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Curated by LA Phil Creative Chair for Jazz Herbie Hancock and Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, the Power to the People! festival celebrates the role artists have played and continue to play in advancing social change, civil rights, and humanitarian causes. Musicians of every genre help us to see the world as it is and imagine the world as it could be. They bring injustices to light and inspire people to act.

In March 2020, as the pandemic closed concert halls across the world, the Los Angeles Philharmonic was forced to cut short the original run of this festival. In the spring of 2022, Power to the People! returns, bringing with it many of the most-anticipated artists and thought leaders from the festival’s first incarnation, as well as brand-new programs and commissions that speak truth to our moment.

The LA Phil's Humanities Programs are generously supported by Linda and David Shaheen.

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Hold On, We Shall Overcome! with Nathaniel Gumbs

Power to the People! Festival

The Director of Chapel Music at Yale University reimagines traditional hymns, spirituals, and concert music with 21st-century perspective.

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Program

  • About the Program, notes by Christopher Russell
    • HOLLINS
    Concert Overture No. 2 in C minor
    • FRANCK
    Choral No. 1 in E major
    • KARG-ELERT
    “Harmonies du Soir,” Op. 72, No. 1 (from Three Impressions for Organ)
    • PRICE
    First Sonata for Organ
  • Intermission
    • TRADITIONAL (ARR. BY JOSEPH JOUBERT)
    “Hold On” (world premiere, commissioned by N. Gumbs)
    • TRADITIONAL (ARR. BY JOHN STODDART)
    “Soon-a will be done” (world premiere, commissioned by N. Gumbs)
    • TRADITIONAL (ARR. WILLIAM BOLCOM)
    “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” (from Gospel Preludes, Book 1)
    • Uzee BROWN
    Church Yard Chatter
    • TRADITIONAL (ARR. CARL HAYWOOD)
    “We Shall Overcome”

Artists

  • Nathaniel Gumbs, organ
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Lyrics from Lockdown

At the Skirball Cultural Center
Bryonn Bain
Dolores Huerta

Performance and book release celebrating Rebel Speak: A Justice Movement Mixtape

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Artists

  • Bryonn Bain
  • Dolores Huerta, talkback guest
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Still and Negrón with Dudamel

Power to the People! Festival

Dudamel leads William Grant Still’s “Afro-American” Symphony, and J’Nai Bridges lends her voice to poetry by Pablo Neruda.

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Program

    • Angélica NEGRÓN
    Moriviví (world premiere, LA Phil commission with generous support from the MaddocksBrown Fund for New Music)
    • LIEBERSON
    Neruda Songs
  • Intermission
    • STILL
    Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American”

Artists

  • Los Angeles Philharmonic
  • Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
  • J’Nai Bridges, mezzo-soprano
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Canto en resistencia

Power to the People!

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Program

    • Víctor AGUDELO
    Ecos de la Memoria (world premiere, LA Phil commission)
    • Angélica NEGRÓN
    Moriviví (world premiere, LA Phil commission with generous support from the MaddocksBrown Fund for New Music)
  • Intermission
  • LA Phil and Guest Artists

Artists

  • Los Angeles Philharmonic
  • Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
  • Devendra Banhart
  • Edna Vazquez
  • iLe
  • Rodrigo Amarante
  • Silvana Estrada
  • Paige Zilba, beatboxer
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Radical Black Futurism Workshop for Teens
Artmaking with Collage Artist Jessi Jumanji

At CAAM

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Artists

  • Jessi Jumanji, artist
  • WRDÖ, producer
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Dr. Angela Davis

Power to the Imagination: The Role of Art and Creativity in Social Change

The scholar and icon on creativity’s role in social change.

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Artists

  • Dr. Angela Davis
  • Bryonn Bain, moderator
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Place

Power to the People! Festival

A modern-day oratorio explores the essence of place.

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Program

    • Ted HEARNE
    Place (LA Phil commission)
  • Co-produced and co-commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects

Artists

  • LA Phil New Music Group
  • Ted Hearne, composer and conductor
  • Saul Williams and Ted Hearne, libretto
  • Patricia McGregor, director
  • Tim Brown, scenic design
  • Sanford Biggers, scenic design
  • Scott Bolman, lighting design
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Saul Williams

At CAAM

Reading and Conversation with Saul Williams

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Artists

  • Saul Williams