Since the inception of our institution, women have been hard at work—at the forefront and behind the scenes—contributing to nearly everything the Los Angeles Philharmonic has accomplished. Women helped build the Hollywood Bowl in 1919, conducted on its stage as early as 1925, founded the Music Center, funded the construction of Walt Disney Concert Hall, and are among the innovative curators and collaborative artists behind the LA Phil’s forward-thinking festivals and performances.
That trend continues today. Learn about some of our recent collaborators by exploring their artistic processes, what inspires them, and how they are continuing to push music forward.
Ellen Reid
Noon to Midnight Festival, curator
LA Phil Roundtable: Women’s Voices in Classical Music
Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Reid is regarded as one of the most innovative composers of her generation, championed for exploring the intersections of art, technology, and nature through her work. In 2024, Reid became the LA Phil’s first curator for Noon to Midnight—a recurring daylong festival featuring some of the most creative minds in the contemporary music scene.
Through 12 hours of live performances and art installations dispersed throughout Walt Disney Concert Hall, Noon to Midnight showcased how recordings and reflections of natural and built environments can be used in music composition, for healing and meditative purposes, as a tool to resist climate change, as political statements, and for pure listening pleasure.
READ:
"'Listen deeply to the world around us' (Curator Statement)"
Program note by Ellen Reid
Emmanuelle Haïm
Artist Collaborator
The Handel Project Festival, curator
The Art of Conducting
Also known as “Mrs. Dynamite of Baroque music” (BBC), Emmanuelle Haïm is a world-renowned French conductor and harpsichordist with an infectious enthusiasm for early music and historically informed performance practice. Since making her LA Phil debut in November 2011, Haïm has brought a variety of exciting programs to Walt Disney Concert Hall featuring 17th- and 18th-century composers.
Joined by her acclaimed vocal and instrumental ensemble Le Concert d’Astrée, Haïm returned to the LA Phil as an Artistic Collaborator during the 2024/25 season, curating the Handel Project—a Baroque mini-festival dedicated to the complex beauty and evocative sophistication of the iconic composer and his contemporaries.
READ:
"Emmanuelle Haïm in Portrait"
By Peter Uehling, Berlin Philharmoniker
Gabriela Ortiz
Pan-American Music Initiative, curator
Alisa Weilerstein and Gabriela Ortiz Discuss Dzonot
In the words of Gustavo Dudamel, “Gabriela
As the curator behind the LA Phil’s Pan-American Music Initiative (PAMI), Ortiz is one of the leading voices in the push to diversify the classical music scene as we know it. Over the course of five years, PAMI has brought to life more than 25 new works; generated tours to CDMX, Bogotá and New York; produced the Encuentros cultural exchange program for young musicians; and garnered a combined six Grammy and Latin Grammy awards.
READ:
"Behind the Story of Revolución diamantina"
Program note by Gabriela Ortiz
Julia Bullock
Rock My Soul Festival, curator
Julia Bullock on American Music
Known for her ability to communicate “intense, authentic feeling, as if she were singing right from her soul” (Opera News), Julia Bullock is a widely sought-after classical singer and collaborative partner. During the 2022/23 Walt Disney Concert Hall season, Bullock and Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY co-curated the Rock My Soul Festival—the LA Phil’s celebration of historical and present-day collaborations between Black women artists.
“The phrase ‘Rock My Soul’ has a long lineage and legacy: It is the leading lyric of a traditional Black American spiritual about expanding one’s being in every dimension and direction imaginable,” Bullock writes. “The song title was later utilized by philosopher and educator bell hooks, who communicated about the importance of understanding the pursuit of love, a sense of community, and commitment to continuous exploration. So for me, the sentiment of ‘Rock My Soul’ isn’t an ethereal, intangible endeavor ... it’s a call to express yourself, engage with everything within and around you—and find enjoyment while doing it.”
READ:
"How Julia Bullock became an essential soprano for our times"
By Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times
Solange Knowles
Eldorado Ballroom, curator
Expressing a Sense of Belonging
Best known for her critically acclaimed albums, A Seat at the Table and When I Get Home, Solange Knowles is a Grammy–winning singer, songwriter, and visual artist whose multi-disciplinary work often contemplates identity, empowerment, grief, and healing.
Following up on the success of Eldorado Ballroom—a music series curated for her cultural agency Saint Heron—at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Knowles brought her project to Walt Disney Concert Hall for a three-night event honoring the evolving expressions of experimental and transcendent Black performance across the decades.
Knowles also made her U.S. compositional debut with “Not Necessarily In Arms Reach,” a tuba duet inspired by Black Southern marching bands, gospel vocal arrangements, sonic minimalism, and repetition.
READ:
"What was–and is–the Eldorado Ballroom?"
By Los Angeles Philharmonic
Susanna Mälkki
LA Phil Principal Guest Conductor (2017–2022)
“Living the Classical Life” Interview
In 2017, Susanna Mälkki made LA Phil history as the third person—and first woman—to hold the position of Principal Guest Conductor. And along with her talent and versatility, she brought a new perspective to leading our orchestra.
The evolution of music has always been led by composers, but in Mälkki’s view, it’s up to the orchestras and institutions to be open to these new ideas of thinking and playing. “Predicting the future is not possible,” she says, “but sniffing out the good, taking in what is in the air, and giving that the place or the room it deserves is enabling the future to take form.”
READ:
"Welcome to the Sound Gallery"
By Los Angeles Philharmonic
Unsuk Chin
Seoul Festival, curator
Unsuk Chin on Unsuk Chin
South Korea is home to an ever-expanding cohort of world-class performers and inventive composers with fresh, exciting ideas. Capturing this electric energy and groundbreaking creativity, renowned composer Unsuk Chin curated the LA Phil’s long-awaited Seoul Festival—a transformative week-long celebration of South Korea’s most distinctive and innovative musical voices.
As a composer who was raised in South Korea and built much of her career in Germany, Chin says she’s always felt like a “cosmopolitan.” “We live in a global world,” she says, “It’s very important to try to think outside of the box as much as possible, to have the openness to let something new influence you.” With this mindset, she’s made a huge impact and created some pretty remarkable things.
READ:
"The World Premiere of SPIRA with the LA Phil"
Program note by Unsuk Chin