The Los Angeles Philharmonic is considered the most progressive symphonic orchestra in the United States. “We are focused on the future,” says the orchestra's Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen, “not on reviving the glories of the past like so many others.” In keeping with this philosophy, the orchestra maintains close ties to contemporary artists and has been highly successful in attracting younger audiences. Equally, it is not above playing popular themes from television programmes and even video games. To prove the point, Herbie Hancock currently occupies the position of creative chair for jazz until 2012. Meanwhile, John Adams, remarkably popular for his highly accessible work in combining neo-romanticism with minimalism, was appointed resident composer two years ago. In 1996, he wrote Slonimsky’s Earbox, adapted from Le chant du rossignol by Igor Stravinsky, a former conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic himself. The fifteen-minute composition was created in memorial to Adams's Russian-American friend Nicolas Slonimsky. The author and composer wrote the Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns, a publication that had a profound influence on Adams. Slonimsky’s Earbox will be followed by Jeremiah's Symphony by Leonard Bernstein, considered by the New York Times to be the most talented and successful composer in American history. Written in 1942, the work is inspired by the Biblical story of Jeremiah's Lamentations. After the interval, the audience will hear the Beethoven symphony referred to by Richard Wagner as the “apotheosis of the dance”. In the conductor's pulpit, Gustavo Dudamel appears for the first time in Hungary. The young Venezuelan is currently in his second year as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His fairytale career has taken him from the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar to one of America's finest orchestras. Amazingly, he only recently celebrated his 30th birthday. Presented by the Palace of Arts

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