Formerly known as the music centre, the city’s ;major performing arts centre is, surprisingly, not located in Hollywood or Beverly Hills, but smack in the centre of downtown Los Angeles just across from the Civic Centre.

The Performing Arts Centre of Los Angeles County, along John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts and the Lincoln Centre, is among the largest performing arts centre in the country and it is the leading cultural centre in the West. Popularity inspired more growth, wit the addition of the Mark Taper Forum and the Ahmanson Theatre, and prestigious national and international touring companies and artists continue to clamour its stages. Resident companies include the orchestra that inaugurated the centre, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as well as the Los Angeles Opera, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the Centre Theatre Group. Each year draws more than four million people.

The L.A. Opera, established in 1986, takes the Pavilion stage with glorious, gorgeous, and varied productions. Also crowding into the Pavilion is the L.A. Master Chorale, founded in 1962 by Roger Wagner.