Hollywood Bowl Shares 2020 Lineup feat. Flying Lotus, Kamasi Washington, and Janelle Monáe

Thundercat, Brittany Howard, The B-52s, and James Blake will also be joining the party.
Hollywood Bowl Shares 2020 Lineup feat. Flying Lotus, Kamasi Washington, and Janelle Monáe

Thundercat, Brittany Howard, The B-52s, and James Blake will also be joining the party.

Words: Kim March

photo by Natasha Aftandilians

February 18, 2020

photo by Natasha Aftandilians

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has just announced its 99th summer season at the Hollywood Bowl, and the 2020 lineup includes some of our favorites like Flying Lotus, Kamasi Washington, Janelle Monáe, Thundercat, Brittany Howard, The B-52s, and James Blake. One of the themes this year, if you will, appears to be women: there’s an evening celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the 19th Amendment, the one that made it legal for women to vote. 

Highlights of the coming summer include:

Opening Night at the Bowl with fireworks features Brandi Carlile and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, led by its Principal Conductor, Thomas Wilkins.

“Celebrating the Suffragettes” marks a century since the adoption of the 19th Amendment, with Marin Alsop leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a celebration featuring music by leading women composers.

The world premiere of Mexican composer Arturo Márquez’s Violin Concerto, commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic for concert violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. This is part of LA Phil music director Gustavo Dudamel’s newly announced Pan-American music initiative. Dudamel will also conduct Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus.

Alabama Shakes singer Brittany Howard is making her Hollywood Bowl debut, joined by Thundercat and Georgia Anne Muldrow.

Jill Scott, Fantasia, and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, as well as Janelle Monáe and The B-52s, are both performing with orchestra. Berlin will join the performance with The B-52s.

Grammy-winning electronic musician James Blake is making his Hollywood Bowl debut, performing for the first time with the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by Thomas Wilkins. 

KCRW’s summer-long World Festival will feature Flying Lotus, Kamasi Washington, Iron & Wine, Andrew Bird, and Mandolin Orange.

This year’s annual musical is School of Rock, based on director Mike White’s film and featuring a new score by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

LA Phil associate conductor Paolo Bortolameolli is hosting an evening in honor of Beethoven’s 250th birthday with pianist Javier Perianes and the Master Chorale, and film composer John Williams (Star Wars, Jaws, Jurassic Park) is staging multiple concerts.

Jazz-wise, Herbie Hancock is performing with Jamie Cullum, and there will be centennial celebrations of Dave Brubeck and Charlie Parker, plus a tribute to Peggy Lee featuring the Legendary Count Basie Orchestra and special guest Debbie Harry.

Before opening night with Brandi Carlile, the bowl will stage the Playboy Jazz Festival on June 6-7. George Lopez is hosting a lineup that includes St. Paul & the Broken Bones and The Isley Brothers.

Subscription tickets are available online here or via phone at (323) 850-2000. “Five or More” packages will be available March 17. The Hollywood Bowl box office opens for single ticket sales on May 3.