We now know what the new era at the Los Angeles Philharmonic is going to look like.
The day after Memorial Day, Daniel Harding, the literally high-flying British conductor who has a parallel career as a pilot for Air France, was appointed music director of the LA Phil, succeeding Gustavo Dudamel. Effective at the start of the 2027-2028 season, Harding, 50, will lead eight weeks of concerts in his first season and 12 weeks in subsequent seasons. He already has two weeks of concerts here mapped out for 2026-27, which now serve as a preview of things to come.
Philharmonic President and Chief Executive Officer Kim Noltemy welcomed Harding saying “he is greatly admired by the orchestra and was the overwhelming choice based on their feedback. His intellectual curiosity, passion for bringing in and engaging with new audiences, global perspective, and talent for nurturing emerging voices directly align with the LA Phil’s mission and vision.”
Harding said, “Making music with the magnificent LA Phil musicians is a thrill and an inspiration. Over recent years, the LA Phil has developed something extraordinary that cannot be manufactured: a kind of institutional charisma. That expands the vision of what you ask when thinking about what comes next, for the orchestra, for Los Angeles, for music and for our community.”
The announcement included welcoming messages from Dudamel and Esa-Pekka Salonen, who said “My hope is that the beauty, optimism and openness of Los Angeles prove as transformative for Daniel as it has been for me. I look forward to collaborating with him well into the future."
The conductor has concentrated on building long-term relationships with orchestras. He spent 19 years as music director of Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, a tenure that concluded in 2025. He led the Mahler Chamber Orchestra from 2003-2008 and still returns as conductor laureate. He was principal guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra for 10 years and is in the midst of a five-year term as music director of the venerable Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. He’s also a renowned opera conductor.
His roots with the Phil go all the way back to his U.S. debut with the orchestra at the 1997 Ojai Music Festival when he was a mere stripling, aged 21. Harding didn’t have much work with the LA Phil until very recently when he turned in impressive performances of Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben at Disney Hall in 2024, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 under the difficult, one-rehearsal conditions of Hollywood Bowl, in 2025. At that point, Harding’s name began to emerge in speculation about possible successors to Dudamel.
According to the LA Phil’s announcement, Harding will be in charge of “overseeing the orchestral programming across the organization, including its presentations at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Hollywood Bowl, and the Ford, along with Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA).” He is supposed to be involved in the Phil’s unparalleled commissioning program, touring, media projects, and “new ventures for international collaboration and cultural exchange.” That’s in addition to the grunt work that music directors in America need to do – attending auditions and hiring new musicians, meeting donors, and engaging with the community.
Yet Harding’s appointment is not in itself the new era for the orchestra that one might expect. In an interview with SF Classical Voice contributor Tom Jacobs last week, Noltemy hinted strongly that the Phil’s artistic leadership would be gravitating toward a team of artistic planning rather than one leading man and a parade of drop-in guests. “We’re trying to create more ongoing relationships with conductors, and fewer one-offs,” she said. “The music director leads the organization artistically, but we would like that person to have a supporting cast to help in that effort.”
With the roster Noltemy has already set up, Harding will find himself coordinating a constellation of stars, including his two immediate predecessors and another from the distant past. The roster now includes — take a deep breath — Esa-Pekka Salonen as Creative Director and Conductor Laureate, Gustavo Dudamel in two posts as Artistic and Cultural Laureate of the LA Phil and Founding Director and Conductor Laureate of YOLA, Anna Handler as Conductor in Residence, Zubin Mehta as Conductor Emeritus, John Adams as Creative Chair, Emmanuelle Haim as Artist Collaborator, Thomas Wilkins as Principal Conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and also Herbie Hancock as Creative Chair for Jazz. And Noltemy is not through yet, for the orchestra announced two additional newly-created posts that are yet to be filled — Creative Chair for Latin Music and Creative Chair for Film.
To borrow a baseball metaphor — with the neighboring Los Angeles Dodgers as Exhibit A — the LA Phil lineup is loaded with heavy hitters unmatched by any orchestra in the country.
All of the LA Phil team members, with the exception of Hancock, are conductors — leaders with agendas and specialties of their own. One hopes that Harding has the temperament, personal skills, and granted authority to make the structure work and avoid turf wars
The newly-configured LA Phil posts for Salonen, Dudamel, and Handler, plus the adventurous nature of the 2026-2027 season, encouraged speculation that maybe this orchestra didn’t really need a music director after all. But this is clearly part of Noltemy’s larger plan for closer ties with a constellation of jet-setting performers. Don’t worry about whether this orchestra can handle large swerves of agenda and style from these differing leaders: the LA Phil has proven to be a most flexible, open-minded, quick-learning ensemble, whether in Disney Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, or even Coachella.
Yes, a new era is coming. And it should be fun to watch.
