Esa-Pekka Salonen Joins LA Phil and Orchestre de Paris as Creative Director

September 2, 2025, 3:21 PM · Following his exit as Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, 67, has been named to two new leadership positions, one at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and another at the Orchestre de Paris.

Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. Photo by Audoin Desforges, courtesy of the Philharmonie de Paris.

Salonen, who served as the LA Phil's Music Director from 1992 to 2009 and is Conductor Laureate, will take on the role of Creative Director beginning in the 2026-27 season, coinciding with the departure of current Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, who will leave to become Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. No successor has been named for Dudamel. Salonen will serve in the Creative Director role for five years.

In Paris, Salonen will start in the 2027–28 season as Creativity and Innovation Chair of the Philharmonie de Paris and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre de Paris, also serving for five years.

For both orchestras, Salonen will advise on creative decisions including festival design, programs, commissions, residencies, and fellowships. He will also conduct and curate six weeks of concerts per season for the LA Phil and a minimum of eight weeks per season with the Orchestre de Paris.

The plan is for the orchestras to work together on certain projects, with Salonen leading collaborative initiatives between the institutions and composing new works. Salonen also will continue his work exploring media and technology with both institutions, including a large-scale immersive project with both the Orchestre de Paris and LA Phil.

"Over the course of my career, I am lucky to have found myself in many situations where the right parts have been in the right place to create genuine magic. More often than not, that place happened to be Los Angeles or Paris," Salonen said. "We aspire to invent the musical worlds in which we want to live, and the LA Phil and Orchestre de Paris have done just that with Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Philharmonie de Paris. These are top-notch orchestras and the coolest halls, embedded within cities with the most curious and adventurous audiences. I am thrilled to be in positions where the behind-the-scenes creative work is just as important as waving the stick, and I cannot wait to start creating together."

During Salonen's turn-of-the-21st-century tenure as the LA Phil’s Music Director, he commissioned and premiered a record-breaking number of works and was Frank Gehry’s partner in the construction of Walt Disney Concert Hall.

"Esa-Pekka Salonen is a transformational artist whose vision helped shape the LA Phil into what it has become today," said Kim Noltemy, LA Phil President and CEO. "We are thrilled to have Esa-Pekka join the LA Phil in this historic new role, and we look forward to seeing how his innovative spirit will build on his highly celebrated legacy here and around the world."

Salonen had announced in spring 2024 that he would leave the San Francisco Symphony at the end of the 2024-25 season because he did not share the same goals for the future of the institution as the Board of Governors, which had put in place certain financial constraints that effected his artistic decisions.

"The first time I ever came to the U.S. was to conduct the LA Phil," Salonen said. "Coming from Finland, where we tend toward understatement, the LA Phil’s bold vision for what an orchestra could mean to a city and to the world was surreal - a Californian optimism with which I was not familiar. But we understood that an orchestra isn't just about maintaining tradition - it's about pushing boundaries, taking risks. Now, no place has been more central to my artistic life than the Los Angeles Philharmonic. It's an honor and a privilege to continue to work with the musicians and the organization in this new capacity."

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Esa-Pekka Salonen Joins LA Phil and Orchestre de Paris as Creative Director

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