Wachtell New President of Music Center

Esther Wachtell, who started as a volunteer stuffing “buck bags” and rose through a number of volunteer and then professional positions, will become president of the Music Center on June 1--the only woman to hold such a post at a major performing arts complex.

F. Daniel Frost, chairman of the Music Center Board of Governors, announced her election in a statement released Tuesday, citing Wachtell’s longtime association with the Music Center.

”. . . Her vast experience in fund-raising and management assure the resident companies and the public of continued professionalism of the highest caliber at the top of our organization,” Frost said.

In a telephone interview, Wachtell acknowledged that she was conscious of the challenge as the Music Center prepares to celebrate its 25th year.

“The biggest challenge of this job . . . is keeping up with the enormous growth, both of the community and of the arts,” she said.

Wachtell’s new job includes coordination with the county’s Board of Supervisors, the Music Center’s resident companies and its support groups.

Wachtell’s appointment to succeed Frances I. Dale moves her up from a two-year stint as executive vice president where she had day-to-day involvement with Music Center policies.

“I have been here since the beginning, since before the building was built,” she said. Wachtell, while doing voluminous volunteer work, also raised three children, now adults.

For Wachtell and her oil-company executive husband Tom (president of the Music Center Opera Assn.), the Music Center has been a central portion of their lives. She has served as a vice president of the Amazing Blue Ribbon, chairman of the Mercado and of the Philharmonic Affiliates, coordinator of all volunteer activities, coordinator of special events, and chairman of the major gifts committee, as well as vice chairman of the United Fund.

Wachtell acknowledged that she has “certainly raised a lot of money” and that she will continue in a “limited way” in such fund-raising endeavors, although “I am right this minute beefing up the fund-raising staff so that some of that responsibility will be taken off my shoulders.”

The 52-year-old Wachtell graduated summa cum laude from Connecticut College and has a master of arts from Cornell. For years the Wachtells were residents of Rolling Hills, commuting to their Los Angeles offices, but they recently moved into the city and are building a new home closer to the Music Center.