L.A. Philharmonic eyes future webcasts following Gustavo Dudamel’s Hollywood Bowl concert

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Nearly 18,000 music fans attended the ‘¡Bienvenido Gustavo!’ concert at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday. That’s a lot of people -- though about twice as many experienced the event online.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic said today that 37,495 people visited the concert webcast over the weekend. The webcast was available live on the orchestra’s site on Saturday as well as on-demand from 11 a.m. Sunday to 11 a.m. Monday.

Deborah Borda, president of the L.A. Philharmonic, told The Times that audiences can expect more live webcasts in the future. ‘We’re certainly exploring possibilities very strongly and I’m sure you’ll see more of them,’ she said.

Borda added that ‘this is an important new direction for us. We feel very profoundly that digital initiatives and outreach are going to define the inclusion of a whole new audience.’

According to the orchestra, there were 19,531 visits to the live webcast on Saturday, with visits peaking during the 7 p.m. hour when Dudamel appeared on stage. There were 17,964 visits to the 24-hour on demand encore webcast the following day.

Online viewers came from 90 countries, with the top-ranking countries being the U.S. and Venezuela.

The webcast is the latest in a series of recent online initiatives by the Philharmonic. In September, the company launched a microsite dedicated to Gustavo Dudamel, its new music director. The site features a Web and iPhone application that allows users to conduct along with the maestro.

The L.A. Phil continues to have the video of Dudamel conducting the YOLA Expo Centre Youth Orchestra on its website here.

-- David Ng

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