Daniel Harding Leads Brahms & More
Lineup
About the Event
Experience a first look at the LA Phil’s next chapter with incoming Music Director Daniel Harding as he conducts his first Walt Disney Concert Hall program of 2026. Celebrated by Bachtrack for his “high-definition reading” and close attention to “contrast, detail, and thrills,” Harding teams up with acclaimed Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes for Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto.
Andsnes calls this concerto “glorious and happy music” that sets soloist and orchestra in a perfectly balanced dialogue. Despite its fiendish technical difficulty and symphony-like scale, Brahms’ Second doesn’t wear its heart on its sleeve but instead glows with carefully crafted elegance—especially in Andsnes’ capable hands, which “[blend] intimacy and bravura” in the piece (Chicago Classical Review). By contrast, Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1, nicknamed “Jeremiah” for the Biblical prophet, bristles with raw emotional power. Daniel Harding leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic through Bernstein’s haunting and poetic First, expressing the composer’s self-described “crisis of faith” in a modern and tumultuous world.
The concert begins with the colorful, jazz-infused Latest by Paris-based composer Betsy Jolas, who turns 100 years old in 2026. Aptly titled, this percussive piece is one of Jolas’ more recent works, but certainly not her last. “Old age has fortunately not diminished my curiosity,” she says. “I’m still learning and I’m still trying things I’ve never done before.”
Program
- Betsy Jolas — Latest
- Leonard Bernstein — Symphony No. 1, “Jeremiah”
- Johannes Brahms — Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83