There was a time when, if you...

There was a time when, if you wanted to see a world-class concert or

take in an award-winning play you had to drive to Los Angeles.

Now, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Thanks to the Orange County Performing Arts Center, the best

plays, concerts and shows are regulars in the county. And the center

as a venue will only become increasingly spectacular next fall after

the opening of the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall and

Samueli Theater.

Last week, Center officials announced the program for the new

hall’s opening celebrations. On Friday, center president Jerry Mandel

took a little time to answer a few questions from Pilot managing

editor S.J. Cahn about the opening celebration performances, the

status of the construction and just who he’d have at his dream

performance.

Quickly, for those who may have missed it, can you run through the

program for the Opening Celebration for the Renee and Henry

Segerstrom Concert Hall and Samueli Theater?

We open on the 15th of September, 2006, with a gala concert

featuring the Pacific Symphony Orchestra with special guest Placido

Domingo doing an original work by William Bolcom. The next night, on

the 16th, the Pacific Symphony will again be performing, this time an

original work by Philip Glass. On Sept. 17, the Philharmonic Society

of Orange County, in collaboration with the Salzburg Festival, will

present a tribute to Mozart’s 250th birthday, but he will not be

there.

September 29 through 30 will be the 20-year anniversary

celebration of the center and we will have an all-star tribute to the

Great American Songbook with pop and jazz and Broadway performers.

Then the cornerstone of the grand opening, October 6 through 22,

the great Kirov Opera, Ballet and Orchestra will be in residence, the

first time we think this has been done, certainly in this part of the

world. The highlights will include the North American premiere of the

Kirov’s production of Wagner’s “Ring,” the quintessential Russian

opera “Boris Godunov,” and orchestra concerts, including a joint

concert with our own Pacific Symphony. The orchestras will be doing

Shostakovich’s “Leningrad Symphony” for two orchestras. It will be

Shostakovich’s 100th birthday celebration, and he won’t be there

either.

And then the Kirov Ballet will conclude with “Swan Lake” and

“Romeo and Juliet.”

How did the center decide which pieces would be appropriate for

the opening? Was there some kind of intangible criteria?

First of all, we worked on the opening months for more than two

years. We had three objectives. One was to introduce the new home for

our resident orchestra, the Pacific Symphony, and have them do

premiere works. Second was to have a broad base of performances to

show the versatility of the new hall and the quality of the new hall,

and third was to do something of such international magnitude that

the world would recognize that we are a serious classical arts place.

Hence the Kirov’s three companies.

If you could pick one piece from the opening, which are you most

excited about?

“The Ring.” This is the most spectacular performing arts

presentation in the history of Orange County. This “Ring” is the

North American premiere of the Kirov’s production, and “The Ring”

itself has never been done in Southern California in a single season.

What will the opening of the new concert hall mean for the Orange

County Performing Arts Center? And what will it mean for the arts, in

general, in the county?

It means that the center has completed its campus and will now

have four venues in which to present music and performing arts to the

community. And for the community, it means that no one in Orange

County will ever need to leave home to experience the best both in

depth and breadth of the performing arts -- it will all be here.

Once the new hall and theater are opened, how do you think they

will change the dynamic of the center and what it can offer to the

public?

Again, it will offer four halls instead of two, so you can assume

that in essence we will be able to double what we present at the

center. It means that we will be able to do longer runs of Broadway

shows. And the Pacific Symphony and Opera Pacific will be able to

expand and develop their art forms.

Finally, it will mean we can double the arts education we provide

for our young people and try to bring as many as half a million kids

a year here.

Can you give us a little rundown on where the construction work is

today and how it’s going?

We are on time and on budget, and the building will absolutely

open on September 15, 2006. We will have it for acoustical testing

and prep by June 2006. The beams that form the roof of the new hall

have been put on and we are about 45% done.

The center is approaching its 20th anniversary. How has it changed

over the decades, as well as the arts scene in Orange County?

We have now brought in close to 11 million people to see the arts

that, if the center had not been built, those people wouldn’t have

experienced that.

The arts scene has changed in that really, the resident companies

-- Pacific Symphony, Opera Pacific, Pacific Chorale, the Philharmonic

Society, particularly Pacific Symphony and Opera Pacific -- were

embryonic back then.... And today they are major companies, so that

is a really big change....

Over the years, the general climate of arts education in public

education has declined, and as a result we have increased our work.

Now we are the largest provider of arts education in Southern

California and one of the largest two arts education providers in the

country. The other is the Kennedy Center.

What’s your all-time favorite performance at the center?

My favorite performer at the center, without doubt or question,

has been Diana Krall. There is no second.

Everything that opens here is something that I want to see.

Everything that comes here, each new show and new jazz-series

performer, is what I want to see.