Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) is an American chamber orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The LACO presents its concerts primarily at two venues, the Alex Theatre in Glendale and UCLA's Royce Hall. History : James Arkatov, a cellist, established the LACO in 1968 as an artistic outlet for musicians from local film and record studios to perform the classical music repertoire at a chamber orchestra-scale of about 40-45 musicians. David Mermelstein wrote in 2005 on Arkatov's guiding principle of the LACO : "The idea was to create a group that would play works written expressly for chamber orchestra, many of them from the baroque era--music that the Philharmonic either wasn't interested in or suited to. The ensemble was never meant to compete with the Philharmonic; there was even a time when LACO's supporters hoped to see it take up permanent residence at the Music Center." At the beginning of LACO's history, the orchestra did not have a residency at a single concert hall. The orchestra performed in such venues as the Mark Taper Forum, Occidental College (Thorne Hall), the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, and the California Institute of Technology (Beckman Auditorium). Currently, in addition to its main concerts at the Alex Theatre and Royce Hall, the LACO also presents a Baroque music series at Zipper Hall at The Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles, and "Westside Connections" (a chamber music and discussion series) in Santa Monica at the Moss Theatre in Santa Monica. Its repertoire ranges from the Baroque to newly commissioned works, the latter through its patron commissioning club, Sound Investment. The LACO's first music director was Neville Marriner, who used the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields as a guiding model for the LACO. Gerard Schwarz was the LACO's second music director, and expanded the orchestra's repertoire to include more American works. Iona Brown was named the LACO's music advisor for the 1986-1987 season, and became music director the next season, serving through 1992. Christof Perick was the next LACO Music Director, from 1992 to 1995. The orchestra's most recent music director was the conductor and pianist Jeffrey Kahane, from 1997 to 2017. During Kahane's tenure, the LACO made its Carnegie Hall debut in April 2002. In June 2005, the LACO received the First Place Award for Programming of Contemporary Music, offered by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) and the American Symphony Orchestra League. Kahane now has the title of conductor laureate with the LACO. In September 2017, Jaime Martín first guest-conducted the LACO. On the basis of this appearance, in February 2018, the LACO named Martín its next music director, effective with the 2019-2020 season, with an initial contract of 3 years. The orchestra's current composer-in-residence is Andrew Norman. Past composers-in-residence have included Uri Caine.