Daniel Harding Leads Bernstein & Brahms

Daniel Harding conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in his first Walt Disney Concert Hall program of 2026, joined by Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes and mezzo-soprano Avery Amereau. The evening opens with Betsy Jolas’ Latest, a colorful, percussive work with jazz inflections, written by the Paris-based composer in her centenary year. Amereau takes the solo role in Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1, Jeremiah, whose three movements trace prophecy, profanation and lamentation. After intermission, Andsnes joins the orchestra for Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2, a large-scale work that gives soloist and ensemble an extended, balanced conversation.

Harding is the LA Phil’s incoming Music Director and has been praised by Bachtrack for a “high-definition reading” marked by attention to “contrast, detail, and thrills.” Andsnes is an acclaimed Norwegian pianist, and his approach to Brahms’ Second Concerto was described by Chicago Classical Review as hands that “[blend] intimacy and bravura.” He calls the concerto “glorious and happy music,” noting its balance between piano and orchestra. Bernstein nicknamed his First Symphony Jeremiah, after the Biblical prophet, and characterized its subject as a “crisis of faith” in a modern, tumultuous world. Jolas, who turns 100 in 2026, says that age has not diminished her curiosity: “I’m still learning and I’m still trying things I’ve never done before.”