"In about 20 years, we will rarely hear Brahms in the concert hall; we will mostly hear contemporary music." A bold prediction, particularly as dwindling audiences for classical music have most orchestras keeping to the tried and true, with only the occasional token nod to the obscure or challenging, or anything composed within the last 50 years — both often deemed box-office poison.
But these are the words of Finnish composer-conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 1992, under whose maverick baton the orchestra has soared to become one of America's premier music ensembles, and who has daringly bucked the prevailing conservatism and focused on contemporary music.
The results have defied expectation. Concerts featured the music of early 20th-century masters Ravel, Debussy, Bartok, Schoenberg and Stravinsky, as well as more contemporary fare in the form of Lutoslawski, Ligeti, Stockhausen, Berio, Carter, Adams, Ades and Saariho. Subscription rates have risen, and the orchestra began drawing younger crowds, curious about the adventurous programming — a quiet revolution in the orchestra's home at Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall.