Each year, The Music Center welcomes more than 1.3 million people to performances by its four internationally renowned resident companies: Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and Center Theatre Group (CTG) as well as performances by the dance series Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center. The center is home to on-going community events, arts festivals, outdoor concerts, participatory arts activities and workshops, and educational programs.
History
In April 1955, Dorothy Chandler, wife of Los Angeles Times publisher Norman Chandler, began fundraising toward a permanent home for the Philharmonic. Ultimately Mrs. Chandler raised almost $20 million in private donations; the County provided the site and raised the remaining $14 million using mortgage revenue bonds.
The rest of the complex was completed in April 1967. The additional venues, the Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatre, were dedicated on April 9 and 12, 1967, respectively.[2][3]
When the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion opened its doors on December 6, 1964, the twenty-eight-year-old Zubin Mehta led the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a program that included violinist Jascha Heifetz and performances of Strauss' Fanfare and Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D Major. The Mark Taper Forum, "scandalizing the power structure of Los Angeles," according to its artistic director Gordon Davidson, with its provocative opening production of John Whiting's The Devils.[further explanation needed] The Ahmanson Theatre opened with a performance of the Man of La Mancha by the Civic Light Opera. The first dramatic season at the Ahmanson featured Ingrid Bergman in O'Neill's More Stately Mansions, signaling its intent to marry big-name playwrights with big-name stars.[citation needed]
The Music Center hosts the annual Los Angeles County Holiday Celebration on Christmas Eve since 1960 with performances from singers, dance groups and musicians. The event is free to everyone and it is televised on PBS SoCal.
Construction of Walt Disney Concert Hall and Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater
On October 23, 2003, The Music Center opened the Frank-Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, expanding the campus to 11 acres (45,000 m2). The 2,265-seat Concert Hall is home to the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Walt Disney Concert Hall includes the 266-seat Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT) and outdoor program areas including the W. M. Keck Foundation Children's Amphitheatre, seating 250-300 and the Nadine and Ed Carson amphitheatre seating 120.[4]
Photos from the Historic American Buildings Survey
Public art
The 10-ton, 29-foot bronze sculpture Peace on Earth (1969 by Jacques Lipchitz, a Cubist sculptor who fled the Nazi occupation of Paris, was dedicated on May 4, 1969, and originally installed as the focal point of the Music Center plaza. His mammoth bronze sculpture shows a dove descending to Earth as a spirit of peace, further symbolized by a Madonna standing inside a tear-shaped canopy, supported by reclining lambs.[7] Lawrence E. Deutsch and Lloyd Rigler donated $250,000 to commission a work for the fountain. The architects of The Music Center, Welton Becket and Associates, opposed placing sculpture in the plaza between the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Mark Taper Forum. However, after a two-year search, the Art Committee of The Music Center commissioned Lipchitz.[5][8] In 2019, the sculpture was re-installed 100 feet west to accommodate a major Plaza renovation to improve accessibility.[9]
Three years after the Peace on Earth installation in 1982, Frederick and Marcia Weisman donated the bronze sculpture Dance Door (1978) by Robert Graham to the Music Center. It consists of an ornamented hollow-centered bronze door hinged on a bronze frame in an open position. The door is constructed of approximately seven welded case panels on each side, containing low relief abstracted figures of dancers.[10]
Since its inception in 1979, The Music Center and its family programs has served more than 16 million and currently serves nearly 1 million students and teachers each year. The Music Center believes the arts enhance the lives of all people and are crucial to the development of every child. The Music Center-designed curriculum materials are included in art textbooks published by McGraw Hill in use across the country and are also available on The Music Center's website.
Education and family programs include "World City", the "Blue Ribbon Children's Festival", the "Very Special Arts Festival" and the "Spotlight Awards".
Active Arts
Launched in July 2004 and designed to expand the public's experience associated with the performing arts, Active Arts at The Music Center extends beyond the more formal experience associated with performing arts centers. Active Arts programs engage people from diverse backgrounds and experiences and establishes an ongoing series of admission-free or low-cost recreational art-making events that encourage people to sing, dance, play music and tell stories together just for the sheer enjoyment and love of it.
Active Arts programs cut across cross-cultural boundaries and encourage people to participate for the sole purpose of art-making and include "Dance Downtown", "Drum Downtown", "A Taste of Dance", "Public Practice", "Friday Night Sing-Along" and "The Music Center Holiday Sing-Along".
Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center
Over the past ten years, The Music Center has developed an ambitious dance presentation program, which has established a distinguished reputation – locally, nationally, and internationally. The endeavor began in 2000 with The Music Center's sold-out presentation of the Bolshoi Ballet in its historic production of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet as well as new interpretation of Don Quixote.
The Music Center is governed by a Board of Directors chaired by Lisa Specht.[11] The Music Center president and chief executive officer is Rachel S. Moore (2015). The County of Los Angeles owns The Music Center venues and provides funding for the maintenance, operations, grounds-keeping, security and ushers. Revenue from the operation of The Music Center garages offsets these expenses. The Music Center and the four resident companies are responsible for the productions presented in the theatres. The Music Center maintains and operates the buildings and the grounds and oversees occupancy of the theatres, restaurant facilities and The Music Center Archives.
Membership groups
The Music Center has a number of organized membership groups:
The Blue Ribbon, founded by Mrs. Chandler in 1968, has a membership of more than 450 women leaders of Los Angeles who champion the performing arts and make substantial financial contributions to the center's community programs and its resident companies annually.
Center Dance Association (CDA) is dedicated to promoting educational programming related to dance, expanding dance audiences in Los Angeles and creating special events related to dance for the enjoyment and further education of its membership.
The Music Center Leadership Council (originally known as "Fraternity of Friends"), 1978–2018, consisted of businessmen and entertainment industry leaders who shared an interest in the performing arts and the well-being of The Music Center.
^Gehry, Frank; Koshalek, Richard; Borda, Deborah (November 11, 2003). Symphony: Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall. Harry N. Abrams. ISBN978-0-8109-4981-2.
