Banking Executive Will Head Music Center Board

Joseph J. Pinola, chairman and chief executive officer of First Interstate Bancorp., will become chairman of the Music Center Board of Governors effective July 1, it was announced Tuesday.

He succeeds F. Daniel Frost, a senior partner at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Frost helped direct the Music Center for 2 1/2 years--for seven months as acting chairman and then chairman for a two-year term. At the time of his election in June, 1986, Frost said he only wanted to serve one term.

Pinola, 63, is now a vice chairman of the board.

In a telephone interview, Frost, 66, said he will continue in “three very intensive functions” at the center. He is president of the Music Center Foundation, where he “concentrates on fund raising” for the performing arts center’s $45-million endowment.

Frost also serves as a member of the Walt Disney Concert Hall Committee, which will select an architect to design the new home for the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Bunker Hill. And he is co-chairman with Lod Cook, chief executive officer at ARCO, and former actress Nancy Livingston of the Music Center’s 25th anniversary celebration next year.

As board chairman, Pinola will have responsibility for setting Music Center policy. He is the chief executive of the six-part Music Center complex, while Esther Wachtell, who was named president of the Music Center on June 1, is the chief operating officer.

The Music Center coordinates the activities of the resident performing arts groups--the Philharmonic, Center Theatre Group, the Joffrey Ballet LA/NY, Los Angeles Music Center Opera--and the Music Center Education Division.

Pinola said he hopes to maintain “continuity” and to “watch and see the art forms as they continue to gain in not only nationwide but worldwide status. Taking the helm at the time the Disney Concert Hall will come into being is tremendously exciting all by itself.”

Pinola has been active at the center for more than a decade. He has served as a member of the Philharmonic board for 10 years and has been a member of the Board of Governors since 1985.