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12 unusual facts about Los Angeles Philharmonic


Bramwell Tovey

In March 2008, Tovey was named the next principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Hollywood Bowl summer concerts.

Bruce Cale

While in Los Angeles in 1974, he composed the piece Iron Cross for the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Deborah Borda

Deborah Borda is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Diavolo Dance Theater

Diavolo is currently collaborating with the Los Angeles Philharmonic to create a trilogy of dance works performed at the Hollywood Bowl.

Gerald Levinson

His works have previously been performed by orchestras such as the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Harvey Seeley Mudd

As Chairman of the Southern California Symphony Association, Mudd is credited with saving the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

At the time of Mudd's death, he was Chairman of the Board of the Southern California Symphony Association, the Welfare Federation of Los Angeles, and Greater Los Angeles Plans, Inc.

John Barbirolli

In 1942, when his second contract was reaching its expiry, he was offered 18 concerts for the 1943–44 season, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic invited him to become its conductor, but he accepted neither offer as he had decided to return to England.

Mission San Luis Rey de Francia

In 1998, Sir Gilbert Levine led members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and, with the special permission of His Holiness Pope John Paul II, the ancient Cappella Giulia Choir of St. Peter's Basilica, in a series of concerts to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the founding of the mission.

Stephen Custer

Stephen Custer is a cellist who performs as a soloist and as a regular member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the premier orchestra of Southern California, in Los Angeles, California.

Walter Henry Rothwell

In the summer of 1919, Rothwell became the first music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, chosen by founder William Andrews Clark, Jr. after the position was declined by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

William A. Clark

Clark's son, William Andrews Clark, Jr., founder of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1919, left his library of rare books and manuscripts to the regents of the University of California, Los Angeles.


Alan de Veritch

While maintaining his solo career, he also served ten years as principal violist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and Carlo Maria Giulini, guest principal violist of the New York Philharmonic, and was a member of An die Musik, the Aldanya String Quartet, and the White House Quartet.

Charles Bressler

In addition, he appeared on the Los Angeles Philharmonic recording of Respighi's Lauda per la Natività del Signore along with Marilyn Horne, Marie Gibson, and the Roger Wagner Chorale, conducted by Alfred Wallenstein.

Community Arts Music Association

Since the 1920s, CAMA has presented such artists as Pablo Casals, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Vladimir Horowitz, Jascha Heifetz, Igor Stravinsky, Artur Schnabel, Isaac Stern and Marian Anderson, with yearly performances from the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Crystal Records

His main oboe teacher for six years was Bert Gassman – former principal of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and former student himself of Marcel Tabuteau.

Eugene List

In 1929, at the age of 12, he performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Artur Rodziński, playing Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto.

Francisco Coll García

Current projects include a new piece commissioned by Los Angeles Philharmonic to be premiere at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2011, and an octet for members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra for broadcast on BBC Radio 3, and an other commission from the 2011 Aldeburgh Festival for the Barbirolli Quartet which will subsequently tour to the Verbier Festival, Switzerland.

Grant Gershon

Gershon has appeared as guest conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Minnesota Opera, Royal Swedish Opera, Juilliard Opera Theatre, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Gustav Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Finnish chamber orchestra Avanti!, among others.

Hannah Lash

Lash's works have been commissioned by orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, and the Minnesota Orchestra.

John Van Houten

Some of the ensembles he had performed with include the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Opera, the Long Beach Opera, the New West Symphony.

Karl Kohn

Kohn's own works have been performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestras, the Oakland Symphony, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, on the San Francisco Symphony's Musica Viva series, at the Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angeles (Kohn served for two decades on the board of directors of the Monday Evening Concerts), and in concerts and broadcasts throughout the United States and abroad.

Michael Milenski

Los Angeles Philharmonic executive director Ernest Fleischmann noted that Milenski established a benchmark for progressive programming and daring production that invigorated the entire Southern California performing arts community.

Nokuthula Ngwenyama

Since then, she has been a soloist with orchestras around the world, including the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in Durban, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Simon Trpčeski

Building on his exposure as a member of the BBC New Generation Scheme 2001-2003, Trpčeski has since 2005 made a rapid series of debuts with orchestras worldwide—including the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the Toronto Symphony—and has made recital tours in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Yellow After the Rain

"Yellow After the Rain" is a composition for solo marimba, written by former Los Angeles Philharmonic principal percussionist Mitchell Peters.