Yesterday, in Part 1 of the latest edition of this ongoing series, I discussed efforts to fill double-digit openings in the strings sections of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. While the sheer number of strings vacancies is more than double those in the rest of the orchestra, the absence of single woodwind, brass, or percussion players can be more noticeable since each player is, in effect a soloist since they’re playing one on a part.

Therefore, every chair that opens and every vacancy that is filled is noteworthy. We have some of both with this update.

The latest news — mere hours old — comes from one unconfirmed but reliable source regarding the newly created Assistant Principal Percussion chair:

Auditions were held this week, with the finals wrapping up earlier today, and Wesley Sumpter — former LA Phil Resident Fellow and frequent substitute musician with the orchestra since then — was offered the position.

He has also appeared with the San Francisco Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, National Symphony, and BBC Philharmonic, among other orchestras, and contemporary music ensembles such as Alarm Will Sound (NYC), The International Contemporary Ensemble (NYC), and The Gateways Chamber Players (Chicago).  Additionally, he has performed on multiple motion picture soundtracks, such as West Side Story (2021) and Beauty and the Best (2023), among others. He is a member of Lineage, a percussion trio, and Misnomer, a horn-centric band, both based in Atlanta.

Mr. Sumpter completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Georgia before getting his Master of Music from the USC Thornton School of Music where he studied with LA Phil musicians James Babor and Joe Pereira. He appeared on the orchestra’s Grammy-award winning release of the 4 symphonies of Charles Ives, among other LA Phil recordings.

Congratulations to him!

Besides that, the most noteworthy vacancy that has been filled is Principal Oboe, a position that hasn’t been stable since Ariana Ghez resigned the post in 2017. Since then, Ramón Ortega came and went in the Fall of 2018. The chair remained empty in 2019 after a round of open auditions failed to result in an offer being made, and continued as such through the COVID-19 pandemic. Efforts to fill the position resumed during the 2021/2022 season when 6 candidates were invited to play trials with the orchestra. In the end of that process, Marc Lachat, a French musician who was playing in a Swiss orchestra, won the position. He took over the position officially in Fall of 2022, was awarded tenure after that first year, then returned to Switzerland midway through the following season.

The orchestra held new open auditions in April of this year. After the orchestra and Music & Artistic Director went with European oboe players the past two appointments, this time the picked an American, in fact a local boy at that: Ryan Roberts.

The Santa Monica native, Samohi grad, and Colburn School Music Academy alumnus did his undergraduate work at Juilliard where he was a Kovner Fellow. After that, he spent a year at the New World Symphony before being named English Horn of the New York Philharmonic in 2019. He has played guest principal oboe and English horn for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra. He is currently on the oboe faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, the Mannes School of Music at The New School, and Bard College Conservatory of Music. He also is an accomplished pianist, having made his concerto debut at the age of 11.

Mr. Roberts joined the orchestra officially earlier this month. His website bio previously said that when he’s not making reeds, “he can be found practicing piano, rock climbing, or surfing at his family’s home in California.” He’s since changed that to say he can be found “practicing piano or surfing in Malibu and Ventura.” So now you know which breaks he prefers to ride.

A couple of other things are worth noting. First, the very vocal fans of the American school of oboe playing — and at least some of the LA Phil woodwind players — must be as ecstatic as they are relieved that Mr. Dudamel has finally picked an oboist born and trained in the 50 states.  Of course, not all American-born players have the stereotypical smooth, mellow sound, former long-time Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Principal and Colburn Conservatory faculty member Allan Vogel being the most noteworthy example. As we hear Mr. Roberts playing in Walt Disney Concert Hall this season, it will be fascinating to learn what his timbre and phrasing actually sounds like.

Second, this situation and the eight years of rotating Principal Oboes evokes memories of the LA Phil’s prior search for a Principal Flute. In 2006, after Janet Ferguson stepped down and Anne Diener-Zentner retired, three different flutists — Mathieu Dufour, David Buck, and Julien Beaudiment — held the position before leaving for differing reasons. It wasn’t until 2015, fully 9 years later, before the all-star Denis Bouriakov moved from the MET Orchestra to LA; he has been firmly settled in for over a decade now, and by all accounts, isn’t planning to go anywhere, thank God. Let’s hope that with Principal Oboe, third time is a charm and Mr. Roberts will settle in for a nice long tenure.

Yet as the orchestra gains one titled player, it loses another one. Shawn Mouser, Associate Principal Bassoon, retired very recently. The Louisiana native and 22-year veteran of the orchestra was originally hired in 2003 by Esa-Pekka Salonen after having been Assistant Principal with the Milwaukee Symphony. He remains an adjunct faculty member of the USC Thornton School of Music. Congratulations to him on this career milestone. I wish him well.

Mr. Mouser’s departure means that there are now three vacant woodwind positions, the other two being Associate Principal Clarinet and English Horn. Andrew Lowy, the LA Phil 2nd/E-flat clarinet, will continue as acting associate principal while still playing E-flat when Principal Clarinet Boris Allakhverdyan is in the first chair. No other long-term acting players were named to fill the other roles, with substitutes filling in for 2nd Clarinet, English Horn, and Associate Principal Bassoon as needed.

RELATED POSTS

• Comings and goings at the LA Phil (Fall 2025 edition, pt. 1): a potential new Concertmaster given a trial, plus other news with the strings (Sept 25, 2025)
• EXCLUSIVE: Comparing new SFS and LA Phil contract numbers (and current contracts of other orchestras) (Sept 16, 2025)
• BREAKING: LA Phil musicians ratify new 4-year contract featuring significant pay raises and more (Sept 10, 2025)
• I was (mostly) right: LA Phil gives Salonen new title, answers some follow-up questions (Sept 8, 2025)
• Comings and goings at the LA Phil (Summer 2024 edition, pt. 1): which conductors new CEO Kim Noltemy could — and should — consider as Music Director candidates (July 9, 2024)
• Comings and goings at the LA Phil and beyond (July 2023 edition): Chicago & LA (& SF) may swap principals + much more (July 3, 2023)

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Photo Credits:

• Wesley Sumpter: Twelve Thirty Four Lab/Kevin Hsu, courtesy of the artist’s webpage
• Ryan Roberts: courtesy of the artist’s Instagram page
• Shawn Mouser: courtesy of the Los Angeles Philharmonic