Artists Lost to AIDS Are Mourned

The dazzling fall sun shone on Tuesday’s outdoor concert for AIDS, but the terrible reality of the epidemic was ever present as leading local arts organizations joined others countywide to commemorate a Day Without Art.

About 150 people attended the free, lunch-time event in Costa Mesa, staged for the fourth annual international observance meant to draw attention to the tremendous toll AIDS has taken on the art world.

“AIDS is not a selective disease, and pediatric AIDS is on the rise,” Bonnie McClain, executive director of the Pacific Chorale Children’s Chorus, said before the 45 members of the group sang seasonal favorites.

Members of the orchestra for Russia’s Kirov Ballet, which is dancing the “Nutcracker” this week at the Orange County Performing Arts center, lent a global perspective.

“The disease of AIDS is a worldwide problem, and it isn’t limited to any one country,” Oleg Vinogradov, the Kirov’s artistic director, said through an interpreter. “We urge you to support local and national organizations of your choice and their noble fight against AIDS.”

A Day Without Art is the art community’s contribution to the World Health Organization’s World AIDS Day. AIDS has killed renowned visual artists, dancers, musicians, actors and others, and about 4,500 arts organizations in the United States and abroad were expected to take part Tuesday by presenting special activities, closing galleries or cloaking paintings to imply what the world would be like if the illness silenced all artists.

This year, nearly 20 Orange County institutions, more than twice as many as last year, participated. UC Irvine’s Fine Art Gallery produced an AIDS-themed exhibit, Newport Harbor Art Museum covered an outdoor sculpture, and Fullerton’s Muckenthaler Cultural Center shut down.

Some events raised money for such AIDS organizations as Laguna Shanti, a support group, and the AIDS Service Foundation of Orange County, which benefited from Tuesday’s concert, held at Pavilion Amphitheater at the Lakes, a retail and residential complex in Costa Mesa.

Seven major county arts institutions organized the concert, which also featured classical and popular offerings by members of Opera Pacific, Pacific Symphony, Master Chorale of Orange County and musicians sponsored by the Orange County Philharmonic Society. Space limitations prevented Ballet Pacifica’s dancers from performing, but artistic director Molly Lynch acted as emcee.

Nearby South Coast Repertory theater joined the collaborative observance--the first artistic project involving all eight groups--with a dramatic reading, also benefiting the AIDS Service Foundation. That group’s development director, Patrick Jager, praised the combined effort.

“AIDS in Orange County has an image problem,” Jager said. “So many people think of it as a ‘they’ issue, but this shows us it’s a ‘we’ issue.”

Concert-goers, many on their lunch break, said they were drawn by the entertainment as well as the cause.

“I’m a supporter and lover of the arts, and I thought this would show solidarity,” said Joel Abramsohn, a Costa Mesa bond trader.

“AIDS is a really big problem that needs to be solved,” said 12-year-old Gabriel Kalomas, who sang with Pacific Chorale’s chorus.