OPEN GATE THEATRE’S SUNDAY EVENING CONCERTS RETURN
UNDER (SORT OF) NEW MANAGEMENT
In 1997, when my friend and artistic colleague Will Salmon asked me to curate a concert series of adventurous music to be presented by his multimedia performing arts entity Open Gate Theatre, an organization in which I had been a member for a number of years at that point, I must confess that I was not interested. I never had any aspirations to book a concert series. I did however, recognize that there was a definite need for such a concert series in the Los Angeles area at that time, especially on Will’s side of town (he resides in Pasadena), many extant concert series of such music at the time either sadly waning or already kaput. Seeing Will’s astute and altruistic impulse as well as the need for a venue in which the community of uncompromising music-makers could present their work, I agreed. In March of that year the first such concert was organized, thus launching a monthly concert series that continued for 22 years, mostly on first Sundays of the month (our first few concerts were actually on Saturdays) in a succession of four venues with me, the ever reluctant host, curating the shows all that time.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, making our 22nd anniversary show the last concert we presented. Who could have imagined that after over two years of being dark and having weathered a seemingly endless number of threatening COVID surges, our longest-running venue by far, the Center for the Arts in Eagle Rock, would continue to remain closed to us while Will and I contemplated how we envisioned the future of the concert series and our roles in it? I received many questions from curious and caring musicians wanting to know if and when the concert series might reopen, and, as years began to pass, I remained unable to provide a solid answer. However, now the time has come to offer the answer. On the occasion of the concert series’ 25th anniversary this coming March, after a three-year-long pandemic-fueled hiatus, the Sunday evening concerts series is going to reopen in a new venue on Sunday, March 5, 2023, at 7:00 p.m.
Will and I have been acutely aware of how beloved the Center for the Arts was to most of our artists and audience. Since causes and conditions ultimately led to a decision to resume the concert series, and since resuming it in that space became impossible, a new venue was identified in which to continue, that being Ross Chapel at the Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church in Pasadena. The main sanctuary of this church has become the latest venue for Open Gate Theatre’s larger multimedia productions, and it’s also a space that the monthly concert series once briefly occupied early in its history; it was booked for one concert when the series’ first venue, the American Legion Hall in Pasadena, became unavailable and before the series resumed at the Pasadena Shakespeare Company Theatre (where the concerts were held for two years before coming to the Center for the Arts, where it remained for the next 18 or 19 years). Ross Chapel is a beautiful smaller venue on the church campus not far from Eagle Rock, and among its attractive features are a fine real piano (!) and plenty of free parking. It’s also freeway close. We hope our wonderful community of musicians and listeners will appreciate and enjoy it. Some larger projects will also now have the opportunity to be presented in the church’s main sanctuary, a beautiful and acoustically splendid space that can handle larger audiences.
But while the concert series is set to finally continue, I have decided not to continue as its curator. I find that after 22 years it’s time for me to let that responsibility go. Instead, the concerts will be curated by a team of four talented, dedicated, and distinctive individuals, all of whom have either been involved in Open Gate Theatre or who have been staunch supporters of the Sunday evening concerts: percussionist Garth Powell, vocalist-dancer Tany Ling, bassist-composer Miller Wrenn, and my old partner in the venture/adventure and Open Gate’s founder and mastermind Will Salmon. The hope is for a concert series that will go forward with fresh energy, increased diversity, and greater range of artists and audience while building on the well-established foundation of its 22 years of presenting purely music for people who value pure music. Having enjoyed the support of a loyal and appreciative community over so many years, everyone involved in this continuation looks forward to presenting more “concerts of unusual music to the Southland’s devoted audiences” once again.
Speaking for myself, I offer a deep bow of gratitude to all the outstanding and inspiring musicians and listeners we’ve hosted over the years. There have been too many wonderful concert experiences during the series’ history to be able to list or recount. It’s been a great gift, a true honor, and a tremendous blessing to me to be able to have curated this concert series for such an unexpectedly and phenomenally long time. I offer my profound thanks to Will for being so dedicated and supportive throughout the concert series’ long history. I wish the new team of curators much success and much enjoyment as the torch gets passed to them. I hope the Open Gate Theatre Sunday evening concerts series will present a variety of adventurous music for many years to come. My role now will simply be as one of the occasional performers in the series, something I’m very much looking forward to.
To quote my teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, “the path of return continues the journey.” Thank you, everyone. See you in church!
Resonantly,
Alex Cline
UNDER (SORT OF) NEW MANAGEMENT
In 1997, when my friend and artistic colleague Will Salmon asked me to curate a concert series of adventurous music to be presented by his multimedia performing arts entity Open Gate Theatre, an organization in which I had been a member for a number of years at that point, I must confess that I was not interested. I never had any aspirations to book a concert series. I did however, recognize that there was a definite need for such a concert series in the Los Angeles area at that time, especially on Will’s side of town (he resides in Pasadena), many extant concert series of such music at the time either sadly waning or already kaput. Seeing Will’s astute and altruistic impulse as well as the need for a venue in which the community of uncompromising music-makers could present their work, I agreed. In March of that year the first such concert was organized, thus launching a monthly concert series that continued for 22 years, mostly on first Sundays of the month (our first few concerts were actually on Saturdays) in a succession of four venues with me, the ever reluctant host, curating the shows all that time.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, making our 22nd anniversary show the last concert we presented. Who could have imagined that after over two years of being dark and having weathered a seemingly endless number of threatening COVID surges, our longest-running venue by far, the Center for the Arts in Eagle Rock, would continue to remain closed to us while Will and I contemplated how we envisioned the future of the concert series and our roles in it? I received many questions from curious and caring musicians wanting to know if and when the concert series might reopen, and, as years began to pass, I remained unable to provide a solid answer. However, now the time has come to offer the answer. On the occasion of the concert series’ 25th anniversary this coming March, after a three-year-long pandemic-fueled hiatus, the Sunday evening concerts series is going to reopen in a new venue on Sunday, March 5, 2023, at 7:00 p.m.
Will and I have been acutely aware of how beloved the Center for the Arts was to most of our artists and audience. Since causes and conditions ultimately led to a decision to resume the concert series, and since resuming it in that space became impossible, a new venue was identified in which to continue, that being Ross Chapel at the Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church in Pasadena. The main sanctuary of this church has become the latest venue for Open Gate Theatre’s larger multimedia productions, and it’s also a space that the monthly concert series once briefly occupied early in its history; it was booked for one concert when the series’ first venue, the American Legion Hall in Pasadena, became unavailable and before the series resumed at the Pasadena Shakespeare Company Theatre (where the concerts were held for two years before coming to the Center for the Arts, where it remained for the next 18 or 19 years). Ross Chapel is a beautiful smaller venue on the church campus not far from Eagle Rock, and among its attractive features are a fine real piano (!) and plenty of free parking. It’s also freeway close. We hope our wonderful community of musicians and listeners will appreciate and enjoy it. Some larger projects will also now have the opportunity to be presented in the church’s main sanctuary, a beautiful and acoustically splendid space that can handle larger audiences.
But while the concert series is set to finally continue, I have decided not to continue as its curator. I find that after 22 years it’s time for me to let that responsibility go. Instead, the concerts will be curated by a team of four talented, dedicated, and distinctive individuals, all of whom have either been involved in Open Gate Theatre or who have been staunch supporters of the Sunday evening concerts: percussionist Garth Powell, vocalist-dancer Tany Ling, bassist-composer Miller Wrenn, and my old partner in the venture/adventure and Open Gate’s founder and mastermind Will Salmon. The hope is for a concert series that will go forward with fresh energy, increased diversity, and greater range of artists and audience while building on the well-established foundation of its 22 years of presenting purely music for people who value pure music. Having enjoyed the support of a loyal and appreciative community over so many years, everyone involved in this continuation looks forward to presenting more “concerts of unusual music to the Southland’s devoted audiences” once again.
Speaking for myself, I offer a deep bow of gratitude to all the outstanding and inspiring musicians and listeners we’ve hosted over the years. There have been too many wonderful concert experiences during the series’ history to be able to list or recount. It’s been a great gift, a true honor, and a tremendous blessing to me to be able to have curated this concert series for such an unexpectedly and phenomenally long time. I offer my profound thanks to Will for being so dedicated and supportive throughout the concert series’ long history. I wish the new team of curators much success and much enjoyment as the torch gets passed to them. I hope the Open Gate Theatre Sunday evening concerts series will present a variety of adventurous music for many years to come. My role now will simply be as one of the occasional performers in the series, something I’m very much looking forward to.
To quote my teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, “the path of return continues the journey.” Thank you, everyone. See you in church!
Resonantly,
Alex Cline