New York Philharmonic Receives $40m Gift to Endow Gustavo Dudamel's Chair

The donation is the largest gift of its kind that the orchestra has yet to receive

The New York Philharmonic has received an unprecedented donation of $40 million from Oscar L. Tang (the orchestra's co-Chairman) and Dr. H. M. Agnes Hsu-Tang (a celebrated archaeologist and art historian). The gift is the largest of its kind that the orchestra has received and will endow a named chair for incoming Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel.

The gift is a vote of confidence in the orchestra's vision for the future, including projects such as the re-opening of David Geffen Hall. In addition, it coincides with a new chapter for the orchestra brought about by Dudamel's appointment.

He becomes the New York Philharmonic's Music Director Designate in 2025, and will be Music Director at the opening of the 2026/27 season.

"Oscar and Agnes are visionary leaders, setting a new standard in empowering the arts and enriching New York City," said Gary Ginstling, the New York Philharmonic's President and CEO. "Their extraordinary gift will help the NY Phil and Gustavo Dudamel reimagine what a 21st-century orchestra can be and ensure that the Philharmonic’s music-making will serve future generations."

"All of us at the New York Philharmonic are inspired by their belief in our aspirations."

"We want this gift to galvanize others to join in the transformation of the New York Philharmonic to return to the level of historical prominence and popularity it enjoyed when I first came to New York — the Golden Age under the baton of Maestro Leonard Bernstein," said Oscar and Agnes Hsu-Tang.

"This gift is a manifestation of our confidence in New York and the New York Philharmonic’s new leaders, the visionary Maestro Gustavo Dudamel and Gary Ginstling, the institution’s dynamic new President and CEO. We believe their leadership, building on progress achieved in the past six years, will take the New York Philharmonic into a new Golden Age and make this institution a contemporary ideal of universality and excellence through broadened outreach and inclusive practice in every aspect of the institution."