In the face of budget cuts, the Los Angeles Philharmonic is reducing its East Los Angeles youth orchestra program championed by outgoing star conductor Gustavo Dudamel by cutting staff and daily operations.
Last week, in an email to the students’ parents, the nonprofit organization announced that it would need to “significantly modify” the programming at the Esteban E. Torres High School site “due to unanticipated financial and funding challenges for the organization.”
The Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) has offered a free musical education to students ages 5 through 18 since 2007. Run by the L.A. Phil, students get access to free instruments and get the firsthand experience of being in a musical ensemble. YOLA currently operates out of Inglewood, East L.A., Rampart District and Westlake/MacArthur Park. The only location subject to cuts has been the Torres site in East L.A., which serves 165 students.
Under these changes, practices for students will be halved, moving from four days of instruction to two days of rehearsal. All the teaching artists at the site were laid off, leaving two conductors to lead what remains of the program. These modifications will only apply to the higher-level students, as programming for the younger pupils (known as the Sprouts and the Explorers) will be gutted, with the option of moving to another YOLA site.
Spearheaded by Dudamel, the program is modeled after El Sistema, the publicly funded program where he first learned music in Venezuela. The conductor, who has been with the L.A. Phil since 2009, will be leaving the orchestra in June 2026.
Jules Levy, one of the 12 laid-off teaching artists, says that with these adjustments, about 80% of the students’ learning will be reduced.
“There wouldn’t be any music theory, music history and no singing. They’re going to come in and play in an orchestra, and won’t have any coaches to teach them,” said Levy, who has been a YOLA instructor since 2019. “No more studio classes, no private lessons, no master classes, and no sectionals.”
At Torres, Levy worked as a double bass coach and taught students across all age groups. He is also an alumnus of the program’s first iteration, saying it’s “the reason I am a successful musician today, but I also think about how many kids we just took that possibility away from.” When he had to explain the situation to his students, he says he was greeted with a lot of confusion and many teary eyes — as the community undergoes another unprecedented change.
“This is a community where we have students from East L.A. Some of these students have had their parents, their cousins and other family members abducted by ICE recently. This is one of L.A.’s most vulnerable communities,” Levy said.
These revisions were also announced days before the teaching artists voted to unionize, under the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada.
In a statement to The Times, the L.A. Phil said they are “doing everything possible to support impacted students and staff, including placement at other YOLA sites and providing transportation when possible.”
“Our mission has always been to bring people together through the power of music and live performance, and we remain steadfast in our dedication to the families, musicians and employees who create our YOLA community,” wrote an L.A. Phil spokesperson.
When Karla Juarez, a parent of two students at YOLA Torres, found out about these cuts, her first instinct was to rally people together. She created an Instagram page, under the name @saveyolatorres and has been sharing messages from the community, trying to revive the program.
“We cannot give up. We, as parents, will stay committed and united. We’re going to do whatever it takes to continue the program,” said Juarez. “Our main focus is to fight for our kids and their futures.”
She has two children in the program, her 8-year-old son who was a Sprouts percussionist, and her 13-year-old daughter, Romina Sanchez, a cellist in the symphony orchestra. Juarez says her daughter has always had an interest in music, but YOLA helped bring out a new sense of confidence within her.
“I was honestly so devastated [about the cuts] because I love music. YOLA is like our home away from home,” said Sanchez. “I’m also very devastated, because I have to turn in my instrument. I’ve been with my cello for three years now.”
The 13-year-old musician says she is coming up with a plan to save up for a new cello or to figure out where she can rent one. Juarez works two jobs in order to support her family and she says they still “can’t afford private music lessons.” To her, the fight is about holding onto this kind of access for her children.
“We understand it’s a free program. We are grateful for that. But they cannot use our kids if they don’t follow [through with] their mission,” said Juarez. “Unfortunately, they are tarnishing Gustavo Dudamel’s legacy. They fed the [kids] a dream of learning to grow in music, and now they’re snatching that dream away.”
The YOLA Torres site will continue to operate as usual until Dec. 12, when the cuts will go into effect.
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