If you think getting some friends and family together for a birthday party takes a lot of work, then imagine how difficult it is to throw an 8-mile long party where the list of invitees is approximately 4 million people. Then imagine that the honoree is reaching 100. That’s the task that faced the LA Philharmonic as they launch their centennial season. If you’re in Los Angeles and you’re reading this, then you’re amongst the guests invited to Celebrate LA! on Sunday, September 30th.
The LA Philharmonic has teamed up with CicLAvia and CARS (Community Arts Resources) to throw the biggest party this city has ever seen. The concept is simple: close down streets on a path that connects Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. Along the path will be musicians and artists in six hubs. There will be pop-up performances and food available throughout the route. The event starts at 9:00 AM and continues at all but one venue until 4:00 PM. The hub at Walt Disney will be going until 8:30 PM. And hopefully you entered into the lottery for free tickets to Sunday night’s big concert at The Hollywood Bowl featuring Herbie Hancock, Katy Perry and the Los Angeles Philharmonic lead by Gustavo Dudamel. (If you haven’t, tickets have already been distributed.)
No one person can throw this big a party, but Meghan Martineau, Vice President of Artistic Planning for the orchestra, knows first-hand what it takes to put on a party this big as she revealed when we spoke yesterday.
What was the overall strategy for putting together the events for the LA Philharmonic’s 100th Anniversary Season?
We started planing quite a few years in advance. What do we want it to feel like? What do we want it to be? We had conversations with Gustavo Dudamel about the over-arching vision. At the end of the day we shouldn’t just throw a big birthday party, we should look forward instead. What would an orchestra look like for the next 100 years. What could we dream up. One of these things is Celebrate LA! This is a big thank you to the City of Los Angeles and hopefully engaging with the city and giving the residents an opportunity to engage.
How important is it to bring music to people who cannot necessarily afford tickets to see performances at either the Hollywood Bowl or the Walt Disney Concert Hall?
That’s a huge part of the discussion with us. That’s one of the reasons for us that we are doing this big open street festival day because it is completely free for everyone and we have a superstar list of artists.
From your perspective how has the LA Philharmonic’s influence and relationship within the community been defined in the 14 years you’ve been with the organization?
That’s a big question. I think things have really changed since Walt Disney Concert Hall opened. I wasn’t here before. It feels that the hall has become the living room for the city as [architect] Frank Gehry hoped. LA has really embraced this building and the LA Phil with it. I think you see another big shift when Gustavo Dudamel joined and with the addition of YOLA [Youth Orchestra Los Angeles]. This has been such a tectonic shift for us internally. It feels to me that YOLA deepens and created new relationships for us all across the city.
Getting someone like Katy Perry to participate in Sunday’s concert seems to be an outreach to people who might not think of going to an LA Phil concert otherwise. Is that a fair assessment?
Gustavo knows Katy Perry – they had met and discussed “wouldn’t it be great do something in the future.” I love her willingness to do something different with us. We want a big celebration – a party. Katy Perry is such a fantastic pop artist. She reaches a different demographic than those who come for Herbie Hancock. I’m fascinated to see what the mix will be. You’ll get a mixture of things: YOLA is playing, the LA Philharmonic is playing, Herbie Hancock is playing jazz and then there’s Katy Perry.
With an 8-mile street party, people can choose their own routes. But if you were walking the event what route would you take?
Start at Grand Avenue. That’s where we’re kicking off the earliest and we will have Gustavo Dudamel with the LA Philharmonic Brass, YOLA and the Centennial High School Marching Band. Then you could wait and do yoga there first and then you could continue your day and walk to Hollywood. The whole beauty of this is you can go either direction. The overwhelming part is there are too many good ways to experience this.
With such a big season already put into motion, what are the challenges so that season 101 isn’t a letdown?
We’re working on that now. It is taking all the aspirational thinking for the centennial and continuing forward and not allowing us to go back to business as usual.
Picasso said, “Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life.” Given the turbulent times in which we live, do the arts have a more vital role in our daily lives?
I think absolutely yes. For everyone here that’s working on this project and the LA Philharmonic in particular, we feel that making music and creating opportunities for communities to come together and interact is an important part of what we do for our community in Los Angeles. I can’t imagine anything better in these troubling times than to engage in an event like this or in one of our concerts at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Photo of Gustavo Dudamel by Dustin Downing.