Noteworthy occasion at arts center

One year remains before the 2,000-seat Renee and Henry Segerstrom

Concert Hall and the 500-seat Samueli Theater are scheduled to open.

Crowds packed the hollow interior of the new complex on the Orange

County Performing Arts Center’s campus Friday for a different kind of

show.

In this theater-in-the-round performance, construction workers

played the lead roles. They sawed, hammered and shot sparks into the

air from all corners of the dimly lighted concert hall.

Capital campaign donors, special guests and members of the media

packed the inside of the concert hall and stood on a platform that

will soon become the main stage.

Construction is 70% complete in the new concert hall complex, said

Darrell Waters, the project manager for Fluor, the company overseeing

construction.

He took the crowds on a brief tour of the building’s interior,

showing them the skeletons of the design by architect Cesar Pelli.

Late last month, the first of 650 glass panels was put into place

on the exterior of the building. Most of the roof has been finished,

but scaffolding will remain inside the concert hall until the spring.

“I can tell you that this is the most exciting time for us,”

Judith O’Dea Morr, the Arts Center’s interim president, told a crowd

on Friday. “We have the excitement of watching a new theater grow

before our eyes.”

Mike Gordon, the center’s new chairman of the board of directors,

said $128.4 million of the $200-million goal has been pledged.

Waters, who showed the audience a month-by-month construction

progress slide show, said 300 construction workers are assigned to

the project.

Acoustic testing is expected to begin in the spring, Waters said.

“Everything inside is hard surfaces for acoustical reasons,”

Waters said.

Once completed, the concert hall complex will join with South

Coast Repertory to create the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

“It will create an even stronger cultural heart for our community

-- one that will have a powerful impact on cultural life,” Gordon

said.

Carl St. Clair, musical director of Orange County’s Pacific

Symphony, said the orchestra will increase its classical series from

24 to 40 concerts beginning next year, when it moves into the new

concert hall.

The opening night gala is planned for Sept. 15, 2006, with a performance by the Pacific Symphony that includes Placido Domingo

performing the world premiere of a song cycle by composer William

Bolcom based on texts by Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca.

The opening month of celebrations include premieres from

international artists, newly commissioned pieces and performances

from three renowned Russian companies.