2021/22 Walt Disney Concert Hall
Power to the People!
Curated by LA Phil Creative Chair for Jazz Herbie Hancock and Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, the Power to the People! festival celebrates the role artists have played and continue to play in advancing social change, civil rights, and humanitarian causes. Musicians of every genre help us to see the world as it is and imagine the world as it could be. They bring injustices to light and inspire people to act.
In March 2020, as the pandemic closed concert halls across the world, the Los Angeles Philharmonic was forced to cut short the original run of this festival. In the spring of 2022, Power to the People! returns, bringing with it many of the most-anticipated artists and thought leaders from the festival’s first incarnation, as well as brand-new programs and commissions that speak truth to our moment.
The LA Phil's Humanities Programs are generously supported by Linda and David Shaheen.
Hold On, We Shall Overcome! with Nathaniel Gumbs
Power to the People! Festival
The Director of Chapel Music at Yale University reimagines traditional hymns, spirituals, and concert music with 21st-century perspective.
Learn MoreProgram
- About the Program, notes by Christopher Russell
- HOLLINS Concert Overture No. 2 in C minor
- FRANCK Choral No. 1 in E major
- KARG-ELERT “Harmonies du Soir,” Op. 72, No. 1 (from Three Impressions for Organ)
- PRICE First Sonata for Organ
- Intermission
- TRADITIONAL (ARR. BY JOSEPH JOUBERT) “Hold On” (world premiere, commissioned by N. Gumbs)
- TRADITIONAL (ARR. BY JOHN STODDART) “Soon-a will be done” (world premiere, commissioned by N. Gumbs)
- TRADITIONAL (ARR. WILLIAM BOLCOM) “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” (from Gospel Preludes, Book 1)
- Uzee BROWN Church Yard Chatter
- TRADITIONAL (ARR. CARL HAYWOOD) “We Shall Overcome”
Artists
- Nathaniel Gumbs, organ
Lyrics from Lockdown
At the Skirball Cultural Center
Bryonn Bain
Dolores Huerta
Performance and book release celebrating Rebel Speak: A Justice Movement Mixtape
Learn MoreArtists
- Bryonn Bain
- Dolores Huerta, talkback guest
Still and Negrón with Dudamel
Power to the People! Festival
Dudamel leads William Grant Still’s “Afro-American” Symphony, and J’Nai Bridges lends her voice to poetry by Pablo Neruda.
Learn MoreProgram
- Angélica NEGRÓN Moriviví (world premiere, LA Phil commission with generous support from the MaddocksBrown Fund for New Music)
- LIEBERSON Neruda Songs
- Intermission
- STILL Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American”
Artists
- Los Angeles Philharmonic
- Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
- J’Nai Bridges, mezzo-soprano
Canto en resistencia
Power to the People!
Learn MoreProgram
- Víctor AGUDELO Ecos de la Memoria (world premiere, LA Phil commission)
- Angélica NEGRÓN Moriviví (world premiere, LA Phil commission with generous support from the MaddocksBrown Fund for New Music)
- Intermission
- LA Phil and Guest Artists
Artists
- Los Angeles Philharmonic
- Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
- Devendra Banhart
- Edna Vazquez
- iLe
- Rodrigo Amarante
- Silvana Estrada
- Paige Zilba, beatboxer
Radical Black Futurism Workshop for Teens
Artmaking with Collage Artist Jessi Jumanji
At CAAM
Learn MoreArtists
- Jessi Jumanji, artist
- WRDÖ, producer
Dr. Angela Davis
Power to the Imagination: The Role of Art and Creativity in Social Change
The scholar and icon on creativity’s role in social change.
Learn MoreArtists
- Dr. Angela Davis
- Bryonn Bain, moderator
Place
Power to the People! Festival
A modern-day oratorio explores the essence of place.
Learn MoreProgram
- Ted HEARNE Place (LA Phil commission)
- Co-produced and co-commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects
Artists
- LA Phil New Music Group
- Ted Hearne, composer and conductor
- Saul Williams and Ted Hearne, libretto
- Patricia McGregor, director
- Tim Brown, scenic design
- Sanford Biggers, scenic design
- Scott Bolman, lighting design