Now more than forty years later, the Music Center continues to celebrate its position as one of the world's leading, iconic cultural centers for the performing arts thanks to the artistry of its four Resident Companies and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, with whom we enjoy one of the most successful public/private partnerships in this community's history. These relationships remain vital to the Center's continuing relevancy and success.

Timeline 1964 - 2005

This is a story that illustrates how one of the world's leading performing arts complexes remains culturally relevant to the community - some four decades after its debut -serving as an artistic center for the mosaic of cultures comprising the City of Los Angeles.

In the years following World War II, Los Angeles grew faster than any other region of the United States. The County's population expanded 49% between 1940 and 1950, and by an additional 45% over the next 10 years. However, it was during the early 1950's that three attempts to build a symphony hall failed.

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for Walt Disney Concert Hall, October 23, 2003. photo: Howard Pasamanick

Bob Hope at the Music Center Plaza dedication, September 27, 1964. photo: Otto Rothschild Collection, Music Center Archives

Seeing the importance of the arts for Los Angeles, Dorothy Buffum Chandler would forever change the city when she agreed to head a committee to fund a performing arts center downtown. On March 17, 1955, Chandler, along with Mrs. Henry Salvatori and Mrs. Lemuel Bancroft, co-chaired the famous El Dorado party at downtown's Ambassador Hotel. Named for the Cadillac Eldorado which was auctioned at the soiree, the $1000-per person event raised $400,000, launching Mrs. Chandler's historic Music Center fundraising crusade.

Mrs. Dorothy B. Chandler photo: Otto Rothschild Collection, Music Center Archives

"Dorothy Chandler's vision was to create a cultural center that would always remain relevant to the city," explains Stephen D. Rountree, President and CEO of the Music Center. "The Center is a living, breathing artistic entity that has remained a mirror of Los Angeles' cultural diversity over its 40-year history, and we continue keeping pace with the city, making great strides in providing culturally-rich programs that speak the universal language of creativity."

In 1960, Chandler realized that one building would not be enough for the Center to showcase a rich array of performing genres. She determined the complex would be more culturally relevant if it housed space for not only symphonic music and opera, but chamber music, and traditional and experimental theater. She soon found donors to name the Mark Taper Forum and the Ahmanson Theatre.

Mrs. Chandler was featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1964, with an article that reported, "Chandler... almost single handedly raised a staggering $18.5 million to build the Music Center, and organized a company to float another $13.7 million in bonds to finish the job. It was perhaps the most impressive display of virtuoso money-raising and civic citizenship in the history of U.S. womanhood.

The Music Center was born, and the cultural trajectory of the city was forever changed. The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion debuted in December 1964 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic inaugurating the venue that would become its home for the next 39 years. The Mark Taper Forum opened under Gordon Davidson's direction three years later in April 1967 and the Ahmanson Theatre welcomed its first audience in September 1967. The Los Angeles Master Chorale's first performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was in January 1965 and the Los Angeles Opera first took to the stage of the Pavilion in 1986.

Walt Disney Concert Hall Dedication Celebration. photo: Howard Pasamanick

Continuing at the forefront of the dialogue around cultural relevancy and the community, the Music Center added its acclaimed Education Division in 1979, an effort to design and implement programs that reinforce the value of the arts and arts education in the community. "The Music Center's Education Division has become the largest arts education leadership organization in the Western United States, and serves as a model for civic engagement through arts education" notes John B. Emerson, Chairman of the Board of the Music Center. "We are proud to collaborate annually with over 100 distinguished professional teaching artists and performing ensembles, working with schools and districts to implement comprehensive arts education programs. As a result, the Education Division is pleased to be one of the largest employers of artists in Los Angeles."

The Education Programming and community leadership continues to reach new heights. Vice President for Education Mark Slavkin comments, "Not only did the Music Center play a vital role in the development of a 10-year strategic plan to restore arts education in all the school districts of Los Angeles County, but this past year alone we produced more than 10,000 arts events serving more than 400,000 children through performances, workshops, artist-in-residence sessions and teacher training services." Additionally, the Resident Companies offer their own outstanding education programs, deepening the Center's reach to the community.

As the Music Center continued to grow so does the acclaim for its Resident Companies' productions. Center Theatre Group has earned 26 Tony Awards and four Pulitzer Prizes; the Los Angeles Philharmonic is recognized as one of the world's outstanding orchestras and has won two Grammy Awards; the Master Chorale was nominated for a Grammy for its best-selling CD Lauridsen-Lux-AEterna; and the LA Opera is recognized critically around the world winning the 2004 Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for A Little Night Music.

In 2003, a 16-year odyssey concluded and a new era was ushered in when the Center celebrated another historic milestone: the debut of the Center's fourth venue, the $274-million Walt Disney Concert Hall designed by Frank Gehry. Today, the first step toward modernization of the original campus is underway with the renovation of the Mark Taper Forum. The $30 million transformation, scheduled to be complete in 2008, will create a state of the art theatre with many welcome amenities for patrons.

Artistic Leaders in 2005, the Music Center's 40th Birthday

Placido Domingo, General Director, Los Angeles Opera

Grant Gershon, Music Director, Los Angeles Master Chorale

Esa-Pekka Salonen, Music Director, Los Angeles Philharmonic

Michael Ritchie, Artistic Director, Center Theatre Group

The Disney family's commitment and donations from more than 2000 believers and the amazing leadership team led by Eli Broad, Richard Riordan and Andrea Van de Kamp made the hall a reality.

The worldwide press coverage and critical acclaim for the Concert Hall and its artistic residents - the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Los Angeles Master Chorale - again changed the artistic landscape of the city, remapping Los Angeles' role in the world of symphonic and choral music. The hall has brought a renewed interest in downtown, bringing new audiences to the Music Center and its Resident Companies while reinforcing the Center as an international performing arts venue and tourist destination.

In 2003 the Music Center, with the steadfast support and vision of its Board, fulfilled a missing niche in performing arts presentation with the creation of the Dance at the Music Center series. Now in its successful second full season, the series presents an eclectic mix of classical and modern dance forms.

Today, the Music Center is a leading force in the revitalization of downtown Los Angeles. Before the opening of Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Music Center led the effort to realign Grand Avenue, the first step in the $1.2 million Grand Avenue Project. In 2004 when the Cultural Affairs Department faced elimination due to budget cuts, Mayor Hahn turned to the Music Center, appointing John Emerson, Board Chairman, to lead an advisory committee of arts leaders to develop strategies to address ongoing support for the arts in Los Angeles.

While the full realization of the Grand Avenue Project is several years away, the Music Center has already played an important leadership role in the development of the new LAUSD arts high school at 450 North Grand Avenue.

Concurrently, the Music Center broke new ground with a series of initiatives and programs to extend its reach and further engage its culturally diverse community: The Grand Avenue Festival, an all-day family fun event led by the Center and Downtown BID, the collaborative product of 11 Grand Avenue cultural organizations and downtown restaurants; The Music Center Speaker Series, a unique set of lectures by internationally-recognized figures; Performing Books, a family performance series developed in collaboration with the Los Angeles Times featuring professional storytellers and artists that bring children's books to life; World City, a free Saturday performance series designed to celebrate the diverse cultural traditions reflected in the Los Angeles population.

The Informal Arts Initiative, a new programming model, provides opportunities for professional and amateur artists and community members alike to create and participate side by side, such as with the Dance Downtown! series and A Taste of Dance, a free dance clinic. The Center's next step in the initiative is the introduction of informal vocal and instrumental programming. The Music Center Tour Program has welcomed approximately 125,000 visitors over the last two years with a variety of self and docent guided tours of the Music Center. This continues to be a key component of a strategic marketing initiative to further the Center's position as an international destination and community gathering place.

The Music Center's history has been characterized by the great art of the Resident Companies and the forward thinking vision of the Center's Board and leadership, and its generous donors. As the Center moves into the first decade of the 21st Century - now with four stunning venues - it looks for continued innovations to remain at the forefront of artistic excellence. Perhaps Dorothy Chandler said it best in a 1964 Los Angeles Times article: "The Music Center will stand forever as a symbol of what creative man can accomplish when he sets high his standards and has a vision far beyond our present horizons."

- Ryan Jimenez

With thanks to Music Center Archivist Julio Gonzalez