On Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Philharmonic |
Alternative Spellings | LA Phil, LAP |
Creation | 1919 |
Participants |
Otto Klemperer
- Conductor
from 1933
to 1939
Zubin Mehta - Conductor from 1962 to 1978 Carlo Maria Giulini - Conductor from 1978 to 1984 André Previn - Conductor from 1985 to 1989 Esa-Pekka Salonen - Conductor from 1992 to 2009 Gustavo Dudamel - Conductor from 2009 |
City | Los Angeles, CA, United States |
Country | United States of America |
The orchestra was founded and single-handedly financed in 1919 by William Andrews Clark, Jr. He originally asked Sergei Rachmaninoff to be the Philharmonic's first music director; however, Rachmaninoff had only recently moved to New York, and he did not wish to move again. Clark then selected Walter Henry Rothwell as music director. The orchestra played its first concert in the Trinity Auditorium in the same year, eleven days after its first rehearsal.
Otto Klemperer became Music Director in 1933, part of the large group of German emigrants fleeing Nazi Germany. He conducted many LA Phil premieres, and introduced Los Angeles audiences to important new works by Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg.
Things were complicated when founder William Andrews Clark died without leaving the orchestra an endowment. The newly formed Southern California Symphony Association was created with the goal to stabilize the orchestra's funding. The Philharmonic's concerts at the Hollywood Bowl also brought in much needed revenue. With that, the orchestra managed to make it through the worst of the Great Depression years still intact.
By the mid-1950s, Dorothy Buffum Chandler became the leader of the orchestra's board of directors. Besides leading efforts to create a performing arts center for the city that would serve as the Philharmonic's new home, she and others wanted a more prominent conductor to lead the orchestra; Chandler led efforts to hire Eduard van Beinum as the music director.
In 1960, the orchestra, signed Georg Solti to a three-year contract to be music director after he had guest conducted. Solti was to officially begin his tenure in 1962. However, Solti abruptly resigned the position in 1961 without officially taking the post after learning that the Philharmonic board of directors failed to consult him before naming Zubin Mehta to be assistant conductor of the orchestra. Mehta was subsequently named to replace Solti.
André Previn was later turned to with the hopes that his conducting credentials and time spent at Hollywood Studios would add a local flair and enhance the connection between conductor, orchestra, and city. Previn clashed frequently with the Executive Director. Previn resigned, and four months later, Esa-Pekka Salonen was named Music Director Designate, officially taking the post in October 1992.
It was announced that Esa-Pekka Salonen would step down as the LAP's music director at the end of the 2008–2009 season, with Gustavo Dudamel becoming his successor.
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