Don't come to the Bowl without stopping by the terrific and free Hollywood Bowl Museum! It's open every night before concerts - and daytime all year round.
New at the Bowl Museum: Música y Sabor – Latino Artists at the Hollywood Bowl
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90 Years of Latin Music at the Hollywood Bowl by Agustin Gurza
From South of the Border to Whittier Boulevard: Latin Music at the Bowl 1943-1967 by Josh Kun
Morales-Cansino Dancers in rehearsal at the Hollywood Bowl, 1940. Music Center Archives/Otto Rothschild CollectionOpening Friday, June 17, 2011 at the Hollywood Bowl Museum is a new exhibition with a lot of Latin sabor (flavor). Whether it’s mariachi, salsa, rock & roll, or classical music, the Hollywood Bowl has been enriched by the contributions of conductors, soloists, and ensembles from Latino communities throughout the Western Hemisphere and Spain.
Carlos Santana at the Hollywood Bowl, 1993. Donald Dietz photoThis exhibition features bilingual text, stunning graphics and photographs, interactive computer kiosks featuring audio clips and concert programs, and even a dance floor! Highlights include the program of the Latin-American Fiesta of 1943, hosted by Desi Arnaz and Xavier Cugat and chaired by the Consul of Venezuela (home of our current Music Director, Gustavo Dudamel); beautiful vintage photographs by Otto Rothschild of pianists José and Amparo Iturbi, composer Carlos Chávez, and singer Yma Sumac; and exciting video from ¡Viva Mexico! (2010) featuring a performance by L.A.’s own Ozomatli, and excerpts from ¡Bienvenido, Gustavo! (2009) and Mariachi USA.
From its beginnings in the 1920s, the Hollywood Bowl featured classical music by Spanish composers like Albéniz and Falla, as well as Spanish and Mexican-inspired music like Ravel’s Bolero and Copland’s El Salón México. The 1940s was the time of the “good neighbor policy” reflected in the Pan-American Night (1945) with music from throughout Latin America. Afro-Cuban jazz came to the Bowl in the 1950s, bossa nova in the 1960s, and subsequently salsa and Latin jazz. The greatest names in popular Latin music like Lola Beltrán, Celia Cruz, Lucho Gatica, Lucha Villa, Tito Puente, and many more, all played the Bowl. The Bowl has presented opera stars Plácido Domingo and José Carreras and masters of the guitar including the Romeros, Laurindo Almeida, Narciso Yepes, and many more.
Continuing at the Bowl Museum: Hollywood Bowl - Music For Everyone
Albertina Rasch ballet, 1930 • Music Center Archives/Irish CollectionTaking its cue from a Bowl slogan from the 1950s, this exhibit at the Hollywood Bowl Museum is called Hollywood Bowl: Music For Everyone.
Program cover, 1930It’s been true of the Bowl for a long time that people can find just about any kind of music they like. That’s part of the Bowl’s history and its success. Looking back at programs and photographs of the Bowl since its inception in the early 1920s, it’s clear that Music For Everyone is no platitude. While symphonic music formed the core of early Bowl presentations, there were early adventures in opera (a full house for the unamplified coloratura soprano of Amelita Galli-Curci), and modern dance (with works by pioneering choreographers such as Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Norma Gould, Adolph Bolm, Agnes de Mille, and Lester Horton). Jazz was introduced to the Bowl in the thirties by Benny Goodman, followed in the forties by Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, Lena Horne, and others, with a breakthrough concert in 1956 featuring Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Chubby Checker, Duane Eddy, and Frankie Avalon were among the first rockers to appear at the Bowl in the late fifties. Folk and world music concerts began as early as the 1920s with a Native American festival and have become a staple at the Bowl in the last ten years.
Korean Festival, 2007This exhibit, on the main floor of the museum, is organized into sections on dance; pop, rock, jazz and world music; symphonic music and opera; architecture and history of the Bowl; and the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame. Video screens are an integral part of the exhibit, allowing us to show hundreds of still photos and extensive film footage.
You are invited to visit the museum before concerts to enhance and enrich your Bowl experience. Admission is free.
Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame
The Museum is also home to the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame. Visitors can watch videos of all the honorees including John Williams, Garth Brooks, Stevie Wonder, Brian Wilson, Henry Mancini, Sarah Chang, Bernadette Peters, Frank Sinatra, and many more.
