Things Happening on The Music Center Campus Tickets & Free Events

A bold world premiere comedy from Los Angeles-based playwright, Larissa FastHorse, about being whoever you want to be, even when it’s not who you are. FastHorse is a critically acclaimed writer who focuses her keen sense of satire to examine Native American perspectives on contemporary life and will be the first Native American writer to have a mainstage production on the Mark Taper Forum stage. A member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation, and author of the Broadway comedy, The Thanksgiving Play, FastHorse’s new work shines a hilarious light on ‘shifters’ who exist in a world of self-determined identity. This thought-provoking comic play asks what happens when you don’t believe you are the race you want to be? Change it! Fake It Until You Make It takes an absurd look at what defines who we are, and the lengths some people will go through to change it.

Celebrate one of Broadway’s true icons with this legendary theatrical event! Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends is an irresistible celebration to the master himself, with a company headlined by none other than Tony Award^® winners Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga. Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends comes to Broadway from London’s West End, where it sold out in a matter of hours, earned a bevy of five-star raves and was hailed by The Times as "unmissable musical theatre."

Center Theatre Group will present the North American premiere of Old Friends at the Ahmanson Theatre in advance of the Broadway premiere at the Manhattan Theatre Club on March 25, 2025.

Two of today’s finest pianists team up on technically and emotionally complex piano works for four hands, ranging from Dave Brubeck, John Adams, and Arvo Pärt to Rachmaninoff’s nostalgic Symphonic Dances and Schubert’s Fantasie.

Gustavo Dudamel describes Mahler’s Seventh as “a symphony of everything: from chaos to glory, sarcasm to tenderness, from a funeral march to a seductive tango. It is a cosmic symphony of perfect construction and galactic emotional scope.” At the core of this monumental and expansive opus are two movements built on the tradition of Nachtmusik or “Night Music” whose moodiness and introspection have earned the symphony the nickname “Song of the Night.” For the first time ever, Dudamel leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the colossal journey of Mahler’s Seventh.

Youth ensembles from across Los Angeles celebrate Gustav Mahler’s legacy with a marathon of his music.

University ensembles from across Los Angeles celebrate Gustav Mahler’s legacy with a marathon of his music.

Artists and choreographers Gerard & Kelly and chamber orchestra Wild Up continue their exploration of the music and legacy of Julius Eastman with a world premiere staging of the composer’s ecstatic minimalist masterpiece Femenine (1974).

Femenine brings together 15 musicians, 9 dancers/singers, and a cosmic clamoring of bells in an immersive performance installation. Wild Up’s musical interpretation blends strict adherence to Eastman’s specific instructions with an embrace of individual and collective decision-making by the ensemble—a continuous conversation among Eastman, individual performers, and the group as a whole. Gerard & Kelly illuminate the score as a revival, a spiritual awakening that draws all into reverie.

Produced in collaboration with Wild Up
Executive Producer for Wild Up, Elizabeth Cline

A co-production of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonie de Paris, La Villette, and Festival d’Automne à Paris

Femenine is part of The lessing is miracle, a triptych of works by Gerard & Kelly exploring the music and legacy of Julius Eastman, produced by AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company) and Gerard & Kelly Foundation with the support of the Doris Duke Foundation and in co-production with Philharmonie de Paris.

In the final weekend of the Mahler Grooves Festival, Gustavo Dudamel explores the tumultuous relationship of Gustav and Alma Mahler through their music. Their marriage was, at best, “complex,” marked by affairs, an age gap, diminishment, and the death of a child. Alma was a composer in her own right whose career took a back seat at Gustav’s request. At a particularly rocky moment in their relationship, Gustav finally encouraged her to publish Five Songs that are brought to life here by mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke. Next Dudamel leads Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, which progresses from mourning to triumph, inspired in no small part by Gustav meeting and becoming enchanted by Alma. Within the grand gesture is the Adagietto that was intended as a love letter.

Concerts in the Thursday 2 subscription series are generously supported by the Otis Booth Foundation.

A bold world premiere comedy from Los Angeles-based playwright, Larissa FastHorse, about being whoever you want to be, even when it’s not who you are. FastHorse is a critically acclaimed writer who focuses her keen sense of satire to examine Native American perspectives on contemporary life and will be the first Native American writer to have a mainstage production on the Mark Taper Forum stage. A member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation, and author of the Broadway comedy, The Thanksgiving Play, FastHorse’s new work shines a hilarious light on ‘shifters’ who exist in a world of self-determined identity. This thought-provoking comic play asks what happens when you don’t believe you are the race you want to be? Change it! Fake It Until You Make It takes an absurd look at what defines who we are, and the lengths some people will go through to change it.

Celebrate one of Broadway’s true icons with this legendary theatrical event! Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends is an irresistible celebration to the master himself, with a company headlined by none other than Tony Award^® winners Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga. Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends comes to Broadway from London’s West End, where it sold out in a matter of hours, earned a bevy of five-star raves and was hailed by The Times as "unmissable musical theatre."

Center Theatre Group will present the North American premiere of Old Friends at the Ahmanson Theatre in advance of the Broadway premiere at the Manhattan Theatre Club on March 25, 2025.

Youth ensembles from across Los Angeles celebrate Gustav Mahler’s legacy with a marathon of his music.

A bold world premiere comedy from Los Angeles-based playwright, Larissa FastHorse, about being whoever you want to be, even when it’s not who you are. FastHorse is a critically acclaimed writer who focuses her keen sense of satire to examine Native American perspectives on contemporary life and will be the first Native American writer to have a mainstage production on the Mark Taper Forum stage. A member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation, and author of the Broadway comedy, The Thanksgiving Play, FastHorse’s new work shines a hilarious light on ‘shifters’ who exist in a world of self-determined identity. This thought-provoking comic play asks what happens when you don’t believe you are the race you want to be? Change it! Fake It Until You Make It takes an absurd look at what defines who we are, and the lengths some people will go through to change it.

Celebrate one of Broadway’s true icons with this legendary theatrical event! Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends is an irresistible celebration to the master himself, with a company headlined by none other than Tony Award^® winners Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga. Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends comes to Broadway from London’s West End, where it sold out in a matter of hours, earned a bevy of five-star raves and was hailed by The Times as "unmissable musical theatre."

Center Theatre Group will present the North American premiere of Old Friends at the Ahmanson Theatre in advance of the Broadway premiere at the Manhattan Theatre Club on March 25, 2025.

A bold world premiere comedy from Los Angeles-based playwright, Larissa FastHorse, about being whoever you want to be, even when it’s not who you are. FastHorse is a critically acclaimed writer who focuses her keen sense of satire to examine Native American perspectives on contemporary life and will be the first Native American writer to have a mainstage production on the Mark Taper Forum stage. A member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation, and author of the Broadway comedy, The Thanksgiving Play, FastHorse’s new work shines a hilarious light on ‘shifters’ who exist in a world of self-determined identity. This thought-provoking comic play asks what happens when you don’t believe you are the race you want to be? Change it! Fake It Until You Make It takes an absurd look at what defines who we are, and the lengths some people will go through to change it.

Gustavo Dudamel describes Mahler’s Seventh as “a symphony of everything: from chaos to glory, sarcasm to tenderness, from a funeral march to a seductive tango. It is a cosmic symphony of perfect construction and galactic emotional scope.” At the core of this monumental and expansive opus are two movements built on the tradition of Nachtmusik or “Night Music” whose moodiness and introspection have earned the symphony the nickname “Song of the Night.” For the first time ever, Dudamel leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the colossal journey of Mahler’s Seventh.

Celebrate one of Broadway’s true icons with this legendary theatrical event! Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends is an irresistible celebration to the master himself, with a company headlined by none other than Tony Award^® winners Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga. Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends comes to Broadway from London’s West End, where it sold out in a matter of hours, earned a bevy of five-star raves and was hailed by The Times as "unmissable musical theatre."

Center Theatre Group will present the North American premiere of Old Friends at the Ahmanson Theatre in advance of the Broadway premiere at the Manhattan Theatre Club on March 25, 2025.

Celebrate one of Broadway’s true icons with this legendary theatrical event! Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends is an irresistible celebration to the master himself, with a company headlined by none other than Tony Award^® winners Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga. Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends comes to Broadway from London’s West End, where it sold out in a matter of hours, earned a bevy of five-star raves and was hailed by The Times as "unmissable musical theatre."

Center Theatre Group will present the North American premiere of Old Friends at the Ahmanson Theatre in advance of the Broadway premiere at the Manhattan Theatre Club on March 25, 2025.

University ensembles from across Los Angeles celebrate Gustav Mahler’s legacy with a marathon of his music.

A bold world premiere comedy from Los Angeles-based playwright, Larissa FastHorse, about being whoever you want to be, even when it’s not who you are. FastHorse is a critically acclaimed writer who focuses her keen sense of satire to examine Native American perspectives on contemporary life and will be the first Native American writer to have a mainstage production on the Mark Taper Forum stage. A member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation, and author of the Broadway comedy, The Thanksgiving Play, FastHorse’s new work shines a hilarious light on ‘shifters’ who exist in a world of self-determined identity. This thought-provoking comic play asks what happens when you don’t believe you are the race you want to be? Change it! Fake It Until You Make It takes an absurd look at what defines who we are, and the lengths some people will go through to change it.