The Los Angeles Music Center (officially the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County) is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Located in downtown

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, The Music Center is composed of the

Dorothy Chandler Pavilion The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is one of the halls in the Los Angeles Music Center, which is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. The Music Center's other halls include the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, and Walt ...

Ahmanson Theatre The Ahmanson Theatre is one of the four main venues that compose the Los Angeles Music Center. Shows at this theater are produced by Center Theatre Group. History The theatre was built as a result of a donation from Howard F. Ahmanson Sr, the ...

Mark Taper Forum The Mark Taper Forum is a 739-seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center designed by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of downtown Los Angeles. Named for real estate developer Mark Taper, the Forum, the neighborin ...

, Roy & Edna Disney CalArts Theatre (REDCAT), and

Walt Disney Concert Hall The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, California, is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center and was designed by Frank Gehry. It was opened on October 23, 2003. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Av ...

. Each year, The Music Center welcomes more than 1.3 million people to performances by its four internationally renowned resident companies:

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The orchestra holds a regular concert season from October until June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from ...

Los Angeles Opera The Los Angeles Opera, originally called the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, is an American opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth-largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler P ...

Los Angeles Master Chorale The Los Angeles Master Chorale is a professional Choir, chorus in Los Angeles, California, and one of the resident companies of both The Music Center and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1964 by Roger Wagner to be one ...

, and

Center Theatre Group Center Theatre Group is a non-profit arts organization located in Los Angeles, California. It is one of the largest theatre companies in the nation, programming subscription seasons year-round at the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahmanson Theatre and th ...

(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 Dorothy Buffum Chandler (May 19, 1901 – July 6, 1997; born Dorothy Mae Buffum) was an American philanthropist. She is known for her contributions to Los Angeles performing arts and culture. Personal life Dorothy Mae Buffum was born in 1901 in ...

, 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. When the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion opened its doors on December 6, 1964, the twenty-eight-year-old

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor :wikt:emeritus, emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father ...

led the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a program that included violinist

Jascha Heifetz Jascha Heifetz (; December 10, 1987) was a Russian-American violinist, widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time. Born in Vilnius, he was soon recognized as a child prodigy and was trained in the Russian classical violin styl ...

and performances of

Strauss Strauss, Strauß, or Straus is a common Germanic surname. Outside Germany and Austria ''Strauß'' is usually spelled ''Strauss'' (the letter " ß" is not used in the German-speaking part of Switzerland). In classical music, "Strauss" most com ...

Fanfare A fanfare (or fanfarade or flourish) is a short musical flourish which is typically played by trumpets (including fanfare trumpets), French horns or other brass instruments, often accompanied by percussion. It is a "brief improvised introdu ...

and

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

'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 John Robert Whiting (15 November 1917 – 16 June 1963) was an English scriptwriter and actor. Life and career Born in Salisbury, he was educated at Taunton School, "the particular hellish life which is the English public school" as he descr ...

's The Devils. The Ahmanson Theatre opened with a performance of the

Man of La Mancha ''Man of La Mancha'' is a 1965 musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay '' I, Don Quixote'', which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervan ...

by the Civic Light Opera. The first dramatic season at the Ahmanson featured

Ingrid Bergman Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, Bergman is often regarded as one of the most influential screen figures in cin ...

O'Neill The O'Neill dynasty ( Irish: ''Ó Néill'') are a lineage of Irish Gaelic origin that held prominent positions and titles in Ireland and elsewhere. As kings of Cenél nEógain, they were historically one of the most prominent family of the Nor ...

's More Stately Mansions, signaling its intent to marry big-name playwrights with big-name stars. Since its opening in 1964, The Music Center has seen the American debuts of

Simon Rattle Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British conductor with German citizenship. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rat ...

and

Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish conducting, conductor and composer. He is the music director of the San Francisco Symphony and conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra in London and the Sw ...

, the world premieres of

The Shadow Box ''The Shadow Box'' is a play written by actor Michael Cristofer. The play made its Broadway debut on March 31, 1977. It is the winner of the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. The play was made into a telefilm, directed ...

Zoot Suit A zoot suit (occasionally spelled zuit suit) is a men's Suit (clothing), suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed, wikt:pegged pants, pegged trousers, and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. It is most notable for its ...

, Children of a Lesser God, and

Angels in America ''Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes'' is a 1991 American two-part Play (theatre), play by American playwright Tony Kushner. The two parts of the play, ''Millennium Approaches'' and ''Perestroika'', may be presented separate ...

at the Taper, and performances by

Jessica Tandy Jessie Alice Tandy (7 June 1909 – 11 September 1994) was a British actress. An icon in the film industry, she appeared in over 100 stage productions and had more than 60 roles in film and TV, receiving an Academy Award, four Tony Awards, a BAF ...

Hume Cronyn Hume Blake Cronyn Jr. (July 18, 1911 – June 15, 2003) was a Canadian-American actor, screenwriter and playwright. He appeared in many stage productions, television and film roles throughout his career, and garnered numerous accolades, includ ...

Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress whose Katharine Hepburn on screen and stage, career as a Golden Age of Hollywood, Hollywood leading lady spanned six decades. She was known for her headstrong ...

, and

Maggie Smith Dame Margaret Natalie Smith (28 December 1934 – 27 September 2024) was a British actress. Known for her wit in both comedic and dramatic roles, she had List of Maggie Smith performances, an extensive career on stage and screen for over seve ...

at the Ahmanson. The Philharmonic and L.A. Master Chorale joined forces to provide the accompaniment to Eisenstein's restored silent film classic

Alexander Nevsky Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky (; ; monastic name: ''Aleksiy''; 13 May 1221 – 14 November 1263) was Prince of Novgorod (1236–1240; 1241–1256; 1258–1259), Grand Prince of Kiev (1249–1263), and Grand Prince of Vladimir (1252–1263). ...

. While the Civic Light Opera's last season at The Music Center was in 1987, the Los Angeles Music Center Opera was formed in 1986. Its productions have included

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

Tristan and Isolde Tristan and Iseult, also known as Tristan and Isolde and other names, is a medieval chivalric romance told in numerous variations since the 12th century. Of disputed source, usually assumed to be primarily Celtic, the tale is a tragedy about ...

directed by

Jonathan Miller Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE (21 July 1934 – 27 November 2019) was an English theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, comedian and physician. After training in medicine and specialising in neurology in the late 19 ...

and designed by

David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English Painting, painter, Drawing, draughtsman, Printmaking, printmaker, Scenic design, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considere ...

. 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 . 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 Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT) is an interdisciplinary contemporary arts center for innovative visual, performing and media arts in downtown Los Angeles, California, located inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex. Named for ...

) 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.

Music Center Plaza renovation

The main plaza underwent a $40 million renovation in July 2018, which doubled the plaza's capacity from 2,500 to 5,000 people.

Venues

The main venues of the complex (which also includes some outdoor amphitheaters) are: *

: 3,197 seats *

: 739 seats *

: 1,600 to 2,007 seats, depending on configuration *

: 2,265 seats * Roy & Edna Disney CalArts Theatre (REDCAT): 266 seats
File:Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.jpg,

File:Lightmatter waltdisney concerthall.jpg,

File:AhmansonTheatre.JPG,

Photos from the Historic American Buildings Survey

Exterior aerial plaza view, facing northwest. - Los Angeles Music Center, 135 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, CA HABS CA-2780-18.tif Exterior plaza overall view, facing southwest. - Los Angeles Music Center, 135 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, CA HABS CA-2780-24.tif Exterior plaza detail view, facing southeast. - Los Angeles Music Center, 135 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, CA HABS CA-2780-13.tif Exterior aerial plaza view, facing southwest. - Los Angeles Music Center, 135 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, CA HABS CA-2780-19.tif

Public art

The 10-ton, 29-foot bronze sculpture '' Peace on Earth'' (1969 by

Jacques Lipchitz Jacques Lipchitz (26 May 1973) was a Lithuanian-born French-American Cubist sculptor. Lipchitz retained highly figurative and legible components in his work leading up to 1915–16, after which naturalist and descriptive elements were muted, domi ...

, 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. Lawrence E. Deutsch and Lloyd Rigler donated $250,000 to commission a work for the fountain. The architects of The Music Center,

Welton Becket Welton David Becket (August 8, 1902 – January 16, 1969) was an American modern architect who designed many buildings in Los Angeles, California. Biography Becket was born in Seattle, Washington and graduated from the University of Washingt ...

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. In 2019, the sculpture was re-installed 100 feet west to accommodate a major Plaza renovation to improve accessibility. 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.

Resident companies

The complex has four resident companies: *

Education

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 The Bolshoi Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company based at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi is among the world's oldest Ballet company, ballet companies. In the early 20th century, it ca ...

in its historic production of

Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

's ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

'' as well as new interpretation of ''

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

''. Since then, The Music Center has presented a broad array of ensembles, including

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Fra ...

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant. Through 2019, it had an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) in the spr ...

Dance Theatre of Harlem Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) is an American professional ballet company and school based in Harlem, New York City. It was founded in 1969 under the directorship of Arthur Mitchell and later partnered with Karel Shook. Milton Rosenstock served ...

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Founded in 1958, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) is the largest modern dance company in the United States.Dance Data Project (October 2024) 2024 Largest Contemporary and Modern Companies Report Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater ...

Ballet Nacional de Cuba The Cuban National Ballet () is a classical ballet company based at Great Theatre of Havana in Havana, Cuba, founded by the Cuban prima ballerina assoluta, Alicia Alonso in 1948. The official school of the company is the Cuban National Ballet ...

, Beijing Modern Dance Company,

Merce Cunningham Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...

Dance Company, Kirov Ballet of the Mariinsky Theatre, Nuevo Ballet Español,

Miami City Ballet Miami City Ballet is an American ballet company based in Miami Beach, Florida, led by artistic director Gonzalo Garcia. MCB was founded in 1985 by Toby Lerner Ansin, a Miami philanthropist. Ansin and the founding board hired Edward Villella ...

and Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg.

Governance and administration

The Music Center is governed by a Board of Directors chaired by Lisa Specht. 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.

References

External links

* {{coord, 34.058, -118.247, type:landmark_region:US-CA, display=title 1960s architecture in the United States 1964 establishments in California Buildings and structures in Downtown Los Angeles Bunker Hill, Los Angeles Civic Center, Los Angeles Concert halls in California Downtown Los Angeles Landmarks in Los Angeles Music venues completed in 1964 Music venues in Los Angeles Opera houses in California Performing arts centers in California Theatres in Los Angeles Tourist attractions in Los Angeles Welton Becket buildings Los Angeles Philharmonic