LA Phil Names Harding to Succeed Dudamel
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Daniel Harding will become the LA Philharmonic's next music director starting in the 2027/28 season on a six-year contract, conducting eight weeks in his first season and 12 in subsequent years, and overseeing programming at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, the Ford, and YOLA.
- Gustavo Dudamel steps down in August 2026 to become music and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic, but will remain connected to the LA Phil as its artistic and cultural laureate.
- Born in Oxford in 1975, Harding came to Simon Rattle's attention as a teenager, joined the Berlin Philharmonic as Claudio Abbado's assistant at 21, and that same year became the youngest-ever conductor in Proms history; he currently leads Rome's Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
- A qualified airline pilot, Harding has been flying Airbuses for Air France and plans to continue — telling the Guardian in 2022 that the dual life taught him more about conducting in a year than 29 prior years on the podium.
- The LA Phil, founded in 1919, has commissioned works by Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Lutosławski, and John Adams, and won 11 Grammy Awards for recordings made under Dudamel over the past 14 years.
- As music director designate, Harding will conduct the orchestra in November 2026 and January 2027, with programs spanning Brahms, Bernstein's Jeremiah symphony, Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra, and works by Thomas Adès and Betsy Jolas.
Why it matters: Dudamel leaves behind 11 Grammys in 14 years and a global brand; Harding inherits a 2027/28 start and a six-year runway to maintain both. His continued Air France pilot schedule — a career he says taught him more in a year than 29 years conducting — points to an unusually dual-track successor at one of America's flagship orchestras.
Ask SkimNews
