotá

On night one in Colombia, the LA Phil delivered outstanding performances of Dzonot and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Teatro Mayor, followed by a second evening featuring Ginastera’s Estancia, Barber’s Adagio for Strings, and Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G with Argentinian pianist Sergio Tiempo.

Between performances, nearly 50 YOLA Institute Symphony and YOLA National students joined young musicians from 10 South American countries for five days of music-making in the town of Cajicá.

From October 13-17, the 169 students participated in masterclasses and teaching sessions hosted by the LA Phil, YOLA, Orquestra Filarmonica de Bogota, and Asociacion Nacionel de Musica Sinfonica, culminating in an inspiring grand-finale concert conducted by Dudamel. In the spirit of fellowship and joyful music-making, Dudamel invited Colombian singer Carlos Vives to the stage for a surprise collaboration “that generated enthusiasm among the young musicians and Vives himself” (Foco Informativo).

It’s safe to say that no matter the style or genre, the age of its performers, and the country where it’s enjoyed, live music continuously brings us together in unforgettable ways.

Support for the LA Phil on tour is generously provided by the Michele and Dudley Rauch Tour Fund and the Karl Loring Fund.

Support for YOLA on tour is generously provided by The Rafael and Luisa de Marchena-Huyke Foundation.