LOS ANGELES — It’s one short 30-minute walk from the new Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center in downtown Inglewood to the new SoFi Stadium. But on Super Bowl Sunday, the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles made a pretty big leap.
This was not the first time YOLA made an appearance at the Super Bowl. In 2016, the orchestra backed Coldplay, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars during the halftime show, with Gustavo Dudamel conducting. Yesterday members of YOLA appeared on the pregame ceremonies for Super Bowl LVI to accompany the gospel duo Mary Mary in the anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” The performance took place in front of the stadium, not inside, where it was shown on large video screens. A portion of the television viewership likely missed the performance, which took place 35 minutes before kickoff.
Even so, it was wonderful to see the players, in their black YOLA T-shirts and this time conducted by Thomas Wilkins, in their glory. It would have been unthinkable for the NFL to have left YOLA out, especially since all of the members happen to be from the neighborhood, and SoFi is not necessarily seen by all as a good neighbor.
