Overview
- The Los Angeles Philharmonic announced Tuesday that Daniel Harding will be its 12th music director on a six-year contract starting in the 2027–28 season with an eight-week commitment in year one and about 12 weeks annually thereafter.
- Harding is a 50-year-old British conductor with a long European career who will retain his post at Rome’s Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and continue occasional work as an Air France pilot.
- The organization unveiled a distributed leadership model that keeps Gustavo Dudamel as artistic and cultural laureate for roughly four weeks a year, names Esa-Pekka Salonen creative director for about six weeks, and appoints Anna Handler conductor-in-residence for roughly three weeks.
- LA Phil president and CEO Kim Noltemy said she reached the agreement with Harding in Rome and that the orchestra players overwhelmingly favored him as Dudamel’s successor.
- The choice reflects the orchestra’s effort to balance a single music director’s vision with specialist roles to manage its multiple venues, education programs such as YOLA, film projects, and wide community engagement.