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The story behind the series
The show must go on
About SOUND/STAGE and the LA Phil
Sound/Stage is a free online concert series produced by LA Phil Media, the media and digital initiatives arm of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. Featuring an eclectic range of performing artists, the series brings the LA Phil’s musical offerings to your digital screen, along with interviews, playlists, and program notes that shed new light on each episode’s theme.
Under the direction of Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, the LA Phil offers live performances, media initiatives, and learning programs that inspire and strengthen communities in Los Angeles and beyond. Performances are offered on three historic stages—Walt Disney Concert Hall, Hollywood Bowl, and The Ford—as well as through a variety of media platforms.
How to Watch
You can watch Sound/Stage anytime, any place on your desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone through your web browser.
Watch on your TV via a streaming video player (i.e., smart TV, Amazon Fire Stick, Roku, Xbox, PlayStation) through the YouTube app. You can also watch through your Chromecast device on a Chrome browser, screen-mirroring to your Apple TV, through the Facebook Watch, or using an HDMI or VGA cable. See here for detailed instructions on all the ways to watch.
A look behind-the-scenes
In the image gallery below, you can see the behind-the-scenes preparations required to welcome the orchestra back to the Hollywood Bowl stage and make Sound/Stage a reality.
Following scientific studies and industry best practices, all unmasked players were separated by at least 12 feet, were surrounded by plexiglass barriers to limit particle spread, and followed new guidelines for cleaning and clearing spit valves.
Producing SOUND/STAGE involved re-thinking how the orchestra performs to keep everyone safe. All performers and support staff were tested for COVID-19 in the days before filming with drive-thru tests given in the Hollywood Bowl parking lot.
New stage setups were designed to stay within County health guidelines for social distancing. All performers and support staff were given COVID-19 testing.
Boxes and hard lines on this plot for performers of Kamasi Washington’s BECOMING episode in season one represent plexiglass barriers that are built to separate wind players who can’t wear masks while performing.
The original plan was to use standard plexiglass drum shields for wind players, but COVID-19 has caused many plexiglass products to be on backorder. Due to that scarcity, these barriers were custom-built for SOUND/STAGE.
For season one's Dawn by Thomas Adès performance, the required orchestra was too large to fit on stage. The composer fully supported the idea of honoring the social distance requirement for this piece’s American premiere, and the brass section was placed in the front row of box seats.
To allow for the facial cues that are inherit to Gustavo Dudamel’s conducting style, he was placed further away from the front musicians closest to him to so he could remove his mask.
Performers were filmed by a total of six cameras that combined Steadicam operators among the musicians, a 50-foot crane, two newly made 10-foot towers in the audience, and one camera mounted on an aerial drone.
