Gustavo Dudamel takes the podium at the Hollywood Bowl on Thursday, Aug. 20, for the first of four farewell concerts closing his 17-year run as music and artistic director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. By Sunday night, the 45-year-old Venezuelan conductor will have led his last LA Phil performance before heading to the New York Philharmonic.

The opening night program pairs Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the world premiere of "Hymns of the Heart," a new work by film composer Michael Giacchino with a libretto by poet Amanda Gorman. The Los Angeles Children's Chorus, students from Education Through Music and Youth Orchestra Los Angeles perform alongside the orchestra.

It's a deliberate bookend. Dudamel's very first Hollywood Bowl concert as music director on Oct. 3, 2009, also featured Beethoven's Ninth.

"I hope people realize what it's meant for Los Angeles to have had him for all these years, and what it's going to mean for New York," Giacchino told TheWrap. "And I hope New York has fun with him, because we certainly did."

Giacchino, best known for scoring Pixar's "Up" and the recent "Spider-Man" films, said Dudamel commissioned the piece over dinner after the 2024 Marvel Infinity Saga Concert Experience at the Bowl, where Dudamel walked onstage wearing the Infinity Gauntlet and conducted with a prop Vibranium baton presented by Marvel chief Kevin Feige.

The remaining three nights showcase the breadth that defined Dudamel's tenure. Friday, Aug. 21, brings "Gustavo's Fiesta," a Latin music celebration with Los Tigres del Norte, Lila Downs, Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles and La Sonora Dinamita, according to CALó News. Saturday, Aug. 22, the LA Phil backs the Foo Fighters in a nearly sold-out show. Sunday, Aug. 23, closes with "A Concert for Venezuela," a benefit for earthquake relief following northern Venezuela's late-June quakes, featuring Beck, GIVĒON, Carlos Vives, Natalia Lafourcade and members of YOLA. Tickets start at $15, and the concert will stream free worldwide on Dudamel's YouTube channel.

Donations go to the United Nations Development Programme relief fund and the El Sistema CAF Development Bank Fund.

Dudamel arrived in Los Angeles as a 28-year-old prodigy and turned the LA Phil into arguably the most adventurous major orchestra in the country. He conducted at the Oscars, at Coachella in April 2025, at Super Bowl 50 alongside Coldplay, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars in February 2016, and at the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final Halftime Show on July 19. He became only the second LA Phil music director to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, after Zubin Mehta.

He also championed YOLA, the free youth music program inspired by Venezuela's El Sistema, which now serves about 1,300 students across the city. In May, the LA Phil named him artistic and cultural laureate and YOLA's founding director and conductor laureate, ensuring periodic returns to Los Angeles.

Dudamel is scheduled back at Disney Hall for Beethoven concerts in December and Stravinsky in May. Daniel Handler succeeds him as the LA Phil's incoming music director.