April 25, 2023 Summer Vibes Only!

The Music Center Announces A Summer Season to Remember Filled With Dance & Dancing, Music, Theatre and Outdoor Experiences

LOS ANGELES (April 25, 2023) – The future is so bright at The Music Center this summer! L.A.’s only performing arts destination and its TMC Arts programming division, its resident companies (Center Theatre Group, LA Opera, LA Phil and the Los Angeles Master Chorale) and Gloria Molina Grand Park are superblooming with summer experiences. From LA Phil performances inside The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall to outdoor dance parties on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center to a spectacular 4^th of July Block Party at Gloria Molina Grand Park, there is something for everyone who wants to experience a little sunshine magic inside The Music Center’s theatres and many outdoor spaces.

“This summer, the arts come alive at The Music Center practically every day of the week. With a multitude of events, performances and experiences, The Music Center continues to be the place to join with friends and family to enjoy live music, see a new show or dance the night away,” said Rachel S. Moore, president and CEO of The Music Center. “As more Angelenos venture outside their homes, they are rediscovering all that makes Los Angeles County, and especially Downtown L.A., very special. Start marking your calendars because it will be a summer to remember at The Music Center!”

For nearly six decades, The Music Center has produced and presented thousands of unforgettable events for Angelenos and visitors to experience and cherish. Its legendary free Dance DTLA series, for instance, will take over Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center on Friday nights for the 19^th year with fan-favorite and new dance styles to groove on the dance floor under the stars. On select Saturday evenings, entire families can enjoy The Music Center’s affordable Summer SoundWaves outdoor concert series and watch performances of some of L.A.’s favorite music artists. The best summer vibes in L.A. can be found only at The Music Center!

To view a complete list of summer events at The Music Center, visit musiccenter.org/summer.
 

TMC ARTS
 

• The Music Center Presents Cosmogony
  Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center
  
  Making its debut in L.A., Cosmogony features dancers who perform an original contemporary work remotely from Geneva, Switzerland, projected in real time on the LED screens on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center. Dancing 6,000 miles away from Downtown L.A., the dancers perform under 42 motion capture cameras that digitally alter them into avatars for the high-tech performance. Throughout the 30-minute experience, the dancers will be revealed in human form on screen, intermittently, to give audiences a behind-the-scenes glimpse of them dancing from their Geneva studio. This fantastical free performance is open to the public and is the third installation presented by TMC Arts’ Digital Innovation Initiative, which explores and creates digital and virtual reality experiences on The Music Center campus and throughout Los Angeles County. Cosmogony is created by Geneva-based digital contemporary dance company Cie Gilles Jobin.
  
  Friday, May 12, 7:00 p.m.
  Saturday, June 3, 7:00 p.m.
  Saturday, June 10, 7:00 p.m.
  Saturday, June 17, 7:00 p.m.
   
• The Music Center’s On the Record: Vinyl Fair
  Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center
  
  Amid the resilience and resurgence of vinyl records, the growth of an artisanal record industry and Angelenos’ distinct connections to music and culture, The Music Center will present its first-ever free festivity showcasing the discovery and love of vinyl records. More than 15 vendors will sell records from a variety of music genres, complemented by workshops, artmaking activities, interactive augmented reality (AR) experience, dance performances, live DJs and more.
  
  Saturday, May 13, from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
   
• Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center: MOMIX's ALICE
  The Music Center’s Ahmanson Theatre
  
  Seamlessly blending illusion, acrobatics, magic and whimsy, MOMIX sends audiences flying down the rabbit hole in Moses Pendleton’s newest creation, ALICE, inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice in Wonderland. In this mind-bending adventure, Alice encounters time-honored characters including the undulating Caterpillar, a lobster quadrille, frenzied White Rabbits, a mad Queen of Hearts and a variety of other surprises. Filled with visual splendor and startling creative movement, Alice reveals that nothing in MOMIX’s world is as it seems!
  
  Friday, May 19, 7:30 p.m.
  Saturday, May 20, 7:30 p.m.
  Sunday, May 21, 2:00 p.m.
   
• The Music Center’s Spotlight Grand Finale
  The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
  
  Selected from among more than 1,300 applicants, 14 local teens will showcase their incredible talent during a performance that concludes their yearlong artistic journey. To date, The Music Center’s Spotlight, a free nationally acclaimed performing arts competition, scholarship and artistic development program for Southern California teens, has provided aspiring high school artists with over $2.7 million in scholarships. The program recognizes and rewards all participants throughout the competition with a range of benefits, such as individual feedback from industry professionals, performance opportunities and more. Students compete in seven categories: acting, ballet, dance, classical voice, non-classical voice, classical instrumental and jazz instrumental. This year’s Spotlight Grand Finale will be held for the first time in The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion since 2014.
  
  Thursday, June 8, 7:00 p.m.
   
• The Music Center’s Love Amplified Poetry Jam
  Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center
  
  In collaboration with Complexions Contemporary Ballet Co-Artistic Director Dwight Rhoden, Terrell “The Artist” Lewis and Tiffany Bong of UniverSOUL Hip Hop, The Music Center will screen the short film Black is Beautiful outdoors followed by a poetry jam that weaves spoken word, dance and music and invites the public to participate. The free event will feature Lewis; poet Sean Hill; youth organizations WriteGirl and Get Lit; dancers representing UniverSOUL Hip Hop and USC’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance; and live music by Everything Raw. The poetry jam complements Complexions Contemporary Ballet’s performances from June 16–18, 2023 at The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
  
  Wednesday, June 14, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
   
• Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center: Complexions Contemporary Ballet
  The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
  
  Led by dance icons Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, Complexions Contemporary Ballet has awakened audiences to a new, exciting genre with their singular approach of reinventing dance and contemporary ballet. With stunning gifted dancers and powerful choreography, Complexions will perform WOKE, a bold and dynamic one-act ballet set to music by recording artists Kendrick Lamar, Logic, Drake, Diplo and others, and LOVE ROCKS, set to the music of GRAMMY® Award-winning singer-songwriter Lenny Kravitz whose lush melodies and retro musical style lay a foundation for passionate storytelling through edgy, athletic and theatrical movement. Rock meets Ballet in LOVE ROCKS!
  
  Friday, June 16, 7:30 p.m.
  Saturday, June 17, 7:30 p.m.
  Sunday, June 18, 2:00 p.m.
   
• The Music Center’s Dance DTLA
  Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center
  
  Join the thousands who love the chance to learn new dance styles and dance the night away under the stars! The Music Center's Dance DTLA returns this summer for nine consecutive Friday nights of free in-person beginner dance lessons, starting with Hip-Hop on June 23, with easy-to-follow steps so guests can hit the dance floor to practice some new moves. No dance experience necessary!
  
  Every Friday, beginning June 23 through August 18, from 7:00 – 11:00 p.m.
   
• The Music Center’s Summer SoundWaves
  Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center
  
  The Music Center’s low-cost outdoor concert series returns to Jerry Moss Plaza where some of L.A.’s favorite music artists take the stage for six sultry Saturday evenings. The entire family can enjoy these affordable concerts presented in one of L.A.’s top outdoor settings. Programmed by TMC Arts, each Summer SoundWaves concert brings diverse rhythms and flair to L.A. for an unparalleled experience that will light up the summer nights.
  
  Saturdays: June 24; July 1, 22 and 29; and August 5, 19; 8:00 p.m.
   
• Dance in Focus: REFLECTIONS Film Festival
  Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center
  
  Concluding a call to Southern California dance filmmakers for their contributions, The Music Center, in association with Dance Camera West, will screen original dance or choreography films on Jerry Moss Plaza that explore autobiography and self-portraiture. This year’s dance film festival is inspired by the iconic work of Frida Kahlo and choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s U.S. premiere of Frida, to be performed by Dutch National Ballet from July 14–16, 2023, at The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
  
  Wednesday, July 12 through Sunday, July 16, Time TBD
   
• Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center: Dutch National Ballet
  The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
  
  As the largest dance company of the Netherlands, Dutch National Ballet develops and has produced and presented ballet over the past 60 years at the highest international level, aiming to reach a wider public and bring today’s audiences into contact with the beauty and passion of the dance art form. Frida, by choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa with composer Peter Salem, is inspired by the life story of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, one of the most intriguing artists of the 20^th Century. In creating this full-length choreography, Ochoa’s aim was to flesh out the “expressive surrealism that dance—by analogy to Kahlo’s paintings—can embody,” delving even deeper into the loneliness that haunted Kahlo all her life, her relationship with husband Diego Rivera, her bisexuality and the way she crafted her own image.
  
  Friday, July 14, 7:30 p.m.
  Saturday, July at 7:30 p.m.
  Sunday, July 16, 2:00 p.m.
   
• Live at The Music Center: Free Concert
  Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center
  
  Part of an annual free concert series, Live at The Music Center returns to Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center, thanks to the generosity of A&M Records co-founder Jerry Moss and his wife Tina. Held in one of L.A.'s top outdoor concert settings, the concert will feature a headliner to be announced soon.
  
  Saturday, September 9, Time TBD
   

GLORIA MOLINA GRAND PARK
 

• The Lorraine Hansberry Initiative’s To Sit A While
  
  In partnership with Gloria Molina Grand Park, the national tour of The Lorraine Hansberry Initiative’s To Sit A While art exhibit will be on display in the park for nearly three weeks. By L.A.-based sculpture artist Alison Saar, To Sit A While features the figure of Hansberry surrounded by five bronze chairs, each representing a different aspect of her life and work. The life-size chairs are an invitation to the public to actually sit awhile, specifically to sit with Hansberry and think. Hansberry was a playwright, journalist and activist whose play A Raisin in the Sun was the first play written by a Black woman to be produced on Broadway.
  
  Wednesday, June 14 through Friday, June 30, 5:30 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.
   
• Grand Park’s 4th of July Block Party
  
  Downtown L.A.’s largest free Fourth of July celebration, Grand Park’s 4^th of July Block Party returns with a holiday spectacular packed with fun for the whole family. With delectable food, live music, dancing and an unforgettable light show, this legendary block party is not-to-be-missed. This year’s celebration also will feature immersive art installations and live DJs.
  
  Tuesday, July 4, 4:00 – 9:00 p.m.
   
• BBoy | BGirl Summit
  
  Established in 1994, BBoy | BGirl Summit is the longest-running annual Hip-Hop event in the nation that brings classic and current Hip-Hop fashion, skills and knowledge to the forefront with Poppin Battles, B-Boy & B-Girl Battles, Kids Battles, Breakin’ Workshops, Graffiti Artists and panel discussions. Previous performances have included: DJ Battlecat, Far Side, The Souls of Mischief, Grand Wizard Theodore, Skeme Richards, Rokafella and DJ KS360. This year’s summit will feature a special tribute to the 50^th anniversary of Hip-Hop including revisiting the Pros to Protégés Battle and special Outlaw Rock Dance Showcase.
  
  Sunday, July 16, Noon – 8:00 p.m.
   
• Grand Park’s Sunday Sessions
  
  A celebration of L.A.’s contributions to the global art form of dance music—specially-curated with DJs, themes and experiences unique to the house music genre and cultural community—Grand Park’s Sunday Sessions is simply the best way to enjoy the park, sip cocktails, picnic and dance your heart out. Grand Park’s Sunday Sessions will celebrate the 20^th anniversary of longtime collaborator Fusicology, a platform credited with introducing an eclectic mix of local and global DJs who have made significant contributions to the Club House scene over the past two decades.
  
  Sundays, July 23, August 20 and September 17, 3:00 – 8:00 p.m.
   
• Grand Park’s Health & Wellness Programs
  
  An expansion of the park’s popular yoga series, Grand Park’s Health & Wellness programs invite Angelenos to experience outdoor movement, restoration and reinvigoration—in less than an hour. With Restorative Yoga, Tai-Chi, Meditation, Yoga Therapy, Sound Baths, Chair Yoga, Yoga en Español, Chinese Dance and more, the programs are intended to be a balm for the body and the spirit. The wellness programs also will invite local community partners and organizations to offer programs online and in-person.
  
  Wednesdays and Fridays, Beginning September 1, Noon – 12:45 p.m.

CENTER THEATRE GROUP
 

• 1776
  The Music Center's Ahmanson Theatre
  
  This Tony Award®-winning Best Musical is tuneful, witty and constantly surprising, especially in this revolutionary new production from directors Jeffrey L. Page (Violet) and Diane Paulus (Waitress) with a cast that reflects multiple representations of race, gender and ethnicity. With 1776, you may never think the same way again about our country—who we are and why—as the production explores what it takes to get two dozen powerfully passionate, exceedingly complicated and all-too-human individuals to settle their differences, while they hold the very future of a nation in their hands.
  
  Now through May 7
   
• A Transparent Musical
  The Music Center’s Mark Taper Forum
  
  From the creators of the hit Amazon series comes a groundbreaking and timely new musical that’s delightfully queer, unapologetically Jewish, and radically joyful. Welcome to the JCC! Get ready for a remarkable theatrical experience with A Transparent Musical—an innovative and irresistible new musical comedy based on the hit Amazon Prime original TV show by Joey Soloway. Follow Ali Pfefferman, brought to life by Only Murders in the Building’s Adina Verson, as they navigate the ups and downs of self-discovery. Ali's Los Angeles Jewish family is filled with secrets, but when their parent, Maura, transitions to the transgender matriarch she always knew she was, the family is forced to confront their own identities and navigate their relationships with each other. Through a revelatory story of acceptance and self-expression, A Transparent Musical explores the intersection of Jewish and queer history while celebrating the imperfectly human aspects of a universally relatable family.
  
  Saturday, May 20 – Sunday, June 25
   
• A Soldier's Play
  The Music Center's Ahmanson Theatre
  
  In 1944, on a Louisiana Army base, two shots ring out. A Black sergeant is murdered, and a series of interrogations triggers a gripping barrage of questions about sacrifice, service and identity in America. The Wall Street Journal hailed, “[A Soldier’s Play]…is a play that deserves to be staged regularly all over America—though it’s hard to imagine that it will ever be done better than this. It keeps you guessing all the way to the final curtain.” Broadway’s Norm Lewis leads a powerhouse cast in the show Variety calls “a knock-your-socks-off-drama.” Directed by Tony Award®-winner Kenny Leon, A Soldier’s Play, the 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning thriller by Charles Fuller, has rocketed back into the spotlight, thanks to this 2020 Tony Award®-winning Best Revival from Roundabout Theatre Company.
  
  Tuesday, May 23 – Sunday, June 25
   
• Into the Woods
  The Music Center’s Ahmanson Theatre
  
  Direct from Broadway, the critically acclaimed and much beloved production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Tony®-winning triumph is coming to The Music Center’s Ahmanson Theatre with its Broadway stars to boot. Into the Woods features Montego Glover as The Witch, Stephanie J. Block as The Baker’s Wife, Sebastian Arcelus as The Baker and Gavin Creel as Cinderella’s Prince/Wolf—all reprising their Broadway roles—in a production called “radiant” (Variety), “enchanting” (The Wall Street Journal) and “a priceless revival with a perfect cast” (The Washington Post). Directed by Lear deBessonet (Hercules), this theatrical event honors Sondheim’s legendary memory and his Broadway masterpiece like never before.
  
  Tuesday, June 27 – Sunday, July 30
   
• Fake It Until You Make It
  The Music Center’s Mark Taper Forum
  
  A bold world premiere comedy from Los Angeles-based playwright Larissa FastHorse, Fake it Until You Make It is about being whoever you want to be, even when it’s not who you are. This critically acclaimed Native American writer focuses her keen sense of satire to examine Native American perspectives on contemporary life and will be the first Native writer to have a mainstage production on The Music Center’s Mark Taper Forum stage. A member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation, and author of the upcoming 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.
  
  Wednesday, August 2 – Sunday, September 3
   
• 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.
  
  Sunday, August 6 – Sunday, September 10

LA OPERA
 

• Otello
  The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
  
  He's a beloved leader, a distinguished military commander and a devoted husband. But when an envious subordinate introduces the notion—just the slightest whispered hint—that Otello's wife Desdemona might possibly be unfaithful, it's enough to send him into a downward spiral of fury and murder. Hailed as the pinnacle of the Italian operatic repertoire, Verdi’s transformation of the original Shakespeare play is a powerful drama of uncontrolled human emotion at its most extreme. Verdi's musical portrait of Otello’s descent into a tortured heart of darkness is explicit in every chilling detail as he destroys all in life that he holds dear. Verdi master James Conlon takes command of the truly epic musical forces. The powerhouse cast is led by Artist in Residence Russell Thomas in the title role (considered the "Mount Everest" of the dramatic tenor repertoire). Rachel Willis-Sørensen makes a highly anticipated company debut as the doomed Desdemona and Igor Golovatenko is the sadistic Iago, slyly exploiting Otello's one fatal flaw: jealousy.
  
  Saturday, May 13 through Sunday, June 4
   
• An Evening with Renée Fleming 
  The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
  
  Soprano Renée Fleming, hailed as one of the greatest artists of our time, will captivate audiences with a performance that highlights her sumptuous voice, compelling stage presence and beguiling musical curiosity. The concert will feature Penelope, a new concert work created expressly for her by two legends: composer André Previn and librettist Tom Stoppard. Featuring the Emerson String Quartet and pianist Simone Dinnerstein, Penelope takes the audience into the mind of the mythic heroine, waiting years on end for her beloved husband's return from war and standing strong against a hundred suitors.
  
  Saturday, June 10, 7:30 p.m.
   
• 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 through Sunday, October 15

LA PHIL
 

• Bohemian Strings
  The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
  
  LA Phil cellist David Garrett curates Bohemian Strings, a concert focused on Bohemian composers. Leoš Janáček’s String Quartet No. 2 has been called his “manifesto on love,” while Bohuslav Martinů’s Third String Quartet shows the influence of the time spent by the Czech composer in the oft-called “city of love,” Paris, where he absorbed French Impressionism from the likes of Debussy. The second half features a string quintet—which adds a double bass to the standard string quartet—by the composer who pioneered the quintessential Bohemian voice, Antonín Dvořák.
  
  Tuesday, May 2, 8:00 p.m.
   
• Dvořák and Bruckner
  Walt Disney Concert Hall
  
  The LA Phil’s revered Principal Concertmaster Martin Chalifour takes the spotlight with the wonderful, tuneful Violin Concerto by Antonín Dvořák, a work that comes right out of the models of Brahms and Beethoven. With extraordinary melodies that transcend ordinary feelings, Bruckner achieved the greatest success in his lifetime with the Seventh Symphony, and it remains his best-known symphony today. Conducting it is one of the masters of our time, Philippe Jordan, head of the Vienna State Opera.
  
  Friday, May 5, 8:00 p.m.
  Saturday, May 6, 8:00 p.m.
  Sunday, May 7, 2:00 p.m.
   
• Los Angeles Children’s Chorus Sounds About Town
  The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
  
  Grammy® Award-winning Los Angeles Children’s Chorus (LACC) returns to the Sounds About Town series in a performance featuring nearly 300 choristers from six choral ensembles. Highlights of the program include works spanning more than four centuries from Johann Sebastian Bach, Claudio Monteverdi, Henry Purcell, Pau Casals and Reena Esmail to Sarah Hopkins, among others, along with world premiere performances of new works written for LACC by composers Ellen Gilson Voth, Derrick Skye and Pedro Osuna.
  
  Sunday, May 7, 2023, 7:00 p.m.
   
• Ziggy Marley
  The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
  
  Eight-time Grammy® winner, Emmy winner, musician, activist, producer and humanitarian Ziggy Marley has cut a singular path in the world, bringing the sounds of Reggae music together with Funk, Blues, Rock and more. No matter how far his interests take him, Marley always returns to his foundation: the transformative power of love. The eldest son of Bob and Rita Marley offers one unforgettable night of incredible music.
  
  Tuesday, May 9, 8:00 p.m.
   
• Víkingur Ólafsson
  The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
  
  Virtuoso Víkingur Ólafsson, who has taken the music world by storm, performs a recital of Mozart and his contemporaries.
  
  Wednesday, May 10, 8:00 p.m.
   
• Beethoven and Strauss
  The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
  
  “A brilliant musician and an extraordinary visionary” (Wall Street Journal), Pierre-Laurent Aimard has built his reputation as a go-to of contemporary music and collaborator for composers but is celebrated for his interpretation of historic repertoire as well. Aimard joins the LA Phil for Beethoven’s wonder-filled Fourth Piano Concerto, with the unusual quiet drama of its second movement. Eva Ollikainen is the chief conductor of several orchestras in Europe and leads the U.S. premiere of ARCHORA by Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdóttir, “one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary music” (NPR), and the gorgeous Suite from Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier.
  
  Thursday, May 11, 8:00 p.m.
  Saturday, May 13, 2:00 p.m.
  Sunday, May 14, 2:00 p.m.
   
• Pyscho with Orchestra
  The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
  
  Thanks to Bernard Herrmann's remarkably inventive strings-only composition, the American Film Institute has ranked the ferocious musical driving force of Psycho among the Top 5 Greatest Film Scores of All Time. The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra underscores the emotional tension of the soul-searing plot, as one of the greatest—and most nerve-wracking—films of all time plays on Walt Disney Concert Hall's big screen.
  
  Friday, May 12, 8:00 p.m.
   
• Salonen, Stravinsky and Bartók
  Walt Disney Concert Hall
  
  Los Angeles music fans know Esa-Pekka Salonen from his years as Music Director of the LA Phil, not only as one of the world’s greatest conductors, but also as a leading composer of our time. His concerts are full-fledged events, filled with insight, color, clarity and nuance. This spring, he leads masterpieces by two of his heroes, Stravinsky and Bartók, but the spotlight will be on him as the composer of a new organ concerto, which will feature one of the world’s top instrumentalists, organist Iveta Apkalna.
  
  Thursday, May 18, 8:00 p.m.
  Friday, May 19, 11:00 a.m.
  Sunday, May 21, 2:00 p.m.
   
• Stranger Love
  The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
  
  Stranger Love is the fruit of a conversation between composer Dylan Mattingly and librettist Thomas Bartscherer about music and language over many years. It follows two lovers whose romance unfolds to the rhythm of the seasons. Inspired in part by the structure of Plato’s Symposium and set on a vast time scale against the ever-expanding universe, it broadens in scope and frame over the course of three acts, moving from the personal to the archetypical to a vision of the divine—a love supreme.
  
  Saturday, May 20, at 4:00 – 11:00 p.m.
   
• Organ & Strings featuring Iveta Apkalna
  The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
  
  Latvian organist Iveta Apkalna plays with “both poise and purpose” (Washington Post), leading to international recitals and performances as an orchestral soloist. The star organist and musicians of the LA Phil combine for Bach, Pärt and more.
  
  Tuesday, May 23, 8:00 p.m.
   
• Dudamel Leads Beethoven and Smith
  The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
  
  The thrilling way Beethoven treats different dance rhythms in his Seventh Symphony made it a hit from the start, and Gustavo Dudamel is the perfect interpreter to bring out its vibrant and whirling character. Dudamel also leads Gabriella Smith’s brand-new Lost Coast, a cello concerto played by Gabriel Cabezas. For Thursday and Saturday night audiences, Lost Coast is paired with Ellen Reid’s West Coast Sky Eternal, another world premiere. 
  
  Thursday, May 25, at 8:00 p.m.
  Friday, May 26, at 8:00 p.m.
  Saturday, May 27, at 8:00 p.m.
   
• Dudamel Conducts Mozart
  Walt Disney Concert Hall
  
  The incomparable creativity of Mozart is on full display in this wondrous program that includes his final piano concerto and final symphony. Peerless Mozart interpreter Mitsuko Uchida—described by Gramophone as having stunning “virtuosity and elan” and tonal shading “verging on the miraculous”—joins the LA Phil for the Piano Concerto No. 27. Dudamel leads the exuberant Jupiter Symphony, one of the composer’s longest symphonies and one of his most enduring and loved.
  
  Thursday, June 1, 8:00 p.m.
  Friday, June 2, 11:00 a.m.
  Saturday, June 3, 8:00 p.m.
  Sunday, June 4, 2:00 p.m.
   
• Rufus Wainwright
  The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
  
  With Folkocracy, Rufus Wainwright, one of the greatest vocalists, songwriters and composers of his generation, revisits his roots, taking us back through his own history and into childhood summers spent at folk festivals watching his famous family perform. Backed by a six-piece band, Wainwright will perform songs from his new album, which will be released on the day of the concert, and more: classics from the Folk tradition by Peggy Seeger, Bob Dylan, the Everly Brothers, and Ewan MacColl, as well as songs he considers Folk from artists like The Mamas and the Papas, Moondog, and Franz Schubert. "Nobody sings quite like Rufus Wainwright" —The New Yorker
  
  Friday, June 2, 8:00 p.m.

LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE

• Ellington / Williams
  The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall
  
  Duke Ellington and Mary Lou Williams were giants of jazz who never stopped searching for new means of expression. Inspired by their faith, both created major sacred choral works that grew out of the African American church tradition and pushed against the boundaries of both sacred music and jazz. Bassist, composer, arranger and producer, John Clayton, formerly principal bassist with the Amsterdam Philharmonic and co-founder of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, premieres his new work backed by Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, his powerful 19-piece band. This concert is a celebration of distinctive music created by three American originals.
  
  Saturday, June 10, 2:00 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 Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @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 10^th 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, Twitter, 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
 

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