The Los Angeles Philharmonic has announced that Daniel Harding will become its next Music Director beginning with the 2027/28 season, succeeding Gustavo Dudamel after nearly two decades of Dudamel’s transformative leadership in Los Angeles.
The appointment marks a major new chapter for one of the world’s most influential orchestras. Harding, currently Music and Artistic Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, arrives in Los Angeles with a long international career that has included close artistic relationships with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the London Symphony Orchestra.
The announcement comes only days after Dudamel revealed that he would remain connected to the LA Phil in newly created roles as Artistic and Cultural Laureate of the orchestra and Founding Director and Conductor Laureate of YOLA. Dudamel, who becomes Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in 2026, had led the LA Phil since 2009 and helped shape the orchestra into one of the most visible and adventurous institutions in classical music.
In its announcement, the LA Phil emphasized Harding’s commitment to music education and his plans to further develop YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles), Dudamel’s landmark educational initiative inspired by Venezuela’s El Sistema movement. Among the projects already mentioned is an international YOLA tour planned for 2029 to mark the centennial of architect Frank Gehry, whose design for Walt Disney Concert Hall became one of the symbols of the orchestra’s modern identity.
Harding will also inherit an evolving artistic structure at the orchestra. The LA Phil confirmed that he will work alongside Esa-Pekka Salonen, recently named Creative Director, as well as Conductor-in-Residence Anna Handler. The institution also announced plans to create two additional artistic positions: a Creative Chair for Latin Music and a Creative Chair for Film.
The appointment places Harding at the center of one of the most dynamic periods in the orchestra’s recent history. Over the past decades, the LA Phil has become internationally associated with adventurous programming, contemporary music, cross-disciplinary collaborations, and ambitious educational initiatives, particularly during the tenures of Salonen and Dudamel.
For Harding, the move represents one of the most high-profile appointments of his career and places him at the helm of an orchestra that continues to redefine the role of a modern cultural institution.
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