Gustavo Dudamel and LA Phil to Perform at Coachella 2025

This is the first time in the music festival's history that an orchestra will perform

The iconic Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival recently announced its lineup for 2025 — and for the first time, the festival will include an orchestral performance.

Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic have been invited to appear in two concerts, on April 12 and April 19, at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA. The times and repertoire have yet to be announced.

In 2025, Coachella's headline acts include Post Malone, Lady Gaga, Travis Scott, Green Day, Charli XCX, and Missy Elliott.

The performances will mark the beginning of Dudamel's final year in Los Angeles — he becomes Music Director Designate at the New York Philharmonic in 2025, and then Music Director in 2026, when his contract in Los Angeles ends.

Born in 1981 in Venezuela, Dudamel first studied conducting with Rodolfo Saglimbeni. In 1999, at age 18, he was appointed Music Director of the Simón Bolívar Youth Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, composed of graduates of the El Sistema program. The latter Venezuelan musical training program later inspired Dudamel and the LA Phil to create YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles) in 2007 — which provides 1,500 young people with free instruments, intensive music instruction, academic support, and leadership training.

Gaining international attention when he won the inaugural Bamberger Symphoniker Gustav Mahler Competition in 2004, Dudamel went on to become the music director of the Gothenburg Symphony (2007–2012), where he now holds the title of Honorary Conductor.

His discography, many of which are Grammy Award-winning, includes 65 releases. His numerous awards include Spain’s 2020 Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts, the 2019 Konex Foundation Classical Music Award, the Distinguished Artist Award from the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA), and the Americas Society Cultural Achievement Award in 2016, to name a few.

(Photo courtesy: LA Phil)