Orange County Performing Arts Center
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The Orange County Performing Arts Center is a performing arts complex located in Costa Mesa, California. It is the home of the Pacific Symphony, Opera Pacific, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale. It has also served as the host to many touring Broadway productions, international dance companies and opera troupes.
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[edit] History
In 1969 the first group was formed to initiate plans to bring a major cultural center in Orange County, California. The group, called the Newport Harbor Foundation conducted studies and determined that Newport Beach would not be a suitable location for a complex. Three years later in 1972, another group based in Santa Ana conducted a separate and more extensive survey in determining a location. The group believed that any major center had to be located next to freeways for ease of accessibility. Over the next 6 years, they researched 19 different sites and despite the fact that three made the short list of potential sites, none were subsequently selected.
It wasn't until February of 1979 when Elaine Redfield, a patron and activist of the performing arts in the county suggested that an open 5 acre parcel near the growing shopping center of South Coast Plaza would be a perfect solution to the location question. The Segerstroms, a strong supporter of the arts to whom the land belonged to, were impressed by the proposal made by Redfield. They made their own proposal in offering the land to the Board of Directors of the performing arts center. The proposal was eventually accepted on May 15, 1979. Over the course of the next few years, the Segerstroms donated millions of dollars to the funding of the center.
Groundbreaking for the center occurred on July 7, 1983 with the official grand opening on September 29, 1986.
[edit] Performance and other facilities
These include:
- Segerstrom Hall, which seats 3,000, is designed as an opera house.
- Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall seats 2,000.
- Samueli Theater is a 500-seat multi-functional facility
- Founders Hall seats 460
- Lawrence and Kristina Dodge Education Center includes the studio performance space and the Boeing Education Lab
- Leatherby’s Cafe Rouge
- Two informal cafes.
- Community Plaza with 46,000-square-feet of space
[edit] Organ
The William J. Gillespie concert organ is an instrument designed for and installed in the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Orange County, California. The organ is a C.B. Fisk Opus 130, consisting of 4,322 pipes. The console has 4, 61-key manuals and one 32-note pedalboard. William J. Gillespie of Laguna Beach, donated $2.5 million out of the $3.1 million the organ cost.
[edit] See also
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