Yesterday, we talked about the Pacific Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic picking the same clarinetist to fill open titled chairs, as well as the results of the LA Phil’s Principal Viola auditions.

Today we’ll cover:

• The latest guest concertmasters appearing with the LA Phil
• Remaining LA Phil openings
• A few words about Ryan Roberts, the LA Phil’s new Principal Oboe

New guests in the LA Phil Concertmaster chair

As I discussed last fall, the LA Phil held open auditions to find their next Concertmaster. Yoonshin Song (the Houston Symphony’s Concertmaster) was the only candidate to be offered a trial. She played multiple subscription concert weeks to open the season, then joined the orchestra on its Asian tour immediately after. By all accounts, she played beautifully. That said, the orchestra decided to invite additional candidates to play trials during Mr. Dudamel’s February and March appearances at Walt Disney Concert Hall and again in his upcoming appearances near the end of the season.

Playing guest concertmaster in February and March were (in order of appearance):

Juliette Kang (February 12 – 15, 2025)

Ms. Kang has been First Associate Concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 2005. Before that, the Canadian was Assistant Concertmaster of the Boston Symphony and a member of the MET Orchestra. She won first prize at the 1994 International Violin Competition.

She led the orchestra in a program that included: Humboldt’s Nature by Ricardo Lorenz; Schumann’s Piano Concerto (Yunchan Lim, soloist); and the complete incidental music to Egmont by Beethoven, featuring actress Cate Blanchett as narrator and soprano Elena Villalón. Unfortunately, I did not hear her play myself; that said, people I trust say she sounded great as did the section.

Alan Snow (February 20 – 22, 2025)

As I mentioned last fall, Mr. Snow is one of two candidates who was offered a trial for the First Associate Concertmaster position. He is currently Associate Concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra and also serves as concertmaster of the Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra. He was previously Second Associate Concertmaster of the Omaha Symphony. He started his undergraduate work at Northwestern before graduating from Indiana University.

He was 1st chair of the first violins for three performances of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, and during the Sunday matinee I attended, he played the solo at the beginning of the “Benedictus” beautifully. The section overall sounded solid.

Nurit Bar-Josef (February 26 – March 1, 2025)

Ms. Bar-Josef is Concertmaster of the National Symphony (which until recently was based in Washington, D.C., until the Kennedy Center closed for, *ahem* “renovations,” but that, dear friends, is a whole ‘nother story which I won’t get into here). She won that position in 2001 at the relatively tender age of 26. Before that, she was Assistant Concertmaster of the Boston Symphony between 1998 and 2001 and Assistant Principal 2nd Violin of the St. Louis Symphony from 1997 to 1998. She studied at Curtis and Juilliard.

She played guest concertmaster for the LA Phil in four performances of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony and Revolución diamantina by Gabriela Ortiz featuring the dancers of Grupo Corpo and small contingent of the Los Angeles Master Chorale. At the first of those concerts on Thursday night, the first violins, indeed the whole string section, sounded the best they had all season — er, at least to that point of the season.

David Chan (March 5 – 8, 2026)

The San Diego native is Concertmaster of the MET Orchestra, a position he’s held for over 25 years. As an educator, he heads the Orchestral Performance program at the Manhattan School of Music and is also on the faculty of the Juilliard School and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. With the baton, he is Principal Conductor of the Apollo Orchestra and was recently named Director of the Credo Festival Orchestra in Oberlin.

He led four performances of Beethoven’s 6th Symphony (“Pastoral”) and Inferno, Part 1 of Thomas Adès’ score to his ballet, Dante. And in this case, let me emphasize led, at least based on the Thursday evening concert I saw that week. The strings — particularly the first violins — were not just excellent, they were stunning in their unanimity of tone; moreover, the attacks, cut-offs, and overall cohesiveness of the entire orchestra had a precision I hadn’t heard since the peak of the Salonen era. Yes, Mr. Dudamel had a lot to do with that, but I’m confident Mr. Chan’s contribution was non-trivial.

Indeed, the term in most UK orchestra for the first chair of the first violins is, in fact, “Leader,” not Concertmaster. I hear all the time that a violinist can be an excellent musician but a less-than-stellar leader/Leader. It’s usually hard for me to notice the effect that a specific concertmaster has on an orchestra, even seeing many different ones in fairly quick succession, particularly since a healthy amoung of the impact happens during rehearsal and potentially even off-stage. In this case, I had no problem experiencing the difference Mr. Chan had on the LA Phil that night.

What now and who’s next for LA Phil guest concertmasters

So to recap, there have been four Concertmaster candidates seen so far: Yoonshin Song, Juliette Kang, Nurit Bar-Josef, and David Chan. Additionally, Alan Snow played his trial for First Associate Concertmaster. I have learned from multiple sources that a majority, though not all, of them have been “qualified” by the orchestra.

More violinists are expected to appear with the orchestra when Mr. Dudamel returns to the WDCH podium between May 19 and June 7; however, the concerts consisting of all three acts of Wagner’s Die Walküre along with concerts celebrating the end of Mr. Dudamel’s tenure at the helm of the orchestra make for an atypical set of works with which to evaluate candidates.

Therefore, don’t be surprised if a guest concertmaster does not play at every one of those programs.

Stay tuned.

What about other open LA Phil positions?

Multiple open positions remain in the orchestra. Some, like Associate Principal Bassoon and English horn, have been known for some time. The Assistant Principal Concertmaster chair, which became vacant when Akiko Tarumoto (aka Mrs. Nathan Cole) moved to New England with Mr. Cole and their family, might be kept open to be offered to a runner up for the other higher-ranked first violin chairs.

Additional vacancies have occured since the season began.

• Rochelle Abramson, a 48-year veteran of the first violin who joined the orchestra in 1978, sadly passed away in December. Condolences to her family.
• Michele Grego, longtime 2nd Bassoon, retired mid-season after nearly 30 years in the orchestra. Brava and best wishes to her.
• Justin Woo, part of the first violin section since 2019 and promoted to 6th chair at the beginning of the season, is no longer listed on the orchestra roster.

That said, the orchestra has not announced any auditions for the May and June timeframe, and given the aforementioned complexities in programming, I’m not surprised. So what are the holes that still need to be plugged?

• A bunch of first violins — by my count, there are currently 8 or more vacancies, including titled chairs
• English horn
• Two bassoons: Associate Principal and 2nd Bassoon

This doesn’t account for additional departures due to retirement or musicians taking other jobs. In the latter category, you can count Associate Principal Horn David Cooper. Multiple sources indicate that he’s the only candidate to be awarded a trial after the New York Philharmonic’s recent Principal Horn audition (and let’s not forget that his incoming boss at the NY Phil would be the same as his current one: Gustavo Dudamel). Before coming to LA, Mr. Cooper was Principal Horn of the Chicago Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, and Dallas Symphony, among others. He was also in the running for the San Francisco Symphony’s principal job until he pulled out and accepted tenure in his current role. If he isn’t eventually offered the NY Phil job, I’ll be surprised.

I hope Ryan Roberts, the LA Phil’s new Principal Oboe, doesn’t get a similar idea. The SoCal native, Santa Monica High School grad, and avid surfer seems to be at home figuratively and literally. And yet, his prior tenure as English horn with the NY Phil was highly regarded, and he still has ties to that area. The application deadline recently passed, and I have no idea if he put his name into consideration. Keeping my fingers crossed for all LA Phil stakeholders that we don’t have to endure yet another Principal Oboe search.

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Speaking of Ryan Roberts . . .

After I heard Mr. Roberts got the big job at the LA Phil and that he was a local, I had a suspicion that I’d heard him play before. I couldn’t remember or figure out when or where. And then I searched the dark and dusty archives of All is Yar, and found my answer: on November 22, 2013, while still in high school, he was the featured soloist playing Six Metamorphoses After Ovid, part of James Conlon’s “Britten Birthday Bash” celebrating the composer’s 100th birthday at the Jonathan Club Beach Club. I remember him being quite an oboist even then.

Anyways, back to the present . . . I’ve been enjoying his playing this season. From his debut concerts, featuring Earth Between Oceans by Ellen Reid and Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony at the beginning of the season, through the end of the 2025 calendar year, he proved to be a consistently excellent player.

Since the calendar rolled over to 2026, however, he’s cranked it up a few notches. Maybe he needed to settle into playing oboe full time after years being primarily a world-class English horn. Perhaps the responsibilities and pressure of being principal took some time to get used to. Or there’s a chance he needed to adjust to a new hall and new colleagues. I wouldn’t be shocked if it were a combination of some or all of the above.

Whatever the reason(s), Vintage 2026 Principal Oboe Ryan Roberts is a different player than the one that started this season. He looks more relaxed on stage. His phrasing has more variety and depth. His tone and timbre are richer.

I first noticed the change in late January. John Adams’ rendition of Copland’s Appalachian Spring suite was a disjointed, untidy mess, but the playing by the woodwinds overall and the principals in particular was gorgeous. Among them, Mr. Roberts was nuanced and colorful, holding his own next to Boris Allakhverdyan’s clarinet and Whitney Crockett’s bassoon. The next week, he reached yet another level, with solo work in Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin that was absolutely exquisite.

A few weeks later, his solo and ensemble playing in Beethoven — particularly in the 6th and 7th symphonies — confirmed that this was the new normal. He’s gone from being *merely* an excellent player to a distinctive one. I don’t think he’s officially been given tenure yet, but I’m willing to bet it’s a matter of when, not if.

If there were any doubt the LA Phil wasn’t feeling the same, they were erased when the 2026-27 season was announced. Mr. Roberts will be the featured soloist in the Martinů Oboe Concertofor two subscription concerts this coming October, quite a coup for a would-be sophomore principal. The only other principal getting the privilege: veteran Andrew Bain in three performances of the Strauss Horn Concerto No. 2 in January.

Here’s to him growing into the role further and what I hope will be a long and storied career in the LA Phil for Mr. Roberts. 🥂

RELATED POSTS

• Comings and going at the LA Phil and beyond (March 2026 edition, pt. 1): a clarinet tug-of-war and a viola shuffle (March 18, 2026)
• REVIEW: Dudamel, LA Phil open final season together in peak form with Reid world premiere and Strauss warhorse (October 3, 2025)
• Comings and goings at the LA Phil (Fall 2025 edition, pt. 2): a familiar face gets newly created percussion job, plus woodwind news (September 26, 2025)
• 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 (September 25, 2025)

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Photo credits:

• Juliette Kang, leaning against wall: photo by Jeff Moon, courtesy of the Philadelphia Orchestra
• Nurit Bar-Josef (both photos): courtesy of the National Symphony
• David Chan, portrait: courtesy of MET Orchestra musicians
• Juliette Kang, holding violin to chin: courtesy of Kingston Chamber Music Festival
• Alan Snow: YouTube screenshot
• David Chan, playing: photo by Tey Tat Keng, courtesy of the artist
• Nathan Cole: courtesy of the Boston Symphony
• Ryan Roberts, James Conlon, et al (2013): photo by Brandise Danesewich for All is Yar
• Ryan Roberts, holding up English horn: photo by Chris Lee, courtesy of the artist