The Center’s Milestones

Key events on the road to the Orange County Performing Arts Center’s 10th anniversary:

May 1973: The Orange County Cultural Center, a nonprofit corporation, is formed by civic and business leaders to establish a music center on an undetermined site.

May 1979: The family of multimillionaire landowner-developer Henry T. Segerstrom donates five acres in Costa Mesa for the project. The family later contributes $6 million in cash and pledges.

September 1980: A fund-raising drive for the proposed Orange County Music Center begins.

March 1981: Len Bedsow, former general manager of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Assn., becomes the center’s first executive director.

November 1981: Center officials unveil designs for the facility drafted by Caudill Rowlett Scott, a Houston architectural firm. Blurock Partnership of Newport Beach is architectural associate.

January 1982: The project is renamed the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

July 1983: Construction begins. It will be completed in September 1984.

May 1985: Thomas R. Kendrick, director of operations at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, becomes executive director. (Bedsow retired in fall 1984.)

November 1985: Officials announce the center’s first signed attraction: New York City Opera, to present Bizet’s “Carmen,” Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” and Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide” in January 1987.

March 1986: The center presents its first annual Imagination Celebration, a children’s arts festival founded by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

August 1986: New York-based Richard Lippold’s “Fire Bird” sculpture is installed under the center’s arched facade. The center’s theater is dedicated as Segerstrom Hall, named for its biggest benefactor.

Sept. 29, 1986: The center opens. Conductor Zubin Mehta, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and soprano Leontyne Price help christen the facility.

October 1986: New York City Ballet stages its first West Coast performance in 12 years.

December 1988: American Ballet Theatre presents the world premiere of company artistic director Mikhail Baryshnikov’s staging of “Swan Lake.”

September 1991: The center celebrates its fifth anniversary with a gala featuring Ben Vereen, Hal Ketchum and Ann Jillian.

June 1993: Performance by Art Garfunkel marks the first center presentation of a pop-rock artist. Kendrick resigns as executive director to “devote more time to other interests” but signs a five-year contract as a consultant to the board.

July 1993: Tom Tomlinson, president of the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts in Anchorage, is named executive director.

December 1993: American Ballet Theatre presents the world premiere of its “Nutcracker,” staged by troupe director Kevin McKenzie.

January 1996: The center board announces it will pursue plans to double the facility’s size and capacity with three new halls.

June 1996: Center announces plans for its 10th Anniversary Gala Concert on Sept. 8, featuring mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore, pianist Emanuel Ax, baritone Gino Quilico and the Pacific Symphony.

July 1996: Tomlinson stuns the arts community by resigning, effective immediately, as chief operating officer, saying only, “It is time for me to move on.” Center officials give no explanation. Judith O’Dea Morr, the center’s former general manager who had returned in March to help with programming, replaces Tomlinson on an interim basis.

The Bigger Picture

While the Performing Arts Center was growing through its first decade, here’s what was happening among its resident groups and elsewhere in the regional arts community:

September, 1987: Opera Pacific founded

January, 1988: South Coast Repertory stages world premiere of Craig Lucas’ “Prelude to a Kiss”

February, 1988: Pacific Symphony founder and music director Keith Clark resigns (effective at the end of the ‘88-’89 season) after a battle with management

June, 1988: SCR wins Tony award for artistic achievements and contributions to cultural life of its community

October, 1990: Pacific Symphony hires music director Carl St.Clair from the Boston Symphony

January, 1993: Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts opens

March, 1993: Philharmonic Society presents Krasnoyarsk Dance Company of Siberia, despite Center management’s initial objections to such world dance programming

April, 1993: Pacific Symphony and Pacific Chorale perform world premier of James Hopkins’ “Songs of Eternity,” commissioned by Philharmonic Society

December, 1993: Philharmonic Society presents the Chieftains of Ireland, despite Center management’s initial objections to such world music programming.

March, 1994: Opera Pacific stages first Southern California production of Wagner’s “Die Walkure” in two decades

November, 1994: California Center for the Arts opens in Escondido

April, 1995: Pacific Symphony stages world premiere of “Fire Water Paper: A Vietnam Oratorio,” written by Elliot Goldenthal

September, 1995: Philharmonic Society presents Orange County’s first recital by famed mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli

July, 1996: Newport Harbor and Laguna Art Museums merge to become Orange County Museum of Art