Music Center Gears Up for a Gala 25th

A yearlong parade of about a Dozen events celebrating the first quarter century of the Los Angeles Music Center was announced Wednesday by center officials in the Grand Hall of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

The 25th-anniversary events range from free performances in the three performing-arts theaters and a party on the plaza the night of Dec. 6 to swank galas, a private Hawaiian weekend and a signed Sam Francis commemorative lithograph for the very top donors.

The Music Center formally opened Dec. 6, 1964, when the Pavilion raised its curtain for the first time with Zubin Mehta conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic and violinist Jascha Heifetz as soloist. The Mark Taper Forum and the Ahmanson opened in April, 1967.

“We are indeed a better community, a better people, for what goes on in this cultural campus,” said Joseph Pinola, chairman and chief executive officer of First Interstate Bancorp and chairman of the board of governors of the Music Center.

The anniversary announcement, attended by political and arts officials, was made in the same hall where last month the Music Center named Frank O. Gehry of Venice, Calif., as architect of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the $100-million structure that will become the fourth building in the Music Center complex.

F. Daniel Frost, president of the Music Center Foundation and a co-chairman of the anniversary event, traced the history of the Music Center and commended “the public sector-private sector partnership” that became “a role model for the entire country.”

He then read a statement that Dorothy Buffum Chandler, the Music Center’s founder, wrote at the opening of the building that bears her name: “In a world more immediately imperiled by mediocrity than intercontinental missiles, the Music Center will stand forever as a symbol of what creative man can accomplish when he sets high his standards and has vision far beyond our present horizons.”

Frost added that on Tuesday he had spoken with Mrs. Chandler about the 25th-anniversary celebration activities, and read to her from a history of the center that had been prepared for the Disney Hall architectural subcommittee.

Frost said she told him: “I can hardly believe that 25 years have passed so quickly. I don’t think I could have done it if I had realized at the beginning what was involved. And I certainly would not have been able to do it without the loyal support of so many friends, the dedication of the Board of Supervisors throughout and the understanding and total backing of my wonderful husband, Norman.

“I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to give something back to the community that has given so much to my family and to me,” Mrs. Chandler said.

Paying tribute to its future, the Music Center also announced establishment of a newly formed International Council that will sponsor a 21st-Century Arts Award program. Each year, the Music Center will seek out and pay tribute to three outstanding young artists in music, dance and theater. “History is only meaningful as a prelude to the future,” said Music Center President Esther Wachtell.

As part of the quarter-century celebration, a multicultural community arts festival highlighting Southern California’s diversity will take place on the Music Center plaza July 8 and 9.

On Sept. 23, there will be a dinner for major donors and Music Center officials. On Sept. 24, the center will feature its resident companies in an anniversary performance in the Pavilion. The program will offer performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Music Center Opera, the Joffrey Ballet, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatre. Nick Vanoff and Gary Pudney are producing the event, which is expected to eventually become a television special.

Throughout the year, the center’s resident companies will commemorate the anniversary with special performances.

The Taper will dedicate three programs to the anniversary, including the world premiere of “Sansei” on the main stage March 23 through May 7, created and performed by the band Hiroshima.

In September, Music Center Opera will present Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s “The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.”

The production was conceived for Los Angeles by British director Jonathan Miller and Los Angeles artist Robert Israel--or, as Livingston quipped: “The setting of this will take place in Hollywood-- perfect! “

Nov. 30 through Dec. 3, the Los Angeles Philharmonic will present Stravinsky’s “Oedipus Rex” conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen and directed by Taper artistic director Gordon Davidson. The Los Angeles Chorale will participate.

On April 22, the Los Angeles Master Chorale has designated its “Scottish Highland Celebration” featuring Jean Redpath as its commemorative event.

Although Music Center officials were anticipating privately that President-elect George Bush and his wife, Barbara, would be honorary co-chairs of a “glittering gala” for 1,000 persons to follow the Sept. 24 performance, it is uncertain whether they will be able to do so. While Pinola said with a smile that Bush “went ahead and got himself elected,” anniversary event co-chair Nancy Livingston added: “It doesn’t mean that that won’t happen.”