UNLV Music faculty Viet Cuong premiered new original song Ladders at Walt Disney Concert Hall. 

Ladders was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic for a concert celebrating 'The Great Wall of Los Angeles'—Judy Baca’s monumental mural that traces the layered, complicated history of the city. Six composers were invited to give musical voice to sections of the mural, with the resulting works accompanied by an original film by director Alejandro G. Iñárritu. The portion that Cuong responded to depicts an early chapter of LGBTQ+ history, with scenes of police forcing queer people back into the closet, a meeting of the Daughters of Bilitis, and a gathering of masked members of the Mattachine Society, watched from the edges by silhouetted officers.

"Yesterday one of my wildest dreams came true," said Cuong on Facebook. "Thank you to Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil for their exhilarating premiere of 'Ladders' at Walt Disney Hall. Congratulations as well to my fellow composers Juhi Bansal, Nicolás Lell Benavides, Estevan Olmos, Xavier Muzik, and Nina Shekhar on your fantastic premieres! The opportunity to celebrate Judy Baca’s Great Wall of Los Angeles with you was an unforgettable gift. Deepest thanks to Gabriela Ortiz and Mark McNeill for bringing us together, and to Alejandro G. Iñárritu for his beautiful film that brought the Great Wall to life inside Disney Hall."