YOLA Joins Opening Night with The Moody Blues, Sondheim on Sondheim, and Cumbia at the Bowl!

Los Angeles, CA (June 16, 2017) - YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles) will perform in three concerts this summer at the Hollywood Bowl. On June 17, YOLA all-stars will help kick off the summer season performing Shostakovich's "Festive Overture" side-by-side with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Wilkins, during Opening Night with The Moody Blues. On July 23, members of YOLA will perform "Children Will Listen" from Into The Woods alongside the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, for Sondheim on Sondheim, a salute to Broadway's extraordinary composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim. To help close out the season, an ensemble from YOLA will also perform with the LA Phil and Los Ángeles Azules for the first-ever Cumbia at the Bowl! on September 16.

The talented YOLA musicians featured in these performances have been selected through an application and audition process to represent their peers on Hollywood Bowl's legendary stage. Students also have the opportunity to prepare for the performances through coachings by professional musicians, including members of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra for Opening Night.

Celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year, YOLA is LA Phil Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel's signature initiative through which the LA Phil and community partners provide free instruments, intensive music training, and academic support to students from underserved neighborhoods, empowering them to become passionate learners and vital citizens. Beginning with 80 students in 2007, today YOLA serves nearly 800 students studying 15 to 18 hours per week at three after-school sites where mentorship and leadership training is integral. YOLA students have the opportunity to work with LA Phil musicians and world-renowned artists and conductors, travel to cities foreign and domestic, and perform in iconic venues Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. YOLA is made possible in South Los Angeles, the Rampart District and East Los Angeles through the following community partners that share fiscal and programmatic responsibilities with the LA Phil: EXPO Center, Harmony Project, Heart of Los Angeles, LA County High School for the Arts. 
 

About the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, under the vibrant leadership of Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, presents an inspiring array of music from all genres - orchestral, chamber and Baroque music, organ and celebrity recitals, new music, jazz, world music and pop - at two of L.A.'s iconic venues, Walt Disney Concert Hall (www.LAPhil.com) and the Hollywood Bowl (http://www.HollywoodBowl.com). The LA Phil's season extends from September through May at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and throughout the summer at the Hollywood Bowl. With the preeminent Los Angeles Philharmonic at the foundation of its offerings, the LA Phil aims to enrich and transform lives through music, with a robust mix of artistic, education and community programs.

As an internationally renowned symphonic and operatic conductor, Gustavo Dudamel is motivated by a profound belief in music's power to unite and inspire. He currently serves as Music & Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Music Director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, and the impact of his leadership extends from the greatest concert stages to classrooms, cinemas and innovative digital platforms around the world. Dudamel also appears as guest conductor with some of the world's most famous musical institutions: in 2017, he tours Europe with the Berlin Philharmonic and is the youngest-ever conductor to lead the Vienna Philharmonic's famous New Year's Day Concert, watched annually by over 50 million people in 90 countries. As he enters his eighth season as Music & Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dudamel's contract has been extended to the end of the 2021/2022 season. At his initiative, the Los Angeles Philharmonic has dramatically expanded the scope of its community outreach programs, including most notably the creation of Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA), influenced by the philosophy of Venezuela's admired

El Sistema, which encourages social development through music. With YOLA and diverse local educational initiatives, Dudamel brings music to children in underserved communities of Los Angeles. These programs have in turn inspired similar efforts throughout the United States, as well as in Sweden (Hammarkullen) and Scotland (Raploch). As Music Director, his 18th season, of the entire El Sistema project in Venezuela, he continues to lead the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra in Venezuela as well as on tour. A Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2005, Grammy winner Gustavo Dudamel has numerous recordings on the label, as well as many video/DVD releases that capture the excitement of significant moments of his musical life.

About the Hollywood Bowl
One of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, with a seating capacity of nearly 18,000, the Hollywood Bowl has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922, and plays host to the finest artists from all genres of music. It remains one of the best deals anywhere in Los Angeles; to this day, $1 buys a seat at the top of the Bowl for many classical and jazz offerings. The venue offers something for everyone. In February 2017, the Hollywood Bowl was named Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue for the thirteenth year in a row at the 28th Annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards. For millions of music lovers across Southern California, the Hollywood Bowl is synonymous with summer. http://www.HollywoodBowl.com

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