LOS ANGELES (August 24, 2023) – On the heels of a sizzling summer, The Music Center and its TMC Arts programming division, its resident company campus partners (Center Theatre Group, LA Opera, LA Phil and the Los Angeles Master Chorale) and Gloria Molina Grand Park are ready to embrace the fall season with an abundance of exciting and unique experiences for all Angelenos and visitors. From Tony® Award-winning stage productions and an ultimate gaming carnival under the stars to wellness breaks in Gloria Molina Grand Park and classic operas performed inside The Music Center’s iconic Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Angelenos will continue to “fall” in love with Downtown L.A.
“This fall, The Music Center upholds its standing as L.A.’s premier destination with unrivaled arts experiences—and so much more—every week,” said Rachel S. Moore, president and CEO of The Music Center. “With the opening of Metro’s Grand Avenue Arts/Bunker Hill stop along the new Regional Connector, it is now easier than ever for Angelenos and visitors to visit Downtown and to relish the sights and sounds of the arts throughout the season, both inside The Music Center’s iconic theatres and concert halls and throughout our expansive outdoor spaces. We look forward to welcoming everyone to The Music Center!”
To view a complete list of fall events at The Music Center, visit musiccenter.org/fallidays.
TMC ARTS
Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center: Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
The Music Center’s Ahmanson Theatre
The Music Center launches the 21st season of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center with the return of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, one of the world’s most original forces in contemporary dance for 46 years, bringing artists, art and audiences together to enrich, engage, educate and change lives through the experience of dance. Under the leadership of new Artistic Director Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, the company will perform a mixed repertory: BUSK by Canadian American choreographer Aszure Barton, followed by the West Coast premieres of Coltrane’s Favorite Things by Lars Lubovitch and Rennie Harris’ Dear Frankie.
Friday, September 29, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, September 30, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 1, 2:00 p.m.
IndieCade’s Night Games
Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center
The Music Center and IndieCade—the premier annual celebration of independent games and developers—bring IndieCade’s signature event Night Games back for an in-person experience for the first time in three years following the pandemic. A highly popular extravaganza among gaming enthusiasts that showcases the creativity and innovation of the indie game community, this year’s Night Games will be experienced outdoors under the stars for free by Angelenos.
Friday, November 10, 6:00 – 10:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 11, 6:00 – 10:00 p.m.
The Music Center Tours
Meet at The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles 90012
The Music Center offers free tours of its theatres throughout the year led by volunteer Music Center docents, the Symphonians. The 90-minute tours encompass The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson Theatre, Mark Taper Forum and Walt Disney Concert Hall and share details of each theatre’s history and architecture, along with Jerry Moss Plaza, while highlighting the many pieces of artwork, sculptures, tapestries, paintings and antiques from across the globe dating back to the 17th century. Guests obtain insider perspective on the history of the campus and Downtown Los Angeles through shared stories collected through The Music Center’s nearly 60 years as the heart of Los Angeles County’s cultural life. The free tours begin in the Grand Lobby of Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Tuesdays thru Fridays, 11:00 a.m.
Saturdays and Sundays, 10:15 a.m.
GLORIA MOLINA GRAND PARK
Gloria Molina Grand Park’s Sunday Sessions
Gloria Molina Grand Park Performance Lawn
A free summer outdoor dance party celebrating L.A.’s contribution to the globally embraced art form of House music and, in alignment with Latino Heritage Month, Gloria Molina Grand Park’s Sunday Sessions offers a tribute to the vibrant rhythms and infectious beats of Latin House with Von Kiss, Raul Campos, Juliet Mendoza and David Montoya. The event is open to all ages, and picnicking is encouraged. Food and beverages will be available for purchase; no outside alcohol allowed.
Sunday, September 17, 3:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Gloria Molina Grand Park’s Downtown Día de los Muertos
Gloria Molina Grand Park between Grand Ave. and Hill St.
Honoring the people, places and ideas that merit reverence and commemoration, Gloria Molina Grand Park’s Downtown Día de los Muertos welcomes parkgoers to contribute to a community altar and to stroll through the park to view 20 altars made by professional artists, local organizations and community partners.
Saturday, October 21 through Thursday, November 2, 5:30 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Gloria Molina Grand Park’s Wellness Break
Gloria Molina Grand Park Performance Lawn
Gloria Molina Grand Park’s popular yoga series is back! Experience movement, restoration and reinvigoration—in less than an hour—with in-person yoga sessions at the park and monthly on-demand wellness classes at home provided by local community partners, from Zumba and Chair Yoga to Bollywood.
Wednesdays and Fridays, Beginning September 6, Noon – 12:45 p.m. (In Person)
*On-demand wellness classes available 24 hours a day online at grandparkla.org
CENTER THEATRE GROUP
Peter Pan Goes Wrong
The Music Center’s Ahmanson Theatre
In Peter Pan Goes Wrong, the team behind the Tony Award®-winning global hit The Play That Goes Wrong brings their trademark comic mayhem to the J.M. Barrie classic Peter Pan. The much-loved members of The Cornley Drama Society once again battle against technical hitches, flying mishaps and cast disputes on their way to Neverland with hilarious and disastrous results. Broadway’s Peter Pan Goes Wrong is thrilled to welcome Daniel Dae Kim, star of Hawaii 5-0, Lost and The Good Doctor to the company as a special guest star. Kim will appear in the role of Francis, a member of the Cornley Drama Society who portrays The Narrator in Peter Pan.
Now through Sunday, September 10
Tuesdays thru Fridays, 8:00 p.m.
Saturdays, 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
Sundays, 1:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Hadestown
The Music Center’s Ahmanson Theatre
Welcome to HADESTOWN, where a song can change your fate. Winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards® including Best Musical and the 2020 Grammy Award® for Best Musical Theater Album, this acclaimed new show from celebrated singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and innovative director Rachel Chavkin (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812) is a love story for today... and always. HADESTOWN intertwines two mythic tales—that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone—as it invites you on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. Mitchell’s beguiling melodies and Chavkin’s poetic imagination pit industry against nature, doubt against faith, and fear against love. Performed by a vibrant ensemble of actors, dancers and singers, HADESTOWN is a haunting and hopeful theatrical experience that grabs you and never lets go.
Tuesday, October 3 – Sunday, October 15
Tuesdays through Fridays, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
Sundays, 1:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
LA OPERA
Don Giovanni
The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
In the heat of the moment, the notorious Don Giovanni (aka Don Juan) murders the father of one of his conquests, unwittingly unleashing an ominous force from beyond the grave that cannot be stopped. Accustomed to getting away with anything and everything, he must now face the music as years of cruelty and debauchery come due. Grammy® Award-winning baritone Lucas Meachem returns as the ill-fated playboy, leading a dazzling ensemble of singers including Craig Colclough, Guanqun Yu and Isabel Leonard. James Conlon, renowned for his astonishing command of Mozart, conducts what many consider to be the greatest of all operas in a visually spectacular production by director Kasper Holten, with scenery by stage designer extraordinaire Es Devlin, known for innovative stage designs for Beyoncé, Adele, U2 and others.
Saturday, September 23, 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 1, 2:00 p.m.
Wednesday, October 4, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 7, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, October 12, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 15, 2:00 p.m.
Barber of Seville
The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
The dashing Count Almaviva is ready to sweep Rosina off her feet and make her his countess—but not if her greedy guardian Doctor Bartolo has anything to say about it. Enter Figaro: barber, valet and the man with a plan to wreak joyful havoc and let true love bloom. Internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard returns to star as Rosina along with baritone Joshua Hopkins as the street-smart matchmaker Figaro. Rossini’s beloved score (filled with delightful earworms) is conducted by Louis Lohraseb, fresh from his triumphant Tosca in 2022. Best of all, audiences will experience this colorful comedy in a new-to-Los Angeles production by Tony- and Emmy-winning director and choreographer Rob Ashford. This is one appointment with a barber you don’t want to miss.
Saturday, October 21, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 29, 2:00 p.m.
Thursday, November 2, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 4, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, November 9, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 12, 2:00 p.m.
El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego)
The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Mexico’s most iconic artists (and infamously stormy lovers) leap off the canvas in this new musical portrait from Grammy Award®-winning composer Gabriela Lena Frank and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz. When a desperate wish on the Day of the Dead reunites Diego Rivera with his wife Frida Kahlo, he jumps at the chance to seek forgiveness. But, Frida refuses to return to the world that caused her so much pain, until another departed soul inspires her to look back at the art (and the man) she once loved. Resident Conductor Lina González-Granados commands a cast packed with international talent, including Daniela Mack, Alfredo Daza and Ana María Martínez in this tribute to one of the most pivotal romances in history. The artists‘ own emblematic paintings merge with a folklore-inspired score to breathe new life into the love-hate saga of Frida and Diego.
Saturday, November 18, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 26, 2:00 p.m.
Thursday, November 30, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, December 3, 2:00 p.m.
Wednesday, December 6, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, December 9, 7:30 p.m.
The English Concert: Rodelinda
The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
The English Concert, a globe-crossing period instrument orchestra led by conductor Harry Bicket, returns to Los Angeles for a single not-to-be-missed concert performance. This masterpiece of baroque opera is full of brazenly amoral characters doing dastardly deeds. As the men surrounding her plot to take the throne, the grieving queen Rodelinda tries to stay one step ahead of them all, while remaining faithful to the memory of her husband, presumed dead. (Key word: “presumed.“) Don't worry: Handel’s endlessly inventive score makes sense of it all. It’s one of his greatest operas—and he wrote dozens of them, so that’s saying something.
Tuesday, November 21, 7:30 p.m.
Audra McDonald in Concert
The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Unparalleled in the breadth and versatility of her artistry as both a singer and an actress, Audra McDonald—winner of an Emmy Award®, two Grammy Awards® and a record-setting six Tony Awards®—returns to LA Opera in a not-to-be-missed concert. Joined by a small ensemble, the Broadway legend brings her luminous soprano voice to an intimate evening of favorite show tunes, standards and original pieces written especially for her.
Saturday, December 2, 7:30 p.m.
LA PHIL
Japanese Breakfast
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
In her songs and in her celebrated memoir, Michelle Zauner has written eloquently about heartache, pain and her identity as a Korean American woman. With her latest album, the Grammy®-nominated Jubilee, she’s written about something even more difficult to tackle: joy. Taking a page from the bright lights and flapping rhythms of Björk’s Homogenic, she works in bold colors and big textures, “recalling the optimism of youth and applying it to adulthood,” as she says. Her band makes their Walt Disney Concert Hall debut with a set of massive songs that are grounded in Zauner's early days in the punk underground and girded by what she calls the “constant struggle we have with ourselves to be better people.” Japanese singer, songwriter and classical guitarist Ichiko Aoba creates a world of fantasy where the heart warmly beats.
Wednesday, September 27, 8:00 p.m.
Thursday, September 28, 8:00 p.m.
Jamie Cullum
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
Jamie Cullum doesn’t sit still. That’s the case both when the British musician is on stage—you’ve never seen a pianist spend less time on their bench—and when he’s off stage. He made his name as a Jazz singer and performer with the Grammy®-nominated Twentysomething record twentysomething years ago, quickly becoming the best-selling Jazz artist in U.K. history. He’s used that popularity to build a career like no other: You can find him improvising House music at EDM festivals, writing with Pharrell, duetting with Spinal Tap and hooking up with orchestras around the world. He returns to The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall for a night of intimate originals, Jazz favorites and re-imagined hits by some of his favorite artists.
Friday, September 29, 8:00 p.m.
Natalie Merchant
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
Natalie Merchant is a multi-platinum-selling American singer-songwriter and producer known for her distinctive voice and captivating literary-pop songs. She has released several critically acclaimed albums, including Tigerlily and Ophelia, and has received numerous awards and nominations for her work. Her music blends folk, rock and influences from around the world, and she continues to be regarded as a groundbreaking figure in alternative music. Her newest record, Keep Your Courage, finds Merchant in peak form with songs about love and human connection in its many iterations, sung with a voice that keeps you hanging on every word.
Saturday, September 30, 7:00 p.m.
LA Phil Gala: Celebrating Frank Gehry
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
The Los Angeles Philharmonic marks the 20th anniversary of The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall at its annual gala concert by paying homage to Frank Gehry, a longtime friend of the LA Phil and architect behind the iconic downtown L.A. venue as well as the Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center at Inglewood. Honoring Gehry’s iconoclasm with performances by iconoclasts in their own fields, the evening’s program will journey from Walt Disney Concert Hall’s storied beginnings to the architect’s oceanic inspirations, immortalized in the building’s steel sails and unprecedented sense of movement. The prelude from Bach’s Partita, the first piece performed in the then-still-under-construction Hall, will open the program, followed by Esa-Pekka Salonen’s transformation of its melody into his piece FOG accompanied by Lucinda Childs, performing her own original choreography. Gehry’s love of the sea, orchestral music, and Jazz will then combine into offerings from LA Phil Creative Chair for Jazz Herbie Hancock, GRAMMY® Award-winning R&B singer H.E.R. and LA Phil Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, who will conclude the program with Debussy’s La mer.
Thursday, October 5, 7:00 p.m.
Stravinsky and Shostakovich with Dudamel
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
Sheku Kanneh-Mason has transcended from a young talented cellist turning heads at the BBC Proms and 2018 royal wedding to a must-see artist performing the world over. About his recent concert at the Hollywood Bowl, the Los Angeles Times said, “His playing is big and bold. He digs deeply for the cello’s deepest, most poignant character.” Mason joins forces again with the LA Phil for one of his specialties: Shostakovich’s ever shifting and haunting First Concerto. Dudamel leads the LA Phil in Villa-Lobos, including Uirapuru—subtitled O passarinho encantado (The Enchanted Little Bird)–which was inspired by a bird in the composer’s homeland of Brazil with the ability to create a stunning variety of songs. A magical avian of a different feather next takes flight with Stravinsky’s original suite from The Firebird.
Friday, October 6, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 7, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 8, 2:00 p.m.
Chamber Music with the LA Phil
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
From string quartets and piano trios to wind quintets or a brass ensemble, chamber music concerts feature members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic performing in small groups, creating an intimate and compelling concert experience.
Tuesday, October 10, 8:00 p.m.
Jean-Yves Thibaudet • Lisa Batiashvili • Gautier Capuçon: Colburn Celebrity Recital
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
Three renowned artists enliven three captivating piano trios from three legendary composers.
Wednesday, October 11, 8:00 p.m.
Gershwin and Rachmaninoff
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Coincident Dances was inspired by a walk Jessie Montgomery took through the streets of New York, hearing everything from Ghanaian dance music and Latin Jazz to Techno and English consort music. She asks the orchestra to play the role of a “DJ of a multicultural dance track,” setting a theme of blending musical languages and influences that’s picked up by Igor Levit in George Gershwin’s Concerto in F, which offers its own notes of dance hall Jazz, Blues, Classical, and more than a hint of New York City life. Elim Chan leads the LA Phil in Symphonic Dances, a thrilling, rhythmic orchestral showpiece and Rachmaninoff’s final work that draws from ancient sacred chant, modernist harmony, and a bit of everything in between.
Friday, October 13, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 14, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 15, 2:00 p.m.
Sibelius and Swan Lake
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
With moments of melancholy, longing and shimmering brilliance, Sibelius’ concerto has become a beloved work for violin for offering its soloist a chance to show not only their technical skill but their expressiveness as well. Three-time Grammy Award® winner Hilary Hahn is highly regarded for her ability to “wring maximum dramatic impact from every opportunity” from Sibelius’ landmark and “dig deeply into its inner meanings” (Chicago Tribune). Alpesh Chauhan, Music Director of the Birmingham Opera Company, brings his own acclaimed sense of drama to Tchaikovsky’s timeless melodies and romance in selections from Swan Lake.
Friday, October 20, 11:00 a.m.
Saturday, October 21, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 22, 2:00 p.m.
Marisa Monte
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
In Brazil, Marisa Monte is both an icon and an iconoclast. She’s a brilliant artist and emotionally rich performer, breezily presenting her Pop and Samba songs from a sideways angle informed by her love of experimentation and curiosity about rhythm and sound. That approach has made her beloved worldwide and, in the words of Rolling Stone Brasil, the most important singer alive in the country today. She brings an all-star band for a career-spanning night of hits at The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Friday, October 20, 8:00 p.m.
Wing on Wing
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
Composer Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Wing on Wing celebrates The Music Center’s beloved Walt Disney Concert Hall and its talented architect, Frank Gehry. Follow the story of Salonen’s quest to design his own music inspired by a building and its architect. These 45-minute interactive Los Angeles Philharmonic concerts introduce young audiences to symphonic music. Before each concert, families are invited to participate in hands-on arts workshops. This concert is recommended for children ages 5 to 11.
Saturday, October 21, 11:00 a.m.
Saturday, October 28, 11:00 a.m.
An Alpine Symphony with Salonen
Walt Disney Concert Hall
From a glowing sunrise peeking out over the Alps to the pastoral sounds of sheep and a perilous storm on the summit, Richard Strauss takes listeners on a colorful musical journey up the mountain and down again. Conductor Emeritus Esa-Pekka Salonen guides the LA Phil as it scales An Alpine Symphony filled with drama and more than a few musical special effects. The remarkable Pekka Kuusisto performs Nico Muhly’s Shrink, a concerto composed for the Finnish violinist that takes its name from shrinking intervals around which the piece was constructed. NPR called Muhly’s innovative crafting “fresh and vital.” The concert opens with a new fanfare Salonen composed in honor of his friend and Walt Disney Concert Hall architect Frank Gehry.
Friday, October 27, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 28, 2:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 29, 2:00 p.m.
Halloween Organ, Film & Music: The Phantom of the Opera
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
The annual Halloween haunt at The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall features one of the most classic horror movies of the 1920s, The Phantom of the Opera, starring Lon Chaney as Erik, the Phantom, in makeup he famously constructed for the role. The projection of the 1925 silent film will be accompanied by a live soundtrack performed by organist Clark Wilson.
Tuesday, October 31, 8:00 p.m.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in Concert
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
Director Steven Spielberg’s heartwarming masterpiece is one of the brightest stars in motion picture history. Filled with unparalleled magic and imagination, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial follows the moving story of a lost little alien who befriends a 10-year-old boy named Elliott. Experience all the mystery and fun of their unforgettable adventure in the beloved movie that captivated audiences around the world, complete with John Williams’ Academy Award-winning score performed live by Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic while the film is shown at The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Thursday, November 2, 8:00 p.m.
Friday, November 3, 8:00 p.m.
Dudamel Leads Khachaturian
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian crafted his music with strong melodies, rich orchestration and striking rhythms that bring to mind Rimsky-Korsakov or Mussorgsky. Gustavo Dudamel leads an exploration of Khachaturian’s distinct voice first with a suite from his ballet Spartacus—featuring the stirring Adagio—followed by the intense and heroic Piano Concerto with the help of Jean-Yves Thibaudet. After the U.S. premiere of Thomas Adès’ fanfare honoring Frank Gehry, Dudamel conducts Janáček’s lyrical and intense Sinfonietta.
Saturday, November 4, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 5, 2:00 p.m.
Chamber Music with the LA Phil
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
From string quartets and piano trios to wind quintets or a brass ensemble, chamber music concerts feature members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic performing in small groups, creating an intimate and compelling concert experience.
Tuesday, November 7, 8:00 p.m.
Brad Mehldau Trio
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
Brad Mehldau blends Jazz exploration, Classical Romanticism and Pop allure. The award-winning pianist has put his deft touch on songs by Radiohead, the Beatles, Paul Simon and Nick Drake, treating them with reverence as he untangles and re-spins their melodies. Not surprisingly, he’s got a composer’s ear, having combined Jazz and Classical in original pieces and commissions for orchestras—including the LA Phil. It’s no wonder The New York Times has called him “the most influential Jazz pianist of the last 20 years.”
Wednesday, November 8, 8:00 p.m.
California Festival: Canto en Resistencia Featuring Ely Guerra, Catalina Garcia and More
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
Special guest singers join Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil to celebrate iconic protest music by Latina artists that resonates across Latin America and the world.
Thursday, November 9, 8:00 p.m.
California Festival: Canto en Resistencia
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
From gender equality to workers’ rights, musical protest and activism resonates through Latin American female artists, who have often led the charge and utilized everything from folk songs to symphonic compositions to raise their voice against injustice. Gustavo Dudamel leads the LA Phil in a concert honoring that musical legacy that includes Gabriela Ortiz’s tribute to Chilean Nueva Canción legend Violeta Parra, a new song cycle by Miguel Farías, and Mexican musician Silvana Estrada performing songs that have resonated across Latino America and the world that explore often-unspoken truths about gender violence and other important topics.
Friday, November 10, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 11, 2:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 12, 2:00 p.m.
James McVinnie
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
From Westminster Abbey to The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, the versatile British keyboardist and popular collaborator returns to the LA Phil for an ambitious and captivating program highlighting new music.
Sunday, November 12, 7:30 p.m.
California Festival
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
In a concert produced in collaboration with the Ojai Music Festival, Vimbayi Kaziboni leads new music by California composers.
Tuesday, November 14, 8:00 p.m.
FRAGMENTS 2
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
Weilerstein’s FRAGMENTS 2 weaves together Bach’s Cello Suites with newly commissioned compositions for an ambitious multisensory concert experience.
Wednesday, November 15, 8:00 p.m.
Ortiz and Piazzolla with Dudamel
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
Gustavo Dudamel and Pan-American Music Initiative curator Gabriela Ortiz build on their longtime collaboration in a program that features two works that pay homage to activist women. The first, Stride, was inspired by Susan B. Anthony and earned Tania León the Pulitzer Prize. The second is Ortiz’s new ballet score that shares its title with the 2019 “Glitter Revolution” based in Mexico City where women took to the streets to draw attention to pervasive sexual violence. Violinist Leticia Moreno, who is known for her “exalted lyricism and captivating power” (El País) joins Dudamel and the orchestra for Astor Piazzolla’s dramatic and tango-filled Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.
Thursday, November 16, 8:00 p.m.
Friday, November 17, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 18, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 19, 2:00 p.m.
Flamenco! Maria Bermudez’ Sonidos Gitanos
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
The elegance, majesty and power of flamenco at its finest take The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall on a journey to the farthest reaches of Spain, where the audience will witness an exceptional fiesta with traditional and present-day flamenco. This is a premier performance gathering some of the most revered gypsy artists currently showcased in Spain and around the world.
Saturday, November 25, 8:00 p.m.
Chamber Music with the LA Phil
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
From string quartets and piano trios to wind quintets or a brass ensemble, chamber music concerts feature members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic performing in small groups, creating an intimate and compelling concert experience.
Tuesday, November 28, 8:00 p.m.
Esa-Pekka Salonen and Ravel
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
Maurice Ravel’s “choreographic symphony” Daphnis and Chloé challenges conventional music status quos while highlighting his genius as an orchestrator. The epic dreamscape consists of the most number of musicians for any of Ravel’s works, yet allows for soloists to shine brightest here. Born out of the Sound Poetry and synthetic language of Hugo Ball’s Dadaism, Esa-Pekka Salonen’s cyclical Karawane is a monumental study of the familiar and unfamiliar. Here, the words are the music and the music is the words, brought to haunting life by the Los Angeles Master Chorale.
Friday, December 1, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 2, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 3, 2:00 p.m.
Zubin Mehta Conducts Mahler 1
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
Having quickly become a favorite of LA Phil and worldwide audiences, Korean star pianist Seong-Jin Cho puts his romantic side on full display with Schumann’s lone Piano Concerto, written specifically with his virtuosic wife Clara in his heart. Zubin Mehta leads a second half of Mahler’s First Symphony, an acoustically astounding, honest portrayal of life and death. This program includes the rarely performed, emotional Blumine (floral) second movement.
Thursday, December 7, 8:00 p.m.
Friday, December 8, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 9, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 10, 2:00 p.m.
Beethoven Symphonies with Zubin Mehta
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
Be transported to the Viennese countryside as Zubin Mehta and the LA Phil instill vivid and picturesque life into Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony. Having become a pop culture staple from Disney’s Fantasia, the easy-going and meditative “Pastoral” symphony is a sharp contrast from the darker side of Beethoven. In the second half, hear the work that changed orchestral music—if not all of music—forever with the energetic “Eroica” (Heroic) Third Symphony.
Thursday, December 14, 8:00 p.m.
Friday, December 15, 11:00 a.m.
Saturday, December 16, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 17, 2:00 p.m.
The Manhattan Transfer: The Final Farewell Concert
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
The Manhattan Transfer takes a bow, performing the final concert of their five-decade career. The vocal quartet has won 11 Grammys, been elected to the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, collaborated with everyone, from Phil Collins to Bette Midler, and revolutionized the way people think about the possibilities of the human voice. Even more impressive is their ability to do it all while connecting deeply with audiences around the world, delivering stunning arrangements of Jazz and Pop hits that pulse with humanity.
Friday, December 15, 8:00 p.m.
LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE
Heaven + Earth: The Music of Reena Esmail & Philip Glass
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
How do we live in unity with each other and with nature? Esmail’s This Love Between Us examines our shared humanity by juxtaposing texts of seven major religions of the Indian subcontinent, set with a unique combination of Hindustani and Western classical styles, bringing together chorus, Baroque orchestra, tabla and sitar. Philip Glass’ propulsive Itaipú, based on the Creation myth of the Guarani peoples, paints an epic and unforgettable symphonic portrait of nature for chorus and orchestra.
Sunday, October 15, 7:00 p.m.
LUX: The Music of Morten Lauridsen & Billy Childs
The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
Where there is darkness, we seek to illuminate the spirit with eternal light. In Lux Aeterna, (Eternal Light), the spellbindingly rapturous work premiered by the Los Angeles Master Chorale in 1997, Lauridsen created a rich and intensely moving work that sparked a renaissance of Choral music throughout the world. Paired with this masterpiece is the world premiere of In the Arms of the Beloved by Billy Childs—one of the world’s most celebrated Jazz pianists and composers—reuniting the Chorale and brilliant violin virtuoso Anne Akiko Meyers with the Billy Childs Jazz/Chamber Ensemble and The Lyris Quartet.
Saturday, November 18, 2:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 19, 7:00 p.m.
GRAND AVE ARTS: ALL ACCESS
Grand Ave Arts: All Access
Various Locations Along Grand Avenue
The Music Center campus and Gloria Molina Grand Park will join forces with fellow institutions along Grand Avenue to open their doors for the seventh annual Grand Ave Arts: All Access. Angelenos and visitors of all ages will be welcomed to explore a day of free arts workshops, performances, tours and interactive events. More details to be announced soon!
Saturday, October 21, 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
*Programs and artists subject to change.
ABOUT THE MUSIC CENTER
The Music Center convenes artists, communities and ideas with the goal of deepening the cultural lives of every resident in Los Angeles County. The $70 million non-profit performing arts organization has two divisions: TMC Arts and TMC Ops. TMC Arts, The Music Center’s programming engine, provides year-round programming inside The Music Center’s four theatres, on Jerry Moss Plaza, outside at Gloria Molina Grand Park—a 12-acre adjacent green space—in schools and other locations all over Los Angeles County and on a digital platform called The Music Center Offstage. TMC Arts presents world-class dance with Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center, free and low-cost public concerts and events, as well as live and digital K–12 arts education programs, workshops, performances, interactive experiences and special events. TMC Ops manages the theatres, the Plaza and Gloria Molina Grand Park, which comprise $2 billion in county assets, on behalf of the County of Los Angeles. The Music Center is also home to four renowned resident companies—Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles Master Chorale, LA Opera and LA Phil. For more information, visit musiccenter.org. Follow The Music Center on social media @MusicCenterLA.
ABOUT GLORIA MOLINA GRAND PARK
A vibrant outdoor gathering place, Gloria Molina Grand Park is a beautiful public park for the entire community in Los Angeles County. With expansive green space for gatherings large and small, Gloria Molina Grand Park celebrates the county’s cultural vitality and is host to community events, cultural experiences, holiday celebrations and many other activities that engage and attract visitors from all communities. The 12-acre Gloria Molina Grand Park, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2022, stretches from The Music Center on the west to City Hall on the east and is easily accessible by Metro via the B/D (formerly Red/Purple) line to the Civic Center/Grand Park station. The park was named one of American Planning Association’s 10 “Great Public Spaces” in the U.S. for 2013. Working closely with the county, The Music Center is responsible for all operations and programming for the park. For more information, visit grandparkla.org. Follow Gloria Molina Grand Park on Instagram, X, Twitch, TikTok, Spotify and Mixcloud (@grandpark_la) as well as YouTube and Facebook (@grandparkLosAngeles).
ABOUT CENTER THEATRE GROUP
Center Theatre Group, one of the nation’s preeminent arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles’ leading nonprofit theatre company, which, under the leadership of Managing Director/CEO Meghan Pressman and Producing Director Douglas C. Baker, and in collaboration with the four Associate Artistic Directors, Lindsay Allbaugh, Tyrone Davis, Neel Keller and Kelley Kirkpatrick, programs seasons at the 736-seat Mark Taper Forum and 1,600 to 2,100-seat Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles, and the 317-seat Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In addition to presenting and producing the broadest range of theatrical entertainment in the country, Center Theatre Group is one of the nation’s leading producers of ambitious new works through commissions and world premiere productions, and a leader in interactive community engagement and education programs that reach across generations, demographics, and circumstance to serve Los Angeles.
ABOUT LA OPERA
Los Angeles is a city of enormous diversity and creativity, and LA Opera is dedicated to reflecting that vibrancy by redefining what opera can be. Through imaginative new productions, world premiere commissions, and inventive performances that preserve foundational works while making them feel fresh and compelling, LA Opera has become one of America’s most exciting and ambitious opera companies. In addition to its mainstage performances at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the company explores unusual repertoire each season through the LA Opera Off Grand initiative, featuring performances in a variety of venues throughout Los Angeles. The LA Opera Connects initiative offers a robust variety of educational programming and community engagement offerings that reach people throughout every corner of Los Angeles County. The company also offers a multitude of online content via its LA Opera On Now digital offerings, which launched in 2020. Learn more at LAOpera.org.
ABOUT THE LA PHIL
Under the leadership of Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, the LA Phil offers live performances, media initiatives and learning programs that inspire and strengthen communities in Los Angeles and beyond. The Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra is the foundation of the LA Phil’s offerings, which also include a multi-genre, multidisciplinary presenting program and such youth development programs as YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles). Performances are offered on three historic stages—Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and The Ford—as well as through a variety of media platforms. In all its endeavors, the LA Phil seeks to enrich the lives of individuals and communities through musical, artistic and learning experiences that resonate in our world today.
ABOUT THE LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE
The Los Angeles Master Chorale is the “the finest-by-far major chorus in America” (Los Angeles Times) and a vibrant cultural treasure. Hailed for its powerful performances, technical precision, and artistic daring, the Chorale is led by Grant Gershon, Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director; Associate Artistic Director Jenny Wong; and Interim President & CEO Terry Knowles. Its Swan Family Artist-in-Residence is Reena Esmail. Created by legendary conductor Roger Wagner in 1964, the Chorale is a founding resident company of The Music Center and choir-in-residence at The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall. Chorister positions are highly sought after, and the fully professional choir is a diverse and vocally dynamic group. The Chorale reaches over 175,000 people a year through its concert series at The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, its international touring of innovative works and its performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and others.
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