1919–1933: Founding the Philharmonic on August 28, 1921 The orchestra was founded and single-handedly financed in 1919 by
William Andrews Clark, Jr., a copper baron, arts enthusiast, and part-time violinist. 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, former assistant to
Gustav Mahler, as music director, and hired away several principal musicians from East Coast orchestras and others from the competing and soon-to-be defunct Los Angeles Symphony. The orchestra played its first concert in the
Trinity Auditorium in the same year, eleven days after its first rehearsal. Clark himself would sometimes sit and play with the second violin section. After Rothwell's death in 1927, subsequent Music Directors in the decade of the 1920s included
Georg Schnéevoigt and
Artur Rodziński.
1933–1950: Harvey Mudd rescues orchestra 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 new works by
Igor Stravinsky and
Arnold Schoenberg. The orchestra responded well to his leadership, but Klemperer had a difficult time adjusting to Southern California, a situation exacerbated by repeated manic-depressive episodes. The situation grew more challenging when founder William Andrews Clark died without leaving the orchestra an endowment. The newly formed Southern California Symphony Association was created with the goal of stabilizing the orchestra's funding, with the association's president,
Harvey Mudd, stepping up to personally guarantee Klemperer's salary. The Philharmonic's concerts at the
Hollywood Bowl also brought in much needed revenue. As a result, the orchestra navigated the challenges of the
Great Depression and remained intact. After completing the 1939 summer season at the
Hollywood Bowl, Klemperer visited Boston, where he was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma. Brain surgery left him partially paralyzed in the face and with impaired hearing in his right ear. He went into a depressive state and was institutionalized. When he escaped,
The New York Times ran a cover story declaring him missing. After he was found in New Jersey, a picture of him behind bars was printed in the
New York Herald Tribune. He subsequently lost the post of Music Director, though he still would occasionally conduct the Philharmonic. He led some notable concerts, including the orchestra's premiere performance of Stravinsky's
Symphony in Three Movements in 1946.
John Barbirolli was offered the position of Music Director after his contract with the New York Philharmonic expired in 1942. He declined the offer and chose to return to England instead. The following year,
Alfred Wallenstein was chosen by Mudd to lead the orchestra. The former principal cellist of the
New York Philharmonic, he had been the youngest member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic when it was founded in 1919. He turned to conducting at the suggestion of
Arturo Toscanini. He had conducted the L.A. Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl on a number of occasions and, in 1943, took over as Music Director. Among the highlights of Wallenstein's tenure were recordings of concertos with fellow
Angelenos,
Jascha Heifetz and
Arthur Rubinstein. Solti was scheduled to officially begin his tenure in 1962, and the Philharmonic anticipated he would lead the orchestra when it moved into its new home at the then yet-to-be-completed
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. He had even begun appointing musicians to the orchestra. However, in 1961, Solti abruptly resigned before officially taking the post after claiming that the Philharmonic board of directors did not consult him before naming then 26-year-old
Zubin Mehta to be assistant conductor of the orchestra. Mehta was subsequently named to replace Solti.
1969–1997: Ernest Fleischmann's tenure In 1969, the orchestra hired
Ernest Fleischmann to be Executive Vice President and General Manager. During his tenure, the Philharmonic instituted several ideas, including the creation of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Chamber Music Society and the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group and its "Green Umbrella" concerts. These adjunct groups, composed of the orchestra's musicians, offered performance series separate and distinct from traditional Philharmonic concerts. These initiatives were later adopted by other orchestras worldwide. This concept, considered innovative for its time, stemmed from Fleischmann's philosophy, which he articulated in his May 16, 1987, commencement address at the
Cleveland Institute of Music titled, "The Orchestra is Dead. Long Live the Community of Musicians." When Zubin Mehta left for the
New York Philharmonic in 1978, Fleischmann convinced
Carlo Maria Giulini to take over as music director. Giulini's tenure with the orchestra was well regarded, but he resigned after his wife became ill and returned to Italy. In 1985, Fleischmann turned to
André Previn, hoping that his conducting credentials and experience at Hollywood Studios would bring a local flair and strengthen the connection between conductor, orchestra, and city. While Previn's tenure was musically solid, other conductors including
Kurt Sanderling,
Simon Rattle, and
Esa-Pekka Salonen, achieved greater
box office success. Previn frequently clashed with Fleischmann, notably over Fleischmann’s decision to name Salonen as "principal guest conductor" without consulting Previn. This mirrored the earlier Solti/Mehta controversy. Due to Previn's objections, the offer of the position and an accompanying Japan tour to Salonen was withdrawn. Shortly after, in April 1989, Previn resigned, and four months later, Salonen was named music director designate, officially assuming the post in October 1992. Salonen's U.S. conducting debut with the orchestra took place in 1984. Salonen's tenure began with a residency at the 1992
Salzburg Festival in concert performances and as the pit orchestra in a production of the opera ''
Saint François d'Assise'' by
Olivier Messiaen. This marked the first time an American orchestra was given that opportunity. Salonen later led the orchestra on numerous tours across the United States, Europe, and Asia, as well as residencies at the
Lucerne Festival in Switzerland,
The Proms in London, a festival in
Cologne dedicated to Salonen's own works, and in 1996 at the
Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris for an
Stravinsky festival conducted by Salonen and
Pierre Boulez. During the Paris residency, key Philharmonic board members heard the orchestra perform in improved acoustics, inspiring renewed fundraising efforts for the soon-to-be-built
Walt Disney Concert Hall. Under Salonen's leadership, the Philharmonic became known as a highly innovative and respected orchestra.
Alex Ross of
The New Yorker said:
1998–2009 When Fleischmann decided to retire in 1998 after 28 years at the helm, the orchestra named Willem Wijnbergen as its new executive director. Wijnbergen, a Dutch pianist and arts administrator, was the managing director of the
Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. Initially, his appointment was hailed as a major coup for the orchestra. One notable decision during his tenure was to revise Hollywood Bowl programming by increasing the number of jazz concerts and appointing
John Clayton as the orchestra's first Jazz Chair. In addition, he established a new
World Music series with
Tom Schnabel as programming director. Despite some successes, Wijnbergen departed the orchestra in 1999 after a year marked by controversy. It remains unclear whether he resigned or was dismissed by the Philharmonic's board of directors. Later that year,
Deborah Borda, then Executive Director of the
New York Philharmonic, was hired to lead the orchestra's executive management. She began her tenure in January 2000 and was later given the title of President and Chief Executive Officer. Following the financial challenges of Wijnbergen's brief tenure, Borda focused on stabilizing the organization's finances. Described as "a formidable executive who runs the orchestra like a lean company, not like a flabby non-profit," she is credited with putting the "organization on solid financial footing." On January 4, 2007, Dudamel made his Walt Disney Concert Hall debut with the LA Philharmonic. On April 9, 2007, the symphony board announced the departure of Esa-Pekka Salonen as music director at the end of the 2008–2009 season, and the appointment of Dudamel as Salonen's successor. On May 11, 2009, shortly before the start of his inaugural season with the LA Philharmonic, Dudamel, was included as a finalist in
Time's "The Time 100: The World's Most Influential People."
2009–present Dudamel began his official tenure as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2009 with concerts at both the Hollywood Bowl (¡Bienvenido Gustavo!) on October 3, 2009 and the Inaugural Gala at Walt Disney Concert Hall on October 8, 2009. In 2010 and 2011, Dudamel and the LA Phil received the Morton Gould Award for Innovative Programming by the
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and in 2012 Dudamel and the orchestra won the first place Award for Programming Contemporary Music by ASCAP. In 2012, Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela performed all nine of Mahler's symphonies over three weeks in Los Angeles and one week in Caracas. The project was described as both "a mammoth tribute to the composer" and "an unprecedented conducting feat for the conductor." That same year, the orchestra launched a three-year project to present the Mozart/Da Ponte operas, directed by Christopher Alden with each designed in collaboration with famous architects (sets) and clothing designers. The series launched in 2012 with Frank Gehry and Rodarte designing
Don Giovanni In 2014, the featured designers for the
Così fan tutte production were Zaha Hadid and Hussein Chalayan. In October 2011, Dudamel was named Gramophone Artist of the Year. In 2012, Dudamel and the LA Phil were awarded a Grammy award for Best Orchestral Performance for their recording of Brahms' Fourth Symphony. Dudamel was also named Musical America's 2013 Musician of the Year. The LA Phil's Centennial celebration featured all three of its living music directors: Zubin Mehta (Conductor Emeritus), Esa-Pekka Salonen (Conductor Laureate), and Gustavo Dudamel (Music & Artistic Director). They shared the stage at Walt Disney Concert Hall on October 24, 2019, the orchestra's actual 100th anniversary, according to the LA Phil. Each director led a specific program, culminating in a world premiere
From Space I Saw Earth for three conductors by
Daníel Bjarnason. In 2020 and 2021, Dudamel and the LA Phil were awarded consecutive Grammy awards for Best Orchestral Performance for their recordings of
Andrew Norman's
Sustain (2020), and for the collected symphonies of
Charles Ives (2021). In May 11, 2021, following 18 months of canceled concerts due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic announced that it once again will perform for a live audience in summer at the Hollywood Bowl. The season began on May 15 with a free concert for frontline and essential workers given by the LA Phil with Dudamel, featuring
Jessie Montgomery's
Starburst, the Barber
Adagio for Strings and Beethoven's Symphony No. 3,
Eroica. In February 2023, the orchestra announced that Dudamel is to conclude his tenure as its music director at the close of his current contract, at the end of the 2025–2026 season. In February 2024, Dudamel and the LA Phil won the Best Orchestral Performance Grammy award for a fourth time, with their performance of Adès: Dante (2020) by
Thomas Adès. In May 2024, the orchestra announced the appointment of Kim Noltemy as its next president and chief executive officer, effective July 2024. In February 2025, Dudamel and the LA Phil won the Best Orchestral Performance Grammy award for a fifth time, with
Ortiz: Revolución diamantina the first full album of orchestral works by Mexican composer
Gabriela Ortiz. As the composer for some of the most intense and arresting music of our time, Ortiz’s work unites disparate worlds and lives through a compelling rhythmic drive, a street-born authenticity, and a vivid sense of color. The album was nominated for four awards at the
2025 Grammys, receiving three, including Best Classical Compendium and Best Contemporary Classical Composition. In September 2025, with the search for a new Music Director still ongoing, the orchestra announced that Salonen would take the newly created title of "Creative Director" beginning in Fall 2026 for a five-year term; responsibilities including conducting six weeks of concerts per seasons. The orchestra later clarified that the position will be concurrent to the eventual Music Director and also to John Adams' role of Creative Chair, that Salonen would keep his title of Conductor Laureate, and not be involved in either programming decisions outside his six weeks or have any role in filling open chairs within the orchestra. ==Performance venues==