Performances
On July 11, 1922, with the audience seated on simple wooden benches placed on the natural hillsides of Bolton Canyon, conductor Alfred Hertz and the Los Angeles Philharmonic inaugurated the first season of music under the stars at the Hollywood Bowl. While much has changed in the ensuing years, the tradition of presenting the world's greatest musicians and striving for musical excellence has remained a constant goal of this famed Los Angeles cultural landmark.
The Hollywood Bowl has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, since its official opening in 1922, and, in 1991, gave its name to a resident ensemble that has filled a special niche in the musical life of Southern California, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.
In 1945, Leopold Stokowski formed the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, drawing its players from among members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and various film studios orchestras. He made a number of 78rpm recordings with them for RCA Victor during his two seasons there (1945–46) before returning to New York. The Hollywood Bowl Symphony's name was retained for a series of Capitol LPs made in the 1950s under such conductors as Felix Slatkin and Carmen Dragon.
Figures that have appeared at the Bowl throughout the years include President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Mickey Rooney & Edward G. Robinson, as well as such "teams" as Fonteyn and Nureyev, Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, Simon and Garfunkel & Abbott and Costello.
Mikhail Baryshnikov has danced there, as has Fred Astaire.
The Hollywood Bowl was the site for American singer-actress Cher's final two concerts of her Living Proof: The Farewell Tour on April 29 and April 30, 2005.
Nat "King" Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Alicia Keys, Carrie Underwood, Kylie Minogue, Elton John, Al Jolson, and Judy Garland have headlined star-studded shows at the Bowl, but the all-time attendance record of 26,410 paid admissions was set on August 7, 1936, for a performance by the diminutive French opera star, Lily Pons.
The Hollywood Bowl has provided a showcase for the world's greatest musicians. Bernstein, Walter, Monteux, Mauceri, Koussevitzky, Stokowski, Karajan, Klemperer, and Leinsdorf, as well as Mehta, Giulini, Rattle, and Salonen are just a few of the conductors who have led the Los Angeles Philharmonic in summertime concerts over the past seven decades. Jerry Hadley, Philip Glass, Itzhak Perlman, Gregor Piatigorsky, Arthur Rubinstein, Alfred Brendel, Vladimir Horowitz, Andre Watts, Horacio Gutierrez, Jessye Norman, Plácido Domingo, Beverly Sills, Isaac Stern, Kathleen Battle, Jane Eaglen, Marilyn Horne, Alexander Frey, Jennifer Larmore, Sylvia McNair, Andrea Bocelli, Gil Shaham, Stephen Hough, Luciano Pavarotti — and other distinguished vocal and instrumental soloists too numerous to mention — represent the illustrious talent that has graced the stage. But never during its long and illustrious history has the Bowl's programming been limited solely to symphonic events; fully staged operas were a regular part of the season in the early years, and the famed Bolshoi Ballet appeared during the 1950s.
In September 1950, California's official state centennial show, The California Story, ran for five performances. The production, directed by Vladimir Rosing, was immense. A chorus of 200 and hundreds of actors were employed. The shell of the bowl was removed, the stage was enlarged, and the action was expanded to include the surrounding hillsides. Lionel Barrymore provided the dramatic narration.
The Beatles performed at the Hollywood Bowl in 1964 and 1965, which resulted in the live album The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl that was released in 1977.
The Playboy Jazz Festival has taken place at the Hollywood Bowl each year since 1979.
The first public performances by the newly formed Hollywood Bowl Orchestra were for Independence Day concerts on July 2–4, 1991 conducted by the orchestra's new conductor John Mauceri and Bruce Hubbard (baritone) as soloist. The program included works by Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, John Williams, George Gershwin & Jerome Kern, among others.
The Hollywood Bowl was the site for what turned out to be the British progressive rock band Genesis' final ever concerts and the last two concerts of their Turn It On Again: The Tour on October 12 and 13, 2007. Lead singer Phil Collins at the last show said "there was nothing else planned for Genesis after this show" (eventually Phil Collins retired from the music industry in 2011).
The jam band Phish performed at the Bowl for the first time in August 2011. The show sold out in less than an hour.
Blink 182 headlined the Hollywood Bowl in 2011.
On June 2, 2012, the Beach Boys played a sold out show on their milestone 50th Anniversary tour.
On June 24, Glen Campbell will take the stage as part of his "Goodbye Tour". This will also be his very last performance in Los Angeles. Glen is set to retire from the music business soon following a diagnosis of Alzheimer's last year. He's currently touring his new album Ghost On The Canvas, billed as "The Goodbye Tour".
In August 2012, Colombian singer Juanes will perform at the Hollywood Bowl.
Barbra Streisand performed two shows at the Hollywood Bowl on November 9 & 11, 2012, as part of her Back to Brooklyn tour.
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Famous quotes containing the word performances:
“At one of the later performances you asked why they called it a “miracle,”
Since nothing ever happened. That, of course, was the miracle
But you wanted to know why so much action took on so much life
And still managed to remain itself, aloof, smiling and courteous.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“This play holds the season’s record [for early closing], thus far, with a run of four evening performances and one matinee. By an odd coincidence it ran just five performances too many.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)