NEWS AND LINKS: L.A. Phil to present Mahler's 8th at the Shrine Auditorium

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News

One of the intriguing questions left open from the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 2011-2012 season announcement was the location for the performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (which the Phil expects will match the work’s usual subtitle, Symphony of a Thousand) on Feb. 4, 2012. The answer? The Shrine Auditorium.

The 8 p.m. concert will be the culmination of the Phil’s “Mahler Project,” which will see Gustavo Dudamel leading the LAPO and the Simón Bolivár Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela (two of three orchestras he heads) in all nine of Mahler’s symphonies, the Adagio from Symphony No. 10, and Songs of a Wayfarer, beginning Jan. 13, 2012 in Walt Disney Concert Hall. Season tickets are still on sale. Single-ticket sales ($30-$170) will begin Aug. 21 via credit card online and via phone (www.laphil.com; 323/850-2000)

The Shrine, located on Jefferson Blvd. adjacent to the University of Southern California, was a logical choice for Mahler’s 8th for several reasons.

Perhaps first and foremost, its stage (194 feet wide and 69 feet deep) is nearly big enough to house the thousand musicians that will be used in the performance, although Sophie Jefferies, the Phil’s Director of Public Relations, says the orchestra will need to extend the stage for the performance. Disney Hall could (maybe) hold the two orchestras but the choristers would have to be in surrounding seats.

In addition to the combined orchestras, Dudamel will lead an octet of vocal soloists (still TBD) and about 800 choral singers from 15 different ensembles, including several from the San Gabriel Valley: Los Angeles Master Chorale; L.A. Children’s Chorus; Pacific Chorale; Angel City Chorus; Angeles Chorale; Choir of All Saints Church, Pasadena; Chorus of the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles; Gay Men’s Chorus; L.A. Chamber Choir; Los Robles Master Chorale; Pasadena Pro Musica; Pasadena Master Chorale; Philippine Chamber Singers; Vox Femina; and the National Children’s Chorus.

Second, with about 6,300 seats (although Jefferies notes the stage extension will eat up some of those) the Shrine can hold five times the number of spectators that could have been accommodated in Disney Hall after choral musicians filled 800 of WDCH’s 2,250 seats.

While the Shrine can’t match Disney Hall’s acoustics, its sound qualities will undoubtedly prove adequate for this one-shot venture. Among other things, the Shrine hosted opera productions frequently in the days before the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was built; my earliest recollection is seeing the opera Hansel and Gretel as an elementary school student in the 1950s. San Francisco Opera also made regular visits in the 1940s and 1950s.

In addition to opera, the long and colorful history of the auditorium (which was opened in 1926) has seen it play host to several editions of the Academy Awards and Grammys and the 2006 Miss Universe Pageant. The Shrine was where, in 1984, Michael Jackson accidentally set his hair on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial. For 33 years the Shrine stage was home to USC basketball and the Lakers actually played a few playoff games there when the nearby Sports Arena (the Lakers’ original home) was unavailable. A Wikipedia link with other historical information is HERE.

The complete L.A. Phil media release is HERE.
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(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

Comments

[LonnieA64]

I read about the Shrine being renovated a few years ago, so it's not quite as drab and dusty as it once was. Thank goodness for that, because I recall visiting there in the past and not getting the best of vibes from the location.

The area to the east of the hall also has been developed in the past year or two, and the street in front of the Shrine was upgraded a bit and turned into a semi-plaza. So people who haven't visited the Shrine in years (pre-Chandler Pavilion, pre-Disney Hall) at least won't feel too strongly the emotions of "you can never go home again."

[מרינה הרצליה]

I think about the Shrine being remodeled a few decades ago, so it's not quite as dull and dirty as it once was.

[Bob Thomas]

Thanks for commenting. All I can say in reply is if what you wrote is true, I'm glad I didn't see it earlier (my previous experience went back many decades)! Acoustically, the Shrine is a barn and it looked pretty shopworn, as well.