Stages of discovery

IT’S 7:30 p.m. and you’re hot to hear this piece for 100 electric guitars by Glenn Branca at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Usually you can get in, even at the last minute. But on this night it’s sold out.

Well, what about that Rachmaninoff concert the next week?

Same thing.

But if you have some flexibility, you could get your new music fix with Vinny Golia at the REDCAT or your fill of Romantic music by the Pasadena Symphony a few days later.

Though this very scenario played out just a few weeks ago, it’s typical of the busy spring performing arts season here. Yes, Disney Hall, the Ahmanson Theatre and the Orange County Performing Arts Center tend to grab the headlines, but there is plenty of first-rate artistic life outside their walls. The trick lies in knowing where to find it.

Southern California has a wealth of venues that consistently offer programming of high quality -- whether they are churches, museums, universities, civic auditoriums or historic sites. Better yet, the prices usually won’t tax your wallet.

This weekend, for instance, the young Avalon String Quartet plays at the Doheny Mansion, pianist Christopher O’Riley plays the music of Elliott Smith at the Getty Center, the New York-based Parsons Dance Company appears at Cal State Northridge, the enterprising Jacaranda chamber music series continues at the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica and Southwest Chamber Music plays at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena.

And that’s not a complete list by any means.

“There are, in fact, a lot of choices,” says Deborah Borda, president of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Assn.

“You have a truly great chamber music hall in Zipper downtown. I go there on a regular basis. You have Royce, which is an absolute jewel. The place I attend away from the Music Center more often than anything else would be Royce. There’s a real advantage of having very good halls of different sizes.”

They run the gamut from the Alex Theatre in Glendale to the Zipper Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. And between A and Z, you can easily find dozens of smaller, less well-known Southland venues that regularly offer music, dance and theater events, whether as part of their own series or as rentals.

But where to start?

Here’s a look at some of the more significant and perhaps surprising places.

Historic sites

Ice cream came to Los Angeles in 1856. Surfing was introduced to California at Redondo Beach in 1907. So culture palaces could not be far behind in this relentless march of progress. In fact, some of the Southland’s best sites date from the early decades of the last century. Going to a performance in them today is a magnificent reminder of our rich cultural history.

The Alex Theatre was built in 1925 as an upscale vaudeville and movie hall, and it was renovated by the city of Glendale in 1992 as a centerpiece of the city’s Brand Boulevard revitalization, honoring the site’s historic importance. But there’s nothing dated about its offerings. You could have caught the exciting modern dance troupe Hubbard Street Dance Chicago or pianist-conductor Jeffrey Kahane and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in their Mozart series last year. Another LACO concert is coming up May 20, and Burbank-based Media City Ballet will open its fifth season with a new production of “Hansel and Gretel” May 13 and 14. (It’s also home to the occasional TV taping.)

The Doheny Mansion opens a window on deluxe Victorian living. Built in 1899-1900 and sold in 1901 to oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny, it is now part of Mount St. Mary’s College’s downtown L.A. campus. The resident Da Camera Society sponsors chamber music programs under the Tiffany glass dome of the Pompeian Room. (The society also finds attractive venues such as the Bradbury Building and the Queen Mary for its “Music in Historic Sites” series.) The next chance to sample the lifestyles of the rich and famous comes Friday, with the Avalon String Quartet, and May 12, with the Toronto-based Gryphon Trio.

An important piece of Hollywood history is the 1,200-seat Ricardo Montalban Theatre, a 1920s landmark previously called the Doolittle Theatre and before that the Huntington Hartford. It got a new name when the Ricardo Montalban Nosostros Foundation took it over from UCLA in 2000, looking for a venue to enhance opportunities for Latinos in the entertainment industry. John Stothers’ musical “Pilgrim” just finished its run. No other show has been announced, but stay tuned.

Built in 1873 as the only California opera house south of San Francisco, the 680-seat Lobero Theatre was refurbished in 1924 as a more versatile space. It’s now home to several Santa Barbara arts groups, including Santa Barbara Opera and Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, but it will draw a more far-flung audience this summer when dance superstar Mikhail Baryshnikov and Hell’s Kitchen Dance make their only Southern California appearance June 21 to 23.

Others to look for: Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara, Wilshire Ebell Theatre in L.A., Wadsworth Theatre in West L.A. and Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena

Religious sites

Churches and synagogues have become sanctuaries for emerging groups that have small wallets but big ideas, including exploring new repertory or mixing old and new in interesting ways. The sites help remind us of the arts’ higher aspirations too.

Actor’s Co-op, based at the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, has won six Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards, including a 1996 citation for sustained achievement by a small theater. It performs in two venues in the church: the Crossley Terrace Theatre and the Crossley Theatre. Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” has been extended at the Crossley Terrace through Sunday. Larry Shue’s comedy “The Nerd” will open Friday and run through May 28 at the Crossley Theatre.

The First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica is the base for the enterprising Jacaranda music series, founded in 2003 by Mark Hilt (one of the church’s directors of music) and Patrick Scott. This adventuresome group juxtaposes newer and older repertory. Next up is a Saturday concert to honor the 50th anniversary of neo-Romantic Romanian composer Georges Enesco’s death. His works will be played alongside music by Ravel.

Westwood United Methodist Church is home to composer Young Riddle’s Nimbus Ensemble, in its third season. This ensemble also juxtaposes new and older music, but with a twist. Each program includes a “mystery” piece identified from the stage. Sunday’s program will include works by La Monte Young, Shostakovich, Lutoslawski and somebody else. To find out who, you’ll have to go.

Though it recently finished its current season, the Music Guild casts a wide net, with concerts at Sinai Temple in Westwood, Valley Beth Shalom in Encino and (the secular) Daniel Recital Hall at Cal State Long Beach. Founded in 1944, this presenter has a history of spotting up-and-coming ensembles, as well as bringing in more established artists. There’s also a smaller Sunday afternoon series at University Synagogue in Brentwood. Catch their programs next year.

Others to look for: Concerts also pop up regularly at the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena, Pasadena Presbyterian, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian in Newport Beach, St. Luke’s Episcopal in Long Beach, Rolling Hills Covenant Church, St. Matthew’s in Pacific Palisades, Pacific Unitarian Church and Temple Beth Torah in Ventura.

On campus

Colleges and universities see the arts as more than a means of enriching their students’ educational experience. They realize they can bridge the gap between town and gown by enticing community audiences onto campus for performances they might not find anywhere else locally.

UCLA presents the most inclusive list through its UCLA Live series at Royce Hall. Built in 1929 on the model of a church in Milan, Italy, Royce is an acoustically superior site. Chinese powerhouse pianist Yundi Li made his L.A. recital debut there last Thursday. Upcoming events include the innovative Vancouver-based dance company the Holy Body Tattoo on Saturday and Sunday and satirist David Sedaris on April 28.

Cal State Fullerton opened a $48.5-million Performing Arts Center in January, designed by the same team that created the Zipper Concert Hall at the Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles. The centerpiece of the new facility is the 800-seat Meng Concert Hall, where the Pacific Symphony will play April 30 in a return to its roots. The orchestra, which next season moves into its new Orange County home, the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, was born at the university 27 years ago.

Just topping 1,100 seats, the Luckman Theatre is part of the Harriet & Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State Los Angeles. It’s home to James Newton’s Luckman Jazz Orchestra, which just finished its season but will return in the fall. Visiting groups include Britain’s enterprising Phoenix Dance Theatre on April 28 and 29 and risk-taking Montreal Danse on May 13.

Professional groups playing at the Zipper Concert Hall include Musica Angelica, the Piano Spheres series, Camerata Pacifica, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s “Conversations” series and, next up, the new Dilijan Chamber Music series with an Armenian genocide commemoration on Friday.

Others to look for: Glorya Kaufman and Schoenberg halls at UCLA, Beckman and Ramo auditoriums at Caltech, Bing Theater at USC, Santa Monica College, Bridges Auditorium at the Claremont Colleges, Campbell Hall at UCSB, Los Angeles Harbor College, the Carpenter Performing Arts Center and Martha B. Knoebel Dance Theater at Cal State Long Beach, Laguna Beach Artists Theatre at Laguna Beach High School, Marsee Auditorium at El Camino College and Raitt Recital Hall at Pepperdine University.

Museums

Art museums and other institutions focus on visual or broad cultural missions, but they often supplement their aims by hosting music or dance events to enrich their patrons’ experiences.

The Huntington Library, established in 1919 as a research and educational institution, has become a summer site for Southwest Chamber Music. (It also plays concerts at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena and Zipper Hall.) Its next Norton Simon concert is Saturday, with a repeat at Zipper on Tuesday. Southwest’s summer series runs July 7 through Aug. 26.

The famed Getty Center in Los Angeles, which houses Western art from the Middle Ages to the present, and the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, the Getty’s original home, also offer music events. The New York Chamber Soloists will play works by Stravinsky, Milhaud, Satie and others at the Getty Center on May 6.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is discontinuing its distinguished serious music programs at the end of this season, but you can still catch the amazing Italian pianist Marino Formenti in two contemporary music programs Monday and May 1.

The Skirball Cultural Center in L.A. mainly explores 4,000 years of Jewish culture through exhibitions, films and music, but it also presents a modest, enterprising dance series. Next up are Japanese movement artists Eiko and Koma with Cambodia’s Reyum Painting Collective in “Water Colors” on Monday.

Civic auditoriums

Cities tend to reach a stage where pride needs to be expressed in an impressive building that lets the public access the arts. Some of the Southland’s oldest buildings reflect that pride and address the public’s democratic range of interests.

The 3,000-seat Pasadena Civic Auditorium, built in 1931, holds musicals, ballets, televised award shows and other events. But for the music lover, it’s best known as the home of the Pasadena Symphony, which will close its 78th season on May 6 when Jorge Mester conducts works by Glinka, Prokofiev and Berlioz.

The Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, owned and operated by the city of Cerritos, opened in 1993. It offers more than 150 performances a season, ranging from pops to opera. The center can be configured six ways, from an 1,800-seat area theater down to a 900-seat recital hall. Last week, Ballet NY danced parts of George Balanchine’s “Who Cares?” and other works. As part of the theater’s Jose Iturbi series, which showcases young emerging artists, baritone Quinn Kelsey will sing works by Beethoven, Bellini and other composers on Wednesday. The London-based Carl Rosa Company will stage “H.M.S. Pinafore” on April 28.

Last year, you could have caught tap virtuoso Savion Glover dancing to music by Vivaldi, Bach and Mendelssohn at the jewel-box Irvine Barclay Theatre. This 750-seat theater was built in 1990 as a joint project by the city of Irvine, UC Irvine and the Irvine Theatre Operating Company. It will present its annual summer Flamenco Festival on Aug. 4-13 and an adaptation of the Chinese classic “The Peony Pavilion” on Sept. 22-24. The theater also serves as the site for chamber music concerts sponsored by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County. Next up on that series is pianist Krystian Zimerman on Friday.

Built in 1920, the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, owned and operated by Los Angeles County, is one of the city’s oldest performing arts sites still in use. The 1,241-seat outdoor theater is home to a variety of events from May through October, including Ballet Moderno y Folkorico Nacional de Guatemala on May 27, Winifred R. Harris’ Between Lines on June 17 and the Viver Brasil Dance Company on July 7.

Others to look for: Norris Center for Performing Arts in Palos Verdes, Countrywide Performing Arts Center in Thousand Oaks and Oxnard Performing Arts Center.

Satellites

and independents

Institutions sometimes reach out to other parts of a community, as Valencia-based CalArts did by opening REDCAT to reach a downtown L.A. audience. Other venues exist simply on their own. Either way, they show individual profiles in their arts offerings.

Some of the wackiest and most cutting-edge events can be found at REDCAT (the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater), housed in the same complex as Walt Disney Concert Hall. There will be a tribute to contemporary microtonal composer Ben Johnston on May 17, and the ensemble Partch will continue an ongoing multimedia survey of the chamber music of maverick composer Harry Partch on May 30.

Another venue devoted to cutting-edge art is Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, founded by writer Linda Frye Burnham and performance artist Tim Miller in 1989. Upcoming events include R Dance Company’s “Freedom Dances” on April 28 to 30.

Others to look for: Ivar Theatre, Fountain Theater, Open Fist Theatre and Unknown Theatre in Hollywood; Japan America Theatre and Nate Holden Center for the Performing Arts in L.A.; El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood; Electric Lodge in Venice; Miles Memorial Playhouse in Santa Monica; Madrid Theater in Canoga Park; Founders Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center; and Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla.

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Directory of venues

Historic sites

Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale, (818) 243-2539. www.alextheatre.org

Doheny Mansion, 10 Chester Place, L.A. Da Camera Society of Mount St. Mary’s College: (213) 477-2929, www.dacamera.org

Ricardo Montalban Theatre, 1615 N. Vine St., Hollywood. (323) 465-4167, www.nosotros.org/theatre.html

Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St., Santa Barbara. (805) 963-0761, www.lobero.com

Religious sites

Actor’s Co-op at First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, 1760 N. Gower St., Hollywood. (323) 462-8460. www.actorsco-op.org

Jacaranda at First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica, 1220 2nd St., Santa Monica. (310) 451-1303, www.jacarandamusic.org

Music Guild at Sinai Temple, 10400 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood; Valley Beth Shalom, 15739 Ventura Blvd., Encino; Daniel Recital Hall at Cal State Long Beach; and University Synagogue, 11960 Sunset Blvd, Brentwood. (323) 954-0404, www.themusicguild.org

Nimbus Ensemble at Westwood United Methodist Church, 10497 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. (818) 591-0232, www.nimbusensemble.org

On campus

Luckman Theatre, Cal State L.A., 5151 State University Drive, L.A. (323) 343-6600, www.luckmanfineartscomplex.org

Meng Concert Hall, Cal State Fullerton, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton. (714) 278-2011, campusapps.fullerton.edu/news/2005/performingarts/index.html

Royce Hall, UCLA, Westwood. (310) 825-2101, www.UCLALive.org

Zipper Concert Hall, Colburn School of Performing Arts, 200 S. Grand Ave., L.A. For school events, (213) 621 2200, www.colburnschool.edu

Museums

Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Drive, L.A. (310) 440-7300, www.getty.edu

Huntington Library, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. Contact Southwest Chamber Music: (626) 685-4455, www.swmusic.org

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. (323) 857-6010, www.lacma.org

Norton Simon Museum, 411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. (626) 685-4455, www.swmusic.org

Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., L.A. (310) 440-4500, www.skirball.org

Civic auditoriums

Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos. (800) 300-4345, www.cerritoscenter.org

Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine. (949) 854-4646, www.thebarclay.org

John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood. (323) 461-3673, www.fordamphitheatre.org

Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena. Contact (626) 584-8833, www.pasadenasymphony.org

Satellites and independents

REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd St., L.A. (213) 237-2800, www.redcat.org

Highways Performance Space and Gallery, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica. (310) 315-1459, www.highwaysperformance.org