She’s leaving -- but not entirely

In a transition whose effects have yet to play out, Andrea Van de Kamp, the departing chairwoman and chief executive of the Music Center, has been named the center’s first chairperson emeritus.

“Andrea is an incredible resource,” says John Emerson, who took over from Van de Kamp on Tuesday as head of the fund-raising and operations arm of the downtown performing arts complex. “I hope to have her very much involved in the center’s life. She wants to take a year and pull back from everything, and then we’ll talk about a future role.”

Van de Kamp, who was traveling and could not be reached for comment, was an important force in the completion of Disney Hall and in the merging of two separate entities -- one fund-raising, the other operations -- into the current Music Center.

As chairman, Emerson said, he hopes “to build the board and ensure the continued financial vitality of the Music Center, and to continue to develop the Music Center’s outreach into the broader communities in Los Angeles.”

He also aims “to cultivate dance and other performing arts not represented by the four resident companies” and to ensure a “seamless transition” as the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Los Angeles Master Chorale move to Disney Hall.

Los Angeles Opera and the Center Theater Group, the other two resident companies, will remain at the original center -- the opera in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the theater group in the Ahmanson Theatre and Mark Taper Forum.

After the opening of Disney Hall, Emerson said, “we may turn our attention to the plaza and to the Grand Avenue [development] project, and I would love for Andrea to play a major role in that too. She’s got incredible energy.”

Emerson, who will work with the Music Center’s new president, Stephen D. Rountree, is the president of Capital Guardian Trust and a former appointee of both President Clinton and Mayor James K. Hahn.

Van de Kamp will continue to work as a fund-raiser for Disney Hall.