When a major history of the Los Angeles Philharmonic is written many years from now, the orchestra’s first golden age will be cited as the period it’s in the midst of at the moment. The LA Phil has been on a crescendo for nearly three decades, powering towards its 2019 centenary with all the vision and organisational excellence that was occasionally absent in eras past.

There was stumbling mediocrity aplenty in the early years, much of it connected to an unhappy music director (Otto Klemperer), a music director who died on the job (Eduard van Beinum), a music director who might have been (Sir John Barbirolli) and the curious case of the music director who never was (Sir Georg Solti). But the arrival of Ernest Fleischmann as executive director in 1969 saw the centre of gravity shift from the maestro on the podium to something more fundamental. Fleischmann’s blueprint for the orchestra of the future is still coming to fruition, and it changed the way that countless other orchestras think.

That blueprint included reimagining the orchestra itself as a community of musicians, free to perform in all manner of configurations, and to present tailored series to different audiences. It also promised to put new music at the heart of the repertoire – a risky proposition in late 20th-century America but one that found the perfect catalyst from 1992 with the arrival of Finnish composer-conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen as Music Director.

Salonen turned the LA Phil into America’s premier new-music orchestra and had it recording everything from Bernard Herrmann to Anders Hillborg. He grew into the ensemble and it grew into him; the rhythmic precision in Salonen’s own scores became an LA Phil hallmark. Audiences could hear the technical qualities with greater clarity from 2003 with the opening of Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall. The building’s dancing metallic sails electrify the rigid corporate skyline of downtown LA, a physical manifestation of the ensemble’s determination to be known more as a party-starter than as an upholder of tradition.

In which sense Gustavo Dudamel was the perfect choice to succeed Salonen in 2009. The Venezuelan has reconnected the orchestra with the city’s Latin roots, brought more warmth and weight to the ensemble’s midriff and put its characteristic feistiness back on the boil. He has also surprised many by fully embracing Fleischmann’s new-music ethos. The LA Phil’s centenary season includes works by 61 living composers, most of them commissioned for the occasion. For some, that fact alone makes it the most important orchestra in America.