The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) presented “LACO @ The Movies Celebrates Walt Disney Animation Studios,” an extraordinary evening of musical world premieres and eye-popping animation spanning more than 80 years with orchestral scores performed live by Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, led by six-time Emmy® Award-winning composer Mark Watters, to nine iconic animated Disney shorts on Saturday, June 13, 2015, at The Theatre at Ace Hotel, an historic movie palace in Downtown LA. Filled with firsts from beginning to end, the sold-out event, which drew 1,600 people, raised more than $215,000 for LACO, considered one of the world’s premier chamber orchestras as well as a pacesetter in presenting wide-ranging repertoire and adventurous commissions.
Performance highlights included re-premieres of newly restored versions of two long lost 1920’s-era “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit” shorts, Poor Papa (1927) and Africa Before Dark (1928), shown for first time in more than 50 years along with world premieres of music by Watters for both films, neither of which previously had musical scores. Also featured was a screening of a newly restored print of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” from Fantasia (1940) on the occasion of this timeless classic’s 75th Anniversary including the world premiere of a compelling new adaptation of the score by Watters.
Also featured was the 2014 Academy® Award-nominated Get A Horse! (2013), a contemporary homage to early Mickey Mouse cartoons, shown with live music for the first time ever; the 80th anniversary of the “Silly Symphony” short Music Land (1935) highlighted by the first live musical performance to the film in its 80-year history featuring the brilliant and virtuosic score that pits the Land of Symphony against the Isle of Jazz for a unique Disney “take” on Shakespeare’sRomeo and Juliet; the iconic Plane Crazy (1929), the first Mickey Mouse cartoon created by Walt Disney and inspired by Charles Lindbergh’s fist solo-flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927; the 80th anniversary of The Band Concert (1935), the first color Mickey Mouse cartoon to use the Technicolor process; and the delightful “Have a Laugh” versions ofLonesome Ghosts (1937), in which Mickey, Donald and Goofy run a ghost exterminating agency, and Mickey’s Trailer(1938), a “road picture” with Mickey, Donald and Goofy involving a car separated from its trailer traveling down a mountain incline.
In addition to general film tickets, exclusive sponsorship packages were available, which included a private post-performance cocktail party.
Dustin Hoffman served as honorary chair, and Ann Mulally and Shaheen Nanji co-chaired the event. Committee members included Dave Bossert, Mark Watters, Edward Nowak, Howard Green, Amy Astley, Ashleigh Bateman, Garth Burkhard, Minnie Chen, LACO Interim General Manager Lacey Huszcza, Nicolette Atkins, Daren Fuster, Libby Huebner and Olivia Zanfardino.
“Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra was honored to team up with Walt Disney Animation Studios for this evening of incredible artistry and entertainment,” said LACO Interim Managing Director Lacey Huszcza.
Even the event’s landmark venue, The Theatre at Ace Hotel Downtown LA, located at the heart of downtown’s revitalized Broadway Theatre district, added a special flourish to the festivities. Built in 1927, around the time Walt Disney was revolutionizing animation, the 1,600-seat, Spanish Gothic, movie palace was designed by C. Howard Crane for Maverick Film Studio, founded by Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, D.W Griffith and Charles Chaplin. The interior, which has been delicately restored, was inspired by the 16th century Cathedral at Segovia and features a three-story, 2,300-square-foot grand lobby, an ornate open balcony and mezzanine and a spectacular vaulted ceiling with thousands of tiny glimmering mirrors.
For information about the Los Angeles Chamber Ochestra, please visit laco.org or call LACO at 213 622 7001.
