On the evening of Jan. 8, Matt Cook, artistic and executive director of the Sierra Madre Playhouse, got a concerned call from New York. A group of musicians led by composer Tania León was scheduled to fly to Los Angeles the next morning for a performance and conversation co-sponsored by Composers Now and Wild Up and taking place at the small theater.
Given the fires in the news, they were thinking of postponing the event. “No need,” Cook replied. The problem was in Pacific Palisades, many miles away.
A few hours later, around 4 a.m. Pacific Time, the musicians were at the airport in New York when Cook called and told them not to get on the plane. “You were right,” he said. “This can’t happen. Stay home.”
By then, of course, the Eaton Fire was roaring through nearby Altadena. It was ultimately stopped two blocks from the playhouse.
Not everyone in the Southern California arts community has a story as dramatic, but every arts organization has been touched by the flames in one way or another. Administrators are now assessing what the future looks like, as well as how audiences and, crucially, donors will respond.
“I think everyone in Southern California knows at least one person who was majorly impacted by the fires,” said Daniel Song, chief operating officer of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. “We had two of our musicians who lost their homes. One was able to get their instruments out; the other one didn’t.”
That sad news was echoed around town. At Los Angeles Opera, fire claimed the homes of five board members, two orchestra players, and a chorister, according to Christopher Koelsch, the company’s president and CEO.
At Los Angeles Master Chorale, one professional singer, three orchestra members, and one teaching artist had their homes destroyed, said president and CEO Scott Altman.
At Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, “two of our orchestra members, a married couple, lost their home,” reported Executive Director Ben Cadwallader. So did Julie Gigante, a retired LACO violinist whose face is familiar from the orchestra’s iconic mural in downtown Los Angeles. Cadwallader also noted that former Music Director Jeffrey Kahane’s home survived but with massive smoke damage.
Five Pasadena Symphony musicians lost their homes, according to CEO Andrew Brown. While all were able to get their instruments out, preparing to return to performance was far from easy.
“We had our first post-fire concert on Saturday, Jan. 25, and one of our violinists did not have their concert attire,” Brown said. “That wasn’t among the things they were able to grab [while fleeing their house]. So people were pitching in to find that individual performance attire in concert black.”
That concert was, not surprisingly, an emotional affair, related Brown. The audience included more than 100 first responders and people affected by the fires, all of whom were offered free tickets.
“We opened the program with [Samuel] Barber’s Adagio for Strings,” Brown said. “Most of the program was quite upbeat, including Mozart’s ‘Jupiter’ Symphony, but we felt we needed to acknowledge what had happened to us as a community. Adding the Barber was the perfect way to do that.
“We got a lot of wonderful feedback after the concert. I heard the word ‘catharsis’ several times.”
The Master Chorale’s first concert back was similarly cathartic. “We opened all remaining seats free to first responders and those who were affected by the fire,” noted Altman. “Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone sat next to me. He had never been to Disney Hall. He was moved to tears. More than 60 of his staff were able to come.
“We had an enormous audience — at least 1,900 people, including around 700 community members who took advantage of our free-ticket offer. It was at least an hour after the concert ended that [the last] people dispersed from the lobby. They were enjoying spending time together. That felt great.”
Something similar happened across the street at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Feb. 1, where LA Opera was presenting a concert with Broadway star Kelli O’Hara. The company also offered free tickets to first responders and those directly impacted by the fires, and 1,100 people took advantage of the offer.
“The response to the concert was enthusiastic,” said Koelsch. “You felt a sense of kinship in that room.”
As these stories suggest, the need to gather together — to mourn, celebrate, or both — seems to be drawing people back to Los Angeles’ concert halls, which is a reassuring sign for area ensembles concerned that shell-shocked patrons might stay home. So far at least, that’s not happening.
The LA Phil canceled one weekend of orchestral concerts, but the following weekend’s performances “sold really well,” said Song. “I was afraid that the no-show rate would be really high, but it wasn’t.”
Those canceled Jan. 10–12 performances will not be rescheduled, but Song hopes that revenue loss can be made up by the end of the season. LACO had to postpone two Baroque concerts scheduled for the second weekend of January, but they have been rescheduled for May. And the new-music evening in Sierra Madre will also be rescheduled for the spring.
Pasadena Playhouse was forced to cancel two semistaged musical productions it had planned to present at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in late January. That facility served as an evacuation center after the fires.
“We honored all the commitments we made to folks to make sure they got paid,” said Danny Feldman, the playhouse’s producing artistic director. “Many of our supporters donated their tickets back, and we’re really grateful for that. But we’ll take a bit of a financial hit for sure.”
Pasadena Playhouse’s home venue is only a mile from the fire’s edge, and it suffered significant wind damage. “Our building is about to turn 100 years old, and we have the original loading-dock door,” Feldman said. “It blew open in the middle of the storm and had some damage to it. Repairing a 100-year-old door is a tricky thing, and it probably won’t be cheap.”
Which suggests the largest issue on all these administrators’ minds at the moment: What is the financial outlook for Los Angeles’ arts organizations going forward? “When there’s so much need in a community, resources will go to recovery relief,” Feldman noted. And this could lead organizations that offer what might be perceived as comparative luxuries — music and art — to lose significant funding.
“We’d be naive to think this won’t have an impact on our fundraising as performing arts institutions,” said Cadwallader. The question really is what the magnitude of that impact will be.
“At LACO and at most arts institutions, there’s a lot of donor loyalty. But my concern is we’re going to see a significant reduction. We’re already strategizing about what additional sources of revenue we can explore, perhaps from the national arts funding community.”
At the LA Phil, Song is fairly hopeful. “I’m seeing a level of generosity in our community that I haven’t seen before,” he said, pointing to the Getty-led LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund and countless individual fundraising efforts.
“The fires weren’t even out yet when our CEO [Kim Noltemy] quickly mobilized a fund to support our musicians and staff who were affected,” Song noted. “This wasn’t a public thing. Some of our board members who have homes in the Palisades and had to evacuate have contributed to that fund. It was beautiful to see our family come together in a moment like this. That gives me optimism.”
At the Pasadena Symphony, Brown has also seen that generosity firsthand. “One other piece of our affected community is our Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestra,” he noted. “One of its partner sites, Eliot Arts Magnet middle school, burned to the ground, and a lot of instruments were lost.
“We’ve done an instrument drive [to replace them], and so far we’ve received more than 65 [donations]. We’re going to be working with our youth orchestra conductors and other school sites to check [the instruments] we’ve received, do whatever maintenance they require, and then get them back in the kids’ hands as quickly as we can.”
Still, the long-term funding outlook is uncertain, and arts administrators are in wait-and-see mode. “We don’t know if we’ll take a serious financial hit, but the responsible thing to do is plan for that,” said Feldman.
Koelsch noted that 14 percent of LA Opera’s subscribers live in zip codes directly impacted by the fires. “That’s a pretty big number,” he said. “But our initial analysis indicates there isn’t cause for major concern [in terms of attendance or donations].
“Nothing is predictable, but our experience is our audience often increases their giving in times of crisis because they fear we will be left behind [by regular funders who suddenly have other priorities]. That was true of COVID and of the 2008 financial crisis.”
Asked if he was “concerned” about a possible drop-off in donations to the Master Chorale, Altman said he would instead choose the word “aware.”
“I really feel our patrons understand the importance of maintaining what we do,” he explained. “Our arts institutions are important to the identity of our community. Delivering a sense of hope to those who have been so devastated is an important part of restoration.”
To that end, LACO is offering free tickets to first responders and those impacted by the fires for all of its remaining concerts this season.
“We hope to see a good response,” said Cadwallader. “Those are the people who need healing the most. Rebuilding entire neighborhoods that were just erased will be a long process. So we wanted to make a long-term commitment to the people whose lives were upended.
“Our messaging for the rest of the season is going to be around the importance of having a meditative space to encounter beauty together,” he added. “That is something that we need and that LACO can provide. We hope that resonates with folks. Our resolve is as strong as ever to serve our community through music.”
