Looking to take off into a new era after nearly two decades under charismatic the Los Angeles Philharmonic hired Daniel Harding, a British conductor who also is an Air France pilot, as its next music director.
A 50-year-old known mostly for his work with European orchestras, Harding agreed to a six-year contract starting with the 2027-28 season, the LA Phil announced Tuesday. His first appointment by an American orchestra is with the ensemble that engaged him for his U.S. professional debut in 1997.
鈥淚t couldn鈥檛 have come a day sooner. I鈥檓 very glad it didn鈥檛 come a day later,鈥� he said in a telephone interview from his home in Paris. 鈥淭he perfect timing, the right moment, and here we go.鈥�
Harding will conduct eight weeks in his first season, then expand his commitment to 12 weeks annually. He also is in his second season of a five-year contract as music director of Italy’s Orchestra dell鈥橝ccademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
Kim Noltemy, who became the LA Phil鈥檚 president and CEO in 2024, reached an agreement with Harding during dinner at Rome’s Portrait Hotel overlooking the Trinit脿 dei Monti.
鈥淗e鈥檚 an incredible musician and an inspiring leader, a devoted educator,鈥� Noltemy said. 鈥淗e has a global perspective. He’s committed to working with the students. So he has all of the different pieces which we really hope to get in one person.鈥�
Piloting long an interest for Harding
Harding has been interested in aviation since he was young and started piloting in 2014. He joined Air France in 2021 and flies Airbus A320s in Europe and North Africa. He hopes to become a first officer on either a Boeing 777 or Airbus A350, wide-body planes that fly trans-Atlantic.
鈥淚t鈥檚 absolutely the most logical thing that at some point in my first couple of years in my role in LA I will also start coming to LA with my other uniform on,鈥� he said.
Conductor Simon Rattle, an early mentor, said Harding is restless and 鈥渉e needs something to do with the second brain.鈥�
Deborah Borda, who headed the LA Phil from 1999 to 2017, said Harding’s second job gives him 鈥渁 fascinating take on the world.鈥�
鈥淗e talked about how he had to study, how much of it was technical, how much pleasure he got from concentrating on that rather than just on music,鈥� she said.
Relationship with American orchestra took time
Harding first conducted the LA Phil at the Ojai Music Festival in June 1997. He’s also performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra.
Harding developed a reputation as a conductor who irked some U.S. orchestras by talking too much.
鈥淏ecause Daniel is an impatient and fast person by nature, that can be more difficult,鈥� Rattle said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 very self-aware and he realized that a lot of the things that are not going right are because he wasn鈥檛 able to physically show them in the best way.鈥�
Harding’s manner stemmed from a need to show his worth.
鈥淚 wanted the musicians to understand that I wasn鈥檛 there just to profit from their expertise, that I鈥檇 done my work, I鈥檇 prepared myself, I had an opinion,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd if I spoke too much, it wasn鈥檛 because I thought I knew better than them, it was because I wanted them to know that I was trying to earn my place being there.鈥�
Harding hired renowned conductor coach Mark Stringer to work with him.
Harding’s early career and influences
A trumpet player as a child, Harding’s big break came when he was 15 and a teacher at Chetham鈥檚 School of Music sent a recording of him in a performance of Schoenberg’s 鈥淧ierrot Lunaire鈥� to Rattle, principal conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
鈥淲hen he left school early and was a year too young to go to Cambridge, basically his parents gave him to us, so he kind of lived in and out of our house for that year,鈥� Rattle said.
Harding became Rattle’s assistant in 1994, then was hired as Claudio Abbado’s assistant and debuted at the Berlin Philharmonic in 1996. He gained prominence when he led Mozart’s 鈥淒on Giovanni鈥� in a Peter Brook production in 1998 at France’s Aix-en-Provence Festival.
Harding’s other prominent musical appointments include serving as music director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, principal conductor of Norway鈥檚 Trondheim Symphony, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre de Paris.
Dudamel transformed the LA Phil during a tenure that started in 2009 and ends this summer when he leaves to . LA is adopting an unusual musical leadership model that includes Dudamel as artistic and cultural laureate with a mostly four-week annual commitment, creative director Esa-Pekka Salonen (six weeks) and conductor-in-residence Anna Handler (three weeks).
鈥淚t’s a long commute,鈥� Harding said of his new job, 鈥渂ut I have a particular easygoing relationship with airplanes, so that doesn鈥檛 bother me.鈥�
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