WFMT Orchestra Series

July 13
Beethoven Symphonies with Zubin Mehta

Be transported to the Viennese countryside as Zubin Mehta and the LA Phil instill vivid and picturesque life into Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony. Having become a pop culture staple from Disney’s Fantasia, the easy-going and meditative “Pastoral” symphony is a sharp contrast from the darker side of Beethoven. In the second half, hear the work that changed orchestral music—if not all of music—forever with the energetic “Eroica” (Heroic) Third Symphony.

July 20
Mozart’s “Prague” Symphony

Former Dudamel Fellow Gemma New and the LA Phil capture the complexities and sophistication of Mozart’s “Prague” symphony, a triumphant work composed during the peak of Mozart’s celebrity status in the European capital. Danses concertantes marked Stravinsky’s first composition while living in Los Angeles, commissioned at the height of World War II in his signature style.

July 27
Brahms & Bruckner with Dudamel
(featuring Anne-Sophie Mutter & Pablo Ferrández)

Nicknamed “the saucy maid” by its composer, Anton Bruckner’s First Symphony is bursting with exuberance and grand musical architecture inspired by Wagner and Beethoven. Dudamel leads the LA Phil in a journey through Bruckner’s compelling extremes—from bittersweet melodies to an explosive and fiery finale. The electrifying violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter recorded one of the definitive versions of Brahms’ Double Concerto 40 years ago, but she was inspired to release a new recording of it in 2022 with her protégé and collaborator cellist Pablo Ferrández. The pair reprise that performance, bringing out the joy and turbulence of Brahms’ musical conversation.

August 3
Ravel and Adès

Thomas Adès and pianist Kirill Gerstein’s longstanding collaboration has been called “an auspicious meeting of giants” (The Boston Globe), and the pair reunite for Adès’ Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. Gerstein, who brings “the kind of serious, intelligent and virtuosic music-making that keeps classical music alive” (The Observer), interprets both Adès’ concerto and Ravel’s wildly original Concerto for the Left Hand. Adès as a conductor leads the symphony from his critically lauded opera The Tempest as well as Ravel’s emotionally searing La valse.

August 10
Mälkki Conducts Brahms

Daniil Trifonov, “without question the most astounding pianist of our age” (The Times of London), conjures his unique style and technique to perform the longest major Romantic piano concerto, Brahms’ epic second. The piece is synonymous with the greatest music of its era for its grand yet intimate delicacies. Susanna Mälkki leads the LA Phil in another Brahms offering, his jubilant Academic Festival Overture, as well as Fett on Saturday and Sunday by German composer Enno Poppe, who describes his innovative music as “dented nature.”

August 17
Bernstein and Wooten

A multiple Grammy-winning legend in worlds of funk and avant-garde jazz, Victor Wooten is a regular in music critics’ lists of best bass guitar players in history. In recent years, Wooten has sought to combine jazz and symphonic traditions, and La Lección Tres showcases the possibilities of a solo electric bass with orchestra, sometimes with plucked rhythmic punch and others lyrical and melodic with a custom bass that’s bowed like a cello. After opening with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s romantic and lush Ballade, Thomas Wilkins conducts Bernstein’s timeless Symphonic Dances from West Side Story.

August 24
John Adams’ City Noir

With influences ranging from Brahms and Mozart to Sigur Rós and Radiohead, Timo Andres is a favorite young composer of John Adams’ who conducts the world premiere of his concerto Made of Tunes written for pianist Aaron Diehl. Adams also leads a curious venture through the metropolis with Copland’s poignant ode to New York and his own City Noir, inspired by Los Angeles and classic films that the composer said is reminiscent of “a very crowded boulevard peopled with strange characters… who only come out very late on a very hot night.

August 31
Michael Tilson Thomas Leads Tchaikovsky

The four tableaus of Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka are vividly brought to life by Michael Tilson Thomas, who actually met the composer in Los Angeles during his youth. Thomas once described Stravinsky as an “amazing mind that was searching always for the most original solution” to his inventions, and he brings that keen understanding to conducting Stravinsky’s work. Tchaikovsky wrote his Fourth Symphony as a mirror to the many conflicts in his life, wrestling with fate and personal turmoil, leading to a passionate thrill ride of a symphony.

September 7
Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony

Camille Saint-Saëns’ adventurous, final symphony has been ingrained in popular culture with themes from its memorable triumphant last movement appearing in pop songs and as the main theme in the film Babe. Dedicated to Franz Liszt—and featuring the LA Phil’s own Joanne Pearce Martin in this performance—the “Organ” symphony led fellow composer Charles Gounod to hail Saint-Saëns as “the French Beethoven.”

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Music Director Louis Langrée teams up again with acclaimed composer Jonathan Bailey Holland for a world premiere symphony. And in an impressive showcase of Maurice Ravel, Principal Concertmaster Martin Chalifour performs the composer’s virtuosic violin showpiece, followed by the LA Phil demonstrating his knack for conveying childlike wonder with the Mother Goose Suite.

September 14
Schubert and Beethoven

With flavors of Haydn, Beethoven, and Rossini, Schubert’s epic Sixth Symphony is a rollercoaster of somberness, charm, serenity, and humor, with the wind section shining brightest here. Penned by a composer just turned 21, the piece is permeated by an overall sense of youthfulness. Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra Artistic Director Jukka-Pekka Saraste leads the dance that is Beethoven’s self-described “most excellent symphony,” showcasing the composer’s exuberant and optimistic side in full display.

September 21
Bartók and Mozart

Inon Barnatan is “a true poet of the keyboard: refined, searching, unfailingly communicative” (The Evening Standard). Effortlessly sailing through its melodic yet meticulous runs, Barnatan demonstrates why No. 25 ranks among Mozart’s top piano concertos. Karina Canellakis leads Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, universally praised for its thematic dominance, enhanced by shimmering harps and winds, a wistful folk-like intermezzo from the strings, and a spontaneous fugue and fanfare led by the brass.

September 28
Dudamel Leads Mozart and Strauss

Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil lead Strauss’ Don Quixote, an epic tone poem that pits the infamous “Man of La Mancha” against a flurry of windmills and wizards, featuring the LA Phil’s Principal Cello Robert deMaine and Principal Viola Teng Li as soloists. Maria João Pires performance of Mozart’s Jeunehomme is also heard on this week’s broadcast.