NY Philharmonic gets $40 million gift that endows Gustavo Dudamel's job as music director

Incoming music director Gustavo Dudamel will conduct the New York Philharmonic at its spring gala on April 24, the orchestra said as it announced a $40 million gift from co-chairman Oscar L

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Incoming music director Gustavo Dudamel will conduct the New York Philharmonic at its spring gala on April 24, the orchestra said Tuesday as it announced a $40 million gift from co-chairman Oscar L. Tang and wife Agnes Hsu-Tang that will endow his position.

Dudamel was hired in February to become the Philharmonic's music director for the 2026-27 season. He conducted the orchestra last May in three performances of Mahler's Ninth Symphony but was not scheduled to lead it in the 2023-24 season, which opens Sept. 27. The program of Dudamel's concert was not announced.

As part of the gift, the music director will become The Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Music and Artistic Director Chair starting with the 2025-26 season, when Dudamel becomes music director designate.

The 42-year-old Dudamel has been music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 2009, a tenure that will end after 17 seasons when he starts in New York. He quit as music director of the Paris Opéra in May, two seasons into a six-year contract scheduled to run through the 2026-27 season.

Oscar Tang, 85, has been part of the philharmonic board since 2013 and has been co-chairman with Peter W. May, since 2019. Tang was CEO of the asset management company Reich & Tang for 20 years before retiring in 1993.