Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra

When it was announced from the stage that Gustavo Dudamel would not be conducting due to a "family emergency," the orchestra played for Conducting Fellow Stephen Mulligan as if he were a maestro.

Inferno, after Dante's Divine Comedy, is a 46-minute ballet score rich in astounding, ingenious, sumptuous effects with a particular genius for unlikely combinations of instruments, and only a few obvious Lisztian references.

Salonen brings his Stravinsky retrospective to a close with a pair of Greek-inspired scores. 

Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, arguably the conductor and orchestra par excellence of Stravinsky performance, debuts the first of their three-concert series dedicated to the former Angeleno. 

This was Tchaikovsky raw and fierce as if he had written it, as he might have, for a young lover.

Adams has written a sprawling new tour de force that masterfully turned Walt Disney Concert Hall into an acoustic planetarium of glorious sound.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel present Mahler’s Ninth Symphony as affirmation of life, rather than neurotic obsession over death. 

Works by Still and Ellington make their welcome appearance at Disney Hall, but the presentation left a bit to be desired. 

As a blend of music, song, and dance with a Cirque du Soleil joie de vivre, Buddha Passion was an unforgettable theatrical experience.

Elim Chan lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic through a high-powered program of Chinese and French music that began and ended with virtuoso showpieces written less than 30 years apart.

Mälkki triumphs in the subtleties of Saariaho, stumbles in the ecstasies of Messiaen. 

A rare misfire showcasing the music of minimalism’s all-stars. 

MTT was back in Los Angeles for another spell as guest, this time bringing to local audiences one of his specialties of the house. 

Susanna Mälkki’s choppy, uneven Mahler 5, preceded by a Steve Reich world première. 

Paolo Bortolameolli leads the LA Phil in a programme mixing the familiar with the obscure. 

Stéphane Denève and Augustin Hadelich each prove themselves to be at the very forefront of performers active today. 

Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic unleash the darkness of Verdi’s late masterpiece Otello upon the picnickers at the Hollywood Bowl. 

The audience responded as if they were hearing the Symphony for the first time. They were overwhelmed and let the musicians know it. Good start to the home stand.

What can multimedia wizardry add to Mahler's masterpiece? 

They hung over the fronts of their seats waiting for each movement to begin; they were silent, immovable once the music started. When the music stopped they exploded with joy. 

Blomstedt’s lean and athletic performances of Beethoven’s and Sibelius’ second symphonies go to show that age really is just a number. 

Salonen's tribute to Gehry, Yasuhisa Toyota and Deborah Borda seems to come more from his brilliant visual palette than his emotional heart. 

Esa-Pekka Salonen's return to Walt Disney concert hall highlighted his gifts as composer and conductor alike and underscored how an orchestra can sound genuinely 21st century.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s spotlight on Salonen the creative artist also imparted thoughts on our interconnected world. 

The Los Angeles Philharmonic proved that Bernstein's Mass, which had been dogged by critics at its première, has stood the test of time.

His fans presented him with not one but two impromptu birthday serenades before and after the Brahms. "I'm getting old," Gustavo admitted ruefully to his public. He's only 36. 

When Robert DeMaine fell ill, LA Phil got creative by rotating the soloist duties in Zimmermann’s Cello Concerto. 

MTT delivered a Bruckner Seventh equal parts lyricism and dramatic power, while guest soloist Khatia Buniatishvili beguiled with her graceful Mozart. 

Xian Zhang made her Los Angeles debut in a program of Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev,and Chen Yi.

Familiarity doesn't always breed contempt: Bach's famous Air proves the highlight of an enjoyable evening of Purcell, Bach and Pergolesi in the magnificent surroundings of Disney Hall.

Guest conductor Charles Dutoit returned to Los Angeles for a program devoted to one of the composers he is most closely associated with. 

Maestro Jordan did not present a cut down version of the score. Every instrument Wagner called for was on stage, even the six harps, but the only sung piece was Brünnhilde’s Immolation. 

Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic deliver a successful mix of the old and new at Davies Symphony Hall. 

The Los Angeles Philharmonic's last week of its classical music season at the Hollywood Bowl began with romantic French music under an almost full moon played the sexy Seattle way.

A bird's-eye view of Gustavo Dudamel's opening concert in the LA Phil's Mozart-Pärt cycle.

A wonderful performance of Mahler's Third Symphony with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, concluding their Barbican residency. 

Though the photographic accompaniment was earthbound, Messiaen and the LAPO led us to the stars. 

On the eve of their European tour, the LA Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel deliver a Mahler Third resplendent in detail and unusual in the clarity of its soundscape.

Great opera at the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande as part of the City of Light, a retrospective that examines works seen in Paris during the first half of the 20th century. 

Ludovic Morlot guest-conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a life-affirming programme pairing classic Beethoven with a contemporary masterpiece by John Luther Adams.

Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra in an "Immortal Beethoven" performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

A starry night at the Hollywood Bowl for Gustavo Dudamel, Alice Sara Ott, Miah Persson, Gerald Finley and the LA Phil to perform Mozart.

A remarkable debut from cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. 

Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Ensemble Signal perform a world première by Steven Mackey and Three Tales by Steve Reich.

A fabulous Three-Cornered Hat followed by a ravishing Concierto de Aranjuez is side-tracked by an enigmatic El Amor brujo.

Unsuk Chin's opera Alice in Wonderland is performed by the Los Angeles Philarharmonic, conducted by Susanna Mälkki. This is no Disney movie! 

There aren’t too many more ambitious pieces of music one could choose to celebrate a birthday than Beethoven's Missa solemnis.

A thoroughly enjoyable insight from the LA Phil under the baton of Stéphane Denève on the different styles of Bartók and Rachmaninov. 

The Los Angeles Philharmonic marks its first visit to Montreal since the heady days of Expo ’67 for Corigliano and Tchaikovsky. 

Yuja Wang joins the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, demonstrating dramatic tempi and searing emotion throughout their program.