The Los Angeles Philharmonic released details of their 2026-27 Walt Disney Concert Hall season yesterday, the first without Gustavo Dudamel as Music & Artistic Director and with Esa-Pekka Salonen in his new job as Creative Director (on top of his extant Conductor Laureate title). The press release is HERE. A full chronological schedule is HERE.
My initial reactions: I’m whelmed. Nothing more, nothing less.
- Programming itself is somewhere between interesting and excellent. The LA Phil has us trained to expect nothing less.
- The list of conductors not named Salonen or Dudamel is mostly loaded with competent if unexciting baton wavers. Anyone — including and especially me — hoping for a “big name” or two who could’ve been a splashy Music Director candidate will be sorely disappointed.
I can and will share more detailed thoughts on all of that. I also want to review LA Phil guest conductors since January, Mr. Dudamel’s recent four week residency featuring works by Beethoven, an ex LA Phil executive in Boston causing a stir (again), and more. All of that on another day, hopefully soon.
But that’s not what I wanna talk about right now. Instead, let’s concentrate on the latest personnel updates from multiple local bands. For today, we’ll focus on decisions regarding:
- Pacific Symphony Principal Clarinet and LA Phil Associate Principal Clarinet
- LA Phil Principal Viola
Tomorrow, we’ll cover:
- LA Phil: the latest violinist playing guest 1st chair in the 1st violins, timing of auditions for other openings, thoughts on new Principal Oboe Ryan Roberts playing so far this year
- Pacific Symphony: multiple vacancies being filled, with more auditions there coming soon
- Other updates from LA Opera and Camerata Pacifica
Strap in and let’s do this . . .
LA Phil and Pacific Symphony pick the same clarinetist
The Pacific Symphony held Principal Clarinet auditions this past January, trying to fill the chair vacated at the beginning of the season when Robert Walker left to become Associate Principal of the St. Louis Symphony. After three days, Andrea Caputo won the position, and soon after he announced it on Instagram.
Unfortunately for the good folks in Orange County, they weren’t the only SoCal orchestra looking to fill a titled clarinet chair.
The LA Phil held their own auditions for Associate Principal Clarinet a few weeks later with hopes of replacing the distinguished Burt Hara, who retired in 2024. After a few days, the winner once again was Mr. Caputo.
While neither orchestra has confirmed anything, it’s clear which job he’s choosing: the clarinetist has already updated the biography on his personal webpage to say that he “has just been appointed Associate Principal Clarinet of the Los Angeles Philharmonic” and expressed similar sentiments on an a more recent Instagram post.
The Italian native has been an Artist Diploma candidate at the Colburn School under Yehuda Gilad, the latest of the legendary pedagogue’s many students to find success on the audition circuit. One knowledgeable musician who’s heard him play told me that Mr. Caputo is a “fantastic clarintest” and that the LA Phil would be lucky to have him. After spending some time with recordings of him playing diverse works ranging from the Mozart Clarinet Quintet to Stravinsky’s suite from The Soldier’s Tale (L’Histoire du Soldat), there’s no doubt.
If you have just one minute, check out this clip of him playing the finale of the Copland Clarinet Concerto:
Mr. Caputo’s appointment completes a section that has historically been one of the strongest in the orchestra with two top players in titled chairs. For decades, Michele Zukovsky and Lorin Levee both had principal titles. Mr. Hara took over the re-titled Associate Principal Chair in 2013 after the untimely passing of Mr. Levee, and current principal Boris Allakhverdyan has taken over leadership of the section after Ms. Zukovsky’s 2015 retirement without missing a beat.
No start date has been announced, but I’m guessing he’ll officially join the LA Phil sometime this summer and will appear with them at the Hollywood Bowl. Once he does, the complete section — Messrs. Allakhverdyan and Caputo, plus Andrew Lowy (2nd/E-flat) and Taylor Eiffert (3rd/bass) — is relatively young. Unless any of them opt to leave for another gig, they have the potential to stay together for decades. Let’s hope it happens.
Congratulazioni e complimenti al Signor Caputo!!
LA Phil violas: a revamped first stand
A few days before the LA Phil’s Associate Principal Clarinet audition, the orchestra also held auditions for Principal Viola. That chair that has been vacant since the spectacular Teng Li decamped for the Chicago Symphony at the end of last summer. Coming out of it, two musicians were offered trials later the same month: Ben Ullery (then the orchestra’s Associate Principal), and Soyoung Cho (a Curtis Institute alum who is back there pursuing her Master’s degree and who won the Toronto Symphony’s Associate Principal Viola audition last year).
His official trial week notwithstanding, Mr. Ullery is a known commodity having been acting principal this whole season and sitting in the first chair many times previously. Ms. Cho played her trial the week of Feb 17–22 during the orchestra’s performances of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. Both were “qualified” by the audition committee (i.e. they were officially nominated as eligible to be hired by the Music Director). Based on those trials, Mr. Dudamel offered Mr. Ullery the position, and he subsequently accepted the promotion. Soon after, He made it public, and the orchestra updated its musicians roster accordingly in advance of this past weekend’s concerts.
The Minnesota native joined the orchestra in 2011 as a section player and won the Assistant Principal chair a year later. Three years ago, he won the Associate Principal chair, taking it over from LA Phil veteran Dale Hikawa Silverman who retired in 2022. He’s also played guest principal with the Chicago Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, and Minnesota Orchestra, among others, and he is on the faculty of the Colburn Conservatory.
Meanwhile, Ms. Cho didn’t walk away empty handed. Multiple sources indicate that she was offered the Associate Principal position that Mr. Ullery just vacated. No word yet on if she has accepted.
There is a noteworthy wrinkle to all of this going forward:
- Mr. Ullery still needs to earn tenure as principal. Not saying he won’t, just that it isn’t automatic even given the orchestra’s familiarity with him in the first chair. If for some reason he doesn’t, he would revert back to the Associate Principal chair.
- And what happens to Ms. Cho if Mr. Ullery isn’t tenured as Principal? Well, that depends on if she earns tenure herself. If she does, it’s possible that she could be offered a section position if one were open; if not, she might not have a job in the LA Phil. Is she willing to take that chance? We’ll soon find out.
In the meantime, congratulations to them both!
RELATED POSTS
- A chat with Michele Zukovsky (part 1 of 2): the LA Phil’s outgoing Principal Clarinet reflects on how her 54-year tenure began, the audition process, and more (Dec 19, 2015)
- 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)
- Comings and goings at the LA Phil (Fall 2025 edition, pt. 2): a familiar face gets newly created percussion job, plus woodwind news (Sept 26, 2025)
- Comings and goings at the LA Phil (Fall 2025 edition, pt. 3): another new percussionist confirmed (Oct 3, 2025)
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Photo credits:
- Andrea Caputo: black & white photo by Mariposa Pictures, color photo by Daniel Delang; both courtesy of the artist’s website
- Ben Ullery: courtesy of the artist’s website
- Soyoung Cho: courtesy of the Curtis Institute
All is Yar 
Which splashy “big name” are you hoping for the LA Phil to get when you have a separate Creative Director siphoning off the resources for his own projects and essentially dictating the organization’s future directions? Under the current circumstances the next Music Director can only be another young conductor at the beginning of their career. And that is if we are lucky to have another Music Director at all. We now know that Salonen was not joking when he suggested last year in the New York Times that maybe the position of the Music Director should be abolished all together, because coincidentally Chad Smith in Boston expressed the same view at the same time.
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On a related note: who would you want to see in WDCH guest conduct, and even be a potential or nominal Music Director candidate.
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Rattle, Mirga, Bychkov, and Robertson are guest conductors missing who I think should come back more often.
Rattle: I have given up on him. The last time he was here was in 2012. (It was an amazing concert.) And before that, in 2000. Not sure what happened to the relationship. He is returning to the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Met Orchestra next season. Has the artistic administration simply stopped inviting him after too many “no’s”? I would be happy if he could return to guest conduct again, but I think we can definitely rule him out as a Music Director candidate.
Mirga: The last time she was here was in 2019. Maybe she hasn’t been scheduled since because she has been rather prone to cancellations lately. Or maybe she finds LA too far away and wouldn’t come. She is conducting the New York Philharmonic next season. It would be good to see her again.
Bychkov: He was a semi-frequent guest before he canceled a performance of Mahler’s Seventh in 2022 due to an injury (and was replaced by Robertson). But he has not returned since. With his new job in Paris I guess we won’t see him any more often. One of my favorite guest conductors.
Robertson: A SoCal native who has for whatever reason never developed a strong relationship with the orchestra. I like him a lot and regret his absence here.
None of them seems to me a viable candidate for the Music Director position, unfortunately. Rattle and Bychkov have nice jobs in Europe that they are extremely unlikely to abandon. Mirga has a family to raise. Robertson and Salonen have too many overlapping specialties. All of them except Mirga are also a bit too old for the position.
(I honestly think half of the reason we see some of them so little is how far LA is from Europe.)
A couple of conductors who have never conducted the orchestra but could make interesting guests: Michael Sanderling and Alain Altinoglu. A couple of Baroque specialists: Raphaël Pichon and Philippe Herreweghe. Noltemy could also invite her former colleagues: Andris Nelsons and Fabio Luisi.
From the looks of next season’s program, I’m guessing the orchestra is adding Anna Handler to the potential candidate pool. I thought her debut at the Hollywood Bowl last year was excellent, but I couldn’t go to her concert last week. Were you there? She is perhaps on the verge of a breakout.
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I noticed that Handler is doing Mahler 1 next season, and taking the LAPhil on “tour” to OC with it too. That’s seems like very a “music director audition” thing to do…?
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I like Ms. Handler’s conducting, but I would be shocked if she were a serious MD candidate.
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Thanks for sharing. Solid list.
I’m putting together my detailed thoughts on guest conductors, both ones appearing in LA for 2026-27 and those that aren’t. For now, I’ll say there’s a lot of overlap.
The one person I’ll comment on for now is David Robertson. On paper, he’s should be one of the top candidates, and a decade a go was one most lists. Since he got — then left — the St. Louis job, I’ve heard his name less and less; he’s also been guest conducting US orchestras less. I don’t know why.
I can also guess that the chemistry between him and the local band isn’t high enough to warrant consideration for MD, otherwise he would already be here more. He seemed to guest conduct SFS more often, though he’s been there less too. Go figure.
FWIW: I always enjoyed most of his programs and interpretations, though I don’t know if I loved any of them.
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Which names? Let’s start with Simon Rattle (a guy can dream). More another day.
That said, I suspect the LA Phil having the largest budget of any orchestra in the country will not hurt for funds once they eventually hire a Music Director, and that Mr. Salonen’s budget as Creative Director will be reduced once that happens.
One example: he conducted the world premiere of Shostakovich’s Orango, complete with staging by Peter Sellars, a few years into Mr. Dudamel’s MD tenure. The orchestra had no problem feeding both mouths then, I’m sure it’ll be fine in the future as well.
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It’s not just a question of money itself, but also of egos and optics. Any well-established conductor would ask the management why they couldn’t be given the title “Music & Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic”, as Dudamel has been. Are they not creative enough? If they are not, then you and I, not to mention the orchestra and the management, are unlikely to want them; if they are, then they will want Dudamel’s title.
When Salonen did his productions while Dudamel was the MD, he was the “Conductor Laureate”, an honorary title that is quite common in the orchestral world. What he has now is unique and confers more power to him. The management was already on record saying that the next Music Director will not also be given the “Artistic Director” title and the responsibilities will be split. I think that truly limits what kind of conductors you can hope to get. Besides, in 2011 when Salonen did Orango, Dudamel was the “young conductor at the beginning of their career” type I was talking about.
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