ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CONDUCTOR
Esa-Pekka Salonen is renowned as both a composer and conductor. He was recently named Creative Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, effective 2026–27, and Creativity and Innovation Chair of the Philharmonie de Paris and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre de Paris, effective 2027–28. He is the Conductor Laureate of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and formerly served as Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony. He is a faculty member at Los Angeles’s Colburn School, where he founded and directs the Negaunee Conducting Program. Salonen co-founded, and until 2018 served as the Artistic Director of, the annual Baltic Sea Festival.
Groups and Ensembles
The Grammy Award-winning Attacca Quartet is recognized as one of today’s most versatile and forward-thinking ensembles. From classical masterworks to contemporary collaborations, they redefine what a string quartet can be.
[Read more on Attacca Quartet’s Website]Now in its 22nd season, the Colburn Orchestra is the flagship ensemble of the Colburn Conservatory of Music. Under the direction of Music Director Yehuda Gilad, the Colburn Orchestra performs across Southern California. Dedicated to serving the greater Los Angeles community, the Colburn Orchestra performs for schools in neighboring communities every year, giving five concerts in a one-week period to school children of all ages.
[Read more on Colburn’s Website]
L.A. Dance Project is a non-profit dance company under the Artistic Direction of Benjamin Millepied. Founded in 2012, they opened the doors to their studio and performance space in Los Angeles’ downtown arts district in 2017. Their mission is to explore the boundaries of movement, creativity, and expression.
[Read more on the L.A. Dance Project Website]The idea for a new music ensemble dedicated to introducing Los Angeles audiences to rising composers was a dream of Ernest Fleischmann’s. Since the first concert in 1981, the LA Phil New Music Group has performed works by some of the sharpest minds in composition.
[Read more on LA Phil’s Website]Artists and Composers
Jay Campbell is a cellist actively exploring a wide range of creative music. He has been recognized for approaching both old and new music with the same curiosity and commitment, and his performances have been called “electrifying” by The New York Times and “gentle, poignant, and deeply moving” by the Washington Post.
[Read more on Jay Campbell’s Website]Praised as “an artist who leads with musical intelligence and technical assurance,” (La scena musicale), Canadian soprano Bridget Esler is currently a young artist at the Opéra de Montréal’s Atelier lyrique. Bridget has performed across Canada, Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States with ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra.
[Read more on Bridget Esler’s Website]
Praised for his “silken tenor” (Opera News), Eric Finbarr Carey enters the 2025/2026 fall season with a slate of debuts and return engagements. He makes his French debut in a new production of Händel’s Der Messias with Opéra de Limoges, sings Testo in Monteverdi’s Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda with Catapult Opera, and appears as soloist in Britten’s Les Illuminations with the Handel Society of Dartmouth.
[Read more on Eric Finbarr Carey’s Website]Puerto Rican baritone Abdiel Gonzalez has been praised for his “rich, lush baritone” and for having a “superb voice, which commanded the stage.” He has been a concert soloist under the batons of Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Grant Gershon, to name a few. He has traveled the world singing, including Taiwan, where he performed the role of Gaston in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.
[Read more on The LA Master Chorale Website]
Pianist Conor Hanick is regarded as one of his generation’s most inquisitive interpreters of music new and old whose “technical refinement, color, crispness and wondrous variety of articulation benefit works by any master,” (The New York Times).
[Read more on Conor Hanick’s Website]Jonathan Hepfer is a percussionist, conductor, and concert curator. He began playing classical music at age seventeen after discovering the work of John Cage while studying at SUNY Buffalo. Subsequently, Jonathan attended Oberlin Conservatory, UC San Diego and the Musikhochschule Freiburg (on a DAAD fellowship) where he studied with Michael Rosen, Steven Schick and Bernhard Wulff.
[Read more on Jonathan Hepfer’s Website]
Leila Josefowicz’s passionate advocacy of contemporary music for the violin is reflected in her diverse programs and enthusiasm for performing new works. A favorite of living composers, Josefowicz has premiered many concertos, including those by Colin Matthews, Luca Francesconi, John Adams, and Esa-Pekka Salonen, all written especially for her.
[Read more on Leila Josefowicz’s Website]Described as a “modern renaissance man,” (Over the Mountain Journal) Grammy® nominated pianist Aron Kallay’s playing has been called “exquisite…every sound sounded considered, alive, worthy of our wonder” (LA Times). “Perhaps Los Angeles’ most versatile keyboardist,” (LaOpus) Aron has been praised as possessing “that special blend of intellect, emotion, and overt physicality that makes even the thorniest scores simply leap from the page into the listeners laps.” (KPFK)
[Read more on Aron Kallay’s Website]
New Zealand-born violinist Geneva Lewis has forged a reputation as a musician of consummate artistry whose performances speak from and to the heart. Lauded for “remarkable mastery of her instrument” (CVNC) and hailed as “clearly one to watch” (Musical America).
[Read more on Geneva Lewis’ Website]Rose Lombardo was appointed Principal Flute of the San Diego Symphony in 2011 at the age of 23. At the time, she was in her second year of graduate studies with Jim Walker at the Colburn School Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles and graduated with a Professional Studies Certificate. Previously, Ms. Lombardo earned a Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School where she studied with Jeffrey Khaner.
[Read more on the San Diego Symphony Website]
Clarinetist Anthony McGill, praised for his “trademark brilliance, penetrating sound and rich character” (The New York Times), is one of classical music’s most recognizable and multifaceted figures. He serves as Principal Clarinet of the New York Philharmonic—the first African-American principal in the orchestra’s history—and enjoys a dynamic solo and chamber music career.
[Read more on Anthony McGill’s Website]Praised for her ‘infectious energy’ and elegant phrasing, Aleksandra Melaniuk is a conductor particularly drawn to repertoire shaped by folk influences and marked by strong dramatic character and vivid orchestral colour. She currently serves as a Salonen Conducting Fellow in the Negaunee Conducting Program at the Colburn School and the San Francisco Symphony.
[Read more Aleksandra Melaniuk’s Website]
Todd Moellenberg is a pianist and artist based in Los Angeles. He specializes in both classical and contemporary repertoire, and has been featured in performances with Piano Spheres, Monday Evening Concerts, Wild Up, Hear Now, Brightwork, Los Angeles Philharmonic, People Inside Electronics, PARTCH Ensemble, The Industry, and actress Laverne Cox. He has worked closely with composers Chaya Czernowin, Roger Reynolds, Yiheng Yvonne Wu, Rand Steiger, Bunita Marcus, Thomas Meadowcroft and Xavier Beteta, with recordings released on Deutsche Grammophon, Sideband, and Petrichor.
[Read more on the M.E.C. Website]Grammy-nominated pianist John Novacek regularly tours the Americas, Europe, and Asia as both soloist and chamber musician. The current season includes concerto performances with the Mexico City Philharmonic, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Springfield (MA) Symphony Orchestra, National Academy Orchestra of Canada, Traverse (MI) Symphony Orchestra, Vista Philharmonic (Groton, MA), Anderson (IN) Symphony Orchestra, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and the orchestras of Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Festival Mozaic and the Mendocino Music Festival.
[Read more on the LA Phil Website]
Acclaimed for her “staggering virtuosity,” Hanzhi Wang is the only accordionist to ever win a place on the roster of Young Concert Artists in its 60-year history. An ambassador for her instrument, Hanzhi has been praised for her captivating stage presence and performances that display passion and finesse.
[Read more on Hanzhi Wang’s Website]German-Turkish musician Mert Yalniz is recognized as one of the most compelling artistic voices of his generation. Active as a conductor, pianist, and composer, he unites technical brilliance with artistic depth and an interdisciplinary perspective. With this versatility, he is increasingly establishing himself on the international classical music stage.
[Read more on Mert Yalniz’s Website]Composers in Residence
Composer, conductor, and creative thinker – John Adams occupies a unique position in the world of American music. His works, both operatic and symphonic, stand out among contemporary classical compositions for their depth of expression, brilliance of sound, and the profoundly humanist nature of their themes. Over the past 45 years, Adams’s music has played a decisive role in turning the tide of contemporary musical aesthetics away from academic modernism and toward a more expansive, expressive language, entirely characteristic of his New World surroundings.
[Read more on John Adams’ Website]Gabriella Smith is a composer whose work invites listeners to find joy in climate action. Her music comes from a love of play, exploring new instrumental sounds, and creating musical arcs that transport audiences into sonic landscapes inspired by the natural world. An “outright sensation” (LA Times), her music “exudes inventiveness with a welcoming personality, rousing energy and torrents of joy” (NY Times).
[Read more on Gabriella Smith’s Website]