Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Recording of Thomas Ades' Dante Wins GRAMMY®

Gustavo Dudamel

LOS ANGELES (February 5, 2024) – Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s recording of Thomas Adès’ Dante won the GRAMMY® Award for Best Orchestral Performance yesterday at the 66th Annual GRAMMY® Awards.

Recorded live at Walt Disney Concert Hall in April 2022 during performances conducted by Los Angeles Philharmonic Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, Thomas Adès’ Dante is a ballet score in three acts – “Inferno,” “Purgatorio,” and “Paradiso” – inspired by the alternately chilling and sunlit landscapes of Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia. This concert performance of the ballet score by the Los Angeles Philharmonic is the work’s world-premiere audio recording.

“Dante's legend is at the heart of Western culture. My dear friend Thomas Adès, together with the extraordinary musicians of the LA Phil, have captured the essence of this powerful journey through the underworld,” said Gustavo Dudamel. “It is a masterpiece and I am honored by this GRAMMY recognition of our work.”

This is the second year in a row that the LA Phil and Gustavo Dudamel have been nominated for Best Orchestral Performance. In 2022 they were nominated for “Dvořák: Symphonies Nos. 7-9.” This is also the LA Phil and Gustavo Dudamel’s fourth win for Best Orchestral Performance.

Thomas Adès (1971)

Adès: Dante

Los Angeles Philharmonic

Gustavo Dudamel

Los Angeles Master Chorale

Recorded voices in Purgatorio:

Khazan Gabriel A. Shrem, and the Khazan and congregation of the Great Ades Synagogue, Jerusalem

Wayne McGregor, Choreographer (The Dante Project)

Tacita Dean, Design (The Dante Project)

Side A: Inferno

I. Abandon Hope—

II. The Selfish—stung by wasps

III. The Ferryman

IV. Pavan of the Souls in Limbo—

V. Paolo and Francesca—the endless whirlwind

VI. The Gluttons—in slime

Side B: Inferno

VII. The Suicides—the bleeding trees—

VIII. The Deviants—on burning sand—

IX. The Fortune-tellers—facing both ways

X. The Popes’ Adagio—heads first—

XI. The Hypocrites—in coats of lead

XII. The Thieves—devoured by reptiles

XIII. Satan—in the lake of ice

Side C: Purgatorio

I. Dawn on the Sea of Purgatory—

II. Mount Purgatory—

III. The Valley of Flowers—

IV. The Healing Fire—

V. The Earthly Paradise—

VI. The Heavenly Procession—

VII. The Ascent

Side D: Paradiso

Paradise—Moon—Mercury—Venus—Sun—Mars—Jupiter (The Eagle)—Saturn (The Golden Ladder)—Fixed Stars—Empyrean

Release Dates: April 21, 2023 - Nonesuch Records

Dante is a co-commission of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and The Royal Ballet with generous support from the Lenore S. and Bernard A. Greenberg Fund. Inferno was co-commissioned by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam.