L.A. won’t lose Salonen to London

Musical Los Angeles can relax. Los Angeles Philharmonic music director Esa-Pekka Salonen says his upcoming appointment as principal guest conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London will change nothing here.

“It doesn’t affect my work in Los Angeles at all in any way,” Salonen said, speaking by phone from his Brentwood home. “What this means is that I will consolidate my European conducting into one place. Some guest conducting activities in Europe with other orchestras are going to end.”

Salonen’s appointment as the successor to Christoph von Dohnanyi at the Philharmonia starting in 2008 was confirmed Tuesday by the orchestra.

Salonen’s Philharmonia association began with a spectacular debut in 1983, filling in on short notice to lead Mahler’s Third Symphony. He also was the Philharmonia’s principal guest conductor from 1985 to 1994.

“We’re thrilled to death,” said Philharmonia managing director David Whelton. “From the very first moment he was with the orchestra in 1983, there was this bonding together. And he married one of our second violinists, Jane, so there’s a romantic entanglement as well. It will be lovely to see her as well.”

He said the focus of Salonen’s opening season will be the launch of a major project exploring the cultural influences of fin de siecle Vienna.

Salonen’s duties will be measured in terms of projects rather than weeks, Whelton explained. “It’s a very different way of working over here, “ he said. “It’s project specific. We tend not to add it up in weeks.” Still he estimated that Salonen would be there for most of March 2009 and for “an extensive period in early May and in June.”

Salonen said, “There’s no stipulated number of weeks with the Philharmonia contract.... But it will basically be between eight to 12 weeks per year.”

That should not interfere with his L.A. Philharmonic contract, which last week was extended through 2009. In recent years, Salonen has conducted the Philharmonic for 14 weeks of its 30-week winter subscription series. He will also conduct an unspecified number of dates during the orchestra’s 10-week Hollywood Bowl season over the next two summers, said Deborah Borda, president of the Philharmonic Assn.

Dual or multiple music direction positions are not uncommon, she said, citing James Levine, Daniel Barenboim and Von Dohnanyi as examples.

Whelton said he could not disclose Salonen’s London salary.

Salonen has ruled out any move to London. “L.A. is going to be home for the foreseeable future,” he said. “The kids are in school here and we like it here, and I really feel like I’m a part of the L.A. community.”

Nor does he think the London job will impose on his composing. “I’ve basically set a goal to limit my conducting to 25 weeks a year total and have the other half -- the second half -- for composing and for what people call life: family, free time, vacation,” he said. “I haven’t tried it yet, but I’ve read about it in Life & Style magazine.”

chris.pasles@latimes.com