Proms 2026 Dudamel and the LA Phil: Beethoven and Ortiz

In the second of their two Proms, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and its Music Director Gustavo Dudamel again pair a Beethoven symphony with a contemporary ballet. The obsessive, often wild rhythms of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 – famously described by Wagner as ‘the apotheosis of the dance’ – meet the politically charged pulse of Gabriela Ortiz’s Revolución diamantina: music ‘full of visceral primeval rhythms and mysterious, soulful sound-worlds’. Taking Mexico’s 2019 Glitter Revolution as its starting point, this groove-driven, urgent score – ‘a ritual in motion’ – roars against female oppression in music of fierce, hypnotic beauty.

Recorded for broadcast on BBC television and iPlayer

Gustavo Dudamel © Danny Clinch