Center Theatre Group—At The Center Of It All (Spring 2017)

NEWS FROM CENTER THEATRE GROUP Spring 2017

Demian Bichir in Zoot Suit. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

AT THE CENTER OF IT ALL

Edgerton Foundation Playwrights Initiative Launches

MICHAEL RITCHIE Artistic Director | STEPHEN D. ROUNTREE Managing Director DOUGLAS C. BAKER Producing Director

Hello!

Welcome to the first issue of At the Center of It All, a new quarterly publication for Center Theatre Group audiences, friends, and colleagues.

We’re using this space to share behind-the-scenes looks at our creative process, hear from the artists we’re collaborating with, spotlight the work being done in our community, and celebrate our supporters and donors.

Our 50TH Anniversary Season gives us a lot of reasons to look back at our impressive past, but it has also offered us a crucial opportunity to look forward to the next 50 years of theatre in Los Angeles. Central to our mission, as we enter our next 50 years, is envisioning, strategizing, and activating theatre here so that the art—and Los Angeles—can thrive. Great theatre reminds us of who we are, collectively, what we’ve experienced, and where we want to go next. Theatre is part of the social fabric that makes a resilient, cohesive city.

We take the role of theatre in Los Angeles seriously, and we take our role—roles, really—seriously as well. To entertain. To create. To engage.

To inspire. And to put theatre at the center of it all.

Whether you’ve been a subscriber since day one or you have yet to set foot in the theatre, I think you’ll find something that we do—hopefully something within these pages—that will amuse or interest you. I hope it’ll bring you back for more.

Sincerely,

Photo by Jeremy Daniel.

Broadway at Grand Park A lunchtime audience at Downtown Los Angeles’ Grand Park—across the street from The Music Center—were treated to free performances by cast members of Ahmanson shows Jersey Boys and Into The Woods as part of our first Broadway at Grand Park event.

This spring we announced major new partnerships with some of the most renowned playwrights working today—including Jon Robin Baitz, Lynn Nottage, Young Jean Lee, Paula Vogel, and Will Eno (L–R, pictured) and four of the world’s great theatres: Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, London’s Royal Court Theatre and National Theatre, and New York’s Second Stage Theater, which now owns the Helen Hayes Theater on Broadway. Thanks to a $1 million grant from the Edgerton Foundation, the Edgerton Foundation Playwrights Initiative will support Center Theatre Group in co-commissioning at least two shows annually with each of these four theatres over the next decade.

AROUND CENTER THEATRE GROUP

‘ZOOT SUIT’ GETS COMMUNITIES TALKING (AND DANCING) Six Community Conversations—free, open-to-the-public events featuring local thought leaders in dialogue about the context, issues, and ideas finding voice on our stages— brought audiences together to discuss the power and impact of Zoot Suit. Including the power of music and dance! “#YouthPower: Young Artists Keep Changing the World,” “The Making of the Zoot Suit Revival,” “The Song and Swing of Zoot Suit,” “Zoot Suit in Dreamland,” “Dress for Unrest: From the Zoot Suit Riots to the Hoodie,” and “Has News Ever Been Fair and Balanced?” tackled a wide range of subjects addressed in the show and brought Center Theatre Group patrons into dialogue with designers, reporters, visual artists, dancers, and more.

Photo by Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging.

Michael Ritchie

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Jersey Boys cast members (L–R) Mark Ballas, Cory Jeacoma, Matthew Dailey, and Keith Hines.

Photo by Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging.

A Delicious 50TH Anniversary (L–R) Annette Blum, Larry Falconio, and Elliott Sernel enjoyed a preview of the dining delights in store for guests at our 50TH Celebration at a reception for the 50TH Celebration Committee at Patina.

Photo by Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging.

CENTER THEATRE GROUP

THE INVENTION OF A BUCKET LIST ROLE Patrick Page on Sparking World War I in the World Premiere of Rajiv Joseph’s ‘Archduke’

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“Six months ago, I had no idea that a bucket list role had been written, and it was in a play called Archduke,” said actor Patrick Page

of the role of Apis, which he plays in Rajiv Joseph’s World premiere, onstage at the Mark Taper Forum April 25 – June 4, 2017. “I think it’s one of the great roles ever written for a man in the American modern theatre.” It was love at first read for Page, a celebrated Broadway actor whose résumé encompasses everything from Shakespeare classics to Disney musicals.

(Clockwise from top left) Stephen Stocking, Patrick Page, and Ramiz Monsef. Stephen Stocking and Patrick Page. Patrick Page.

Patrick Page. Todd Weeks and Patrick Page.

Photos by Craig Schwartz.

“I couldn’t believe what I was reading, I couldn’t believe that this script had come across my desk, and I was desperate to go in and audition for it,” recalled Page. “In the first two pages there’s just this unbelievable voice, unmistakeable voice. When I got to the character of Apis, I could immediately hear the man in my head. I just had one of those immediate reactions to a character that you pray for as an actor.” He added, “I said, this is like when Tony Kushner wrote Roy Cohn. This is a role of that depth and magnitude and power.”

The feeling was mutual for Joseph and director Giovanna Sardelli. “When he walked into the room and auditioned, I don’t think we’ve had an experience like that,” said Sardelli. “I got the giggles in his audition and also embarrassingly started to cry because it was so exciting.”

Apis, which means “the bull,” is the nickname of Dragutin Dimitrijevi´c, the Serbian military officer who orchestrated the 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that sparked World War I. In Archduke, he is the engine of the plot—personally convincing three vulnerable young men afflicted with tuberculosis to kill the Archduke—as well as “the defining voice in terms of comedy and tragedy,” as Sardelli put it.

“The first thing I grasped onto was something that doesn’t often reach out at me, which was his rhythms,” said Page of Apis. “The way the sentences are short and cut up.”

In an earlier draft of the play, said Page, Apis said, “‘My brain operates not unlike a steam engine: it throbs with intent.’” Page kept this line with him even after it was cut.

“It’s a great note for the actor about how the character’s brain is constantly churning churning churning,” he said.

“Of course, I also saw immediately the comic possibility in the role. In a way, he’s a character type that’s existed for centuries—in the commedia dell’arte, there was the braggart captain. It’s a stock kind of character. So my job has been to, yes, honor that, but to deepen him because he is deep psychologically.” Even as he has the audience laughing, the questions Page is exploring as Apis are deeply relevant and chilling: “What makes somebody into what he would call a patriot but what we would call a nationalist, a supremacist, a terrorist?”

What Page is not worried about is whether the audience likes him or his character. “I don’t feel that’s my job. I’ve played a lot of people who are what we would call from the outside ‘bad people,’” said Page, who has played Iago and Macbeth, found “this deeply angry man” in his interpretation of Cyrano de Bergerac, took on the role of Scar in The Lion King on Broadway, and originated the title role in Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas! as well as the role of the Green Goblin in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. “My job is of course to come from that person’s point of view,” he said of such roles. “That person thinks he’s absolutely justified and right in what he’s doing— or at least he’s convinced himself in that moment.”

When asked what Apis has in common with the Grinch and the Green Goblin,

two other roles he originated, Page laughed—then seriously considered the question. “They’re all in a way misanthropes,” he said, with big chips on their shoulders.

“I also think all three characters require an enormous amount of courage and chutzpah on the part of the actor to not be afraid of the size of the writing. I think modern American actors in particular have become frightened, by television and film, to some extent, of size in performance,” he mused. “And it is frightening, because in a way it’s somewhat out of fashion. That doesn’t mean it isn’t truthful.” He added, “The idea that naturalism equates to truth is an insidious idea.”

This notion guides Page’s approach to researching the character he is playing as well. “I read everything I could find that was available on Dimitrijevi´c and on the Black Hand, the organization he ran,” said Page, but Apis remains “a pretty shadowy figure.” So he took another tack, too. “In creating a biography for a character I tend to steal from other biographies,” he said. “I read a book in preparation for Apis that G. Gordon Liddy had written called Will, because I thought Liddy was a modern figure who reminded me a great deal of Apis. And it was full of biographical detail which was enormously useful to me, about how Liddy was a weak, very frightened child—who decided he was not going to be afraid and not be weak, so he built up his body and built up his will and his own code of ethics.” Liddy’s autobiography turned out to correspond

ENTERTAIN Center Theatre Group’s First 50 YEARS Entertaining Audiences in L.A.— and Beyond

25+

Million Seats Filled

634

Productions

122 World Premieres

50

Shows Sent to Broadway

49

Tony Awards

4

Pulitzer Prizes for Drama

closely with the way Joseph had written Apis. “That happens to me a lot,” said Page. “If you don’t get closed down and you’re open to a lot of different ways of looking at it, things will come to you, just sort of like that Goethe quote about doors opening to you when you open yourself to them.”

Center Theatre Group audiences reaped the benefits of Page opening himself to the role of Apis, and the Taper opening its doors to him for the first time.

Although he works often on Broadway, Page is a big believer in the importance of regional theatre in America, and the significance of being a part of Center Theatre Group’s 50TH Anniversary Season was not lost on him. “It’s so important that theatre be something that is indigenous to communities and owned by communities, like public libraries or concert halls or opera houses,” he said. “The Taper has always been that, since its inception, for Los Angeles. It’s been the crucible of a lot of new work, a lot of classic work. I’ve always wanted to work here, speaking of bucket lists.”

See and hear more from Patrick Page and other members of the cast and creative team in our “Page to Stage” video series on the making of the World premiere of Archduke at YouTube.org/CTGLA.

Quiara Alegría Hudes.

Diane Rodriguez.

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CENTER THEATRE GROUP

At age 30, Quiara Alegría Hudes had written the book for a Broadway hit, In the Heights. At 35, she had won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, for Water by the Spoonful.

Now, at 40, she is one of America’s most widely produced playwrights, and Center Theatre Group is proud to be bringing two of the works in her acclaimed Elliot Trilogy to our stages simultaneously. Water by the Spoonful is onstage at the Mark Taper Forum January 31 – March 11, 2018, while Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue, a finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer, is onstage at the Kirk Douglas Theatre January 27 – February 25, 2018.

FROM TO Playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes and Associate Artistic Director Diane Rodriguez in Conversation Hudes, who lives in New York City, saw our historic revival of Zoot Suit at the Taper during a February visit to Los Angeles.

A few months after, we asked if she’d be game to talk with Associate Artistic Director Diane Rodriguez—a fellow Latina playwright whose newest work, The Sweetheart Deal, had just premiered at The Los Angeles Theatre Center as well as a former member of El Teatro Campesino—about Zoot Suit, writing about immigration and immigrant communities in America today, and the differences between New York and L.A. audiences.

Rodriguez: We’re both at different stages in the process of developing new work right now. My new play, which I wrote and directed, just premiered here in Los Angeles after five years of development. And you’re at work on a show that recently premiered, too.

Hudes: Miss You Like Hell, a musical, opened at the La Jolla Playhouse last fall. We’re in the process of bringing that to New York for next season. It’s really an expansion of the communities I’ve been writing within. It deals with a Mexican-American mother and daughter. The daughter’s a teenager, and she’s a citizen, and the mother is not a citizen. They spend seven days together before the mother’s final immigration hearing. We were in the middle of the World premiere run when the election happened.

Demian Bichir (top) and Matias Ponce (bottom). Photos by Craig Schwartz.

That’s so contemporary and urgent.

I started writing it years ago, and it only got more so as time progressed.

It’s been an issue for 40 years, actually. That fear of losing, of deportation, it’s always looming, but it looms larger and darker at our doorstep now. It’s a more intense situation.

We saw that with Zoot Suit, too, to a certain degree.

Before Zoot Suit even began, there was this sense among the audience that this was an event, that this was exciting, that this mattered, that this was relevant. To have a very energized audience coming in—that in and of itself is remarkable, that is not an average audience experience. It was incredible. Luis Valdez wrote about a combustible moment in our culture 40 years ago, and then to unearth that again…That moment still feels extremely combustible in how it is reverberating against the contemporary moment. And the audience knew what they were in for. The air was charged back then, the air is charged now, and these are the things that affect our lives directly. It could be fun and beautiful and artful and also significant and meaningful in that way, which was very exciting.

Zoot Suit has been a very West Coast phenomenon.

The original show went to Broadway and opened and closed fairly quickly; there were various reasons why it didn’t work. Do you feel this kind of story is only for the audience in Southern California and the Southwest, or do you think a story like this could go farther and bigger?

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CENTER THEATRE GROUP

ARTISTS UNDER COMMISSION

David Adjmi Jon Robin Baitz Sheila Callaghan Steve Cuiffo Justin Ellington Will Eno Matt Gould Danai Gurira Jennifer Haley David Henry Hwang Joe Iconis Naomi Iizuka Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Rajiv Joseph Lisa Kron Kimber Lee Young Jean Lee Griffin Matthews Laural Meade Richard Montoya Qui Nguyen Lynn Nottage Dan O’Brien Denis O’Hare Lee Overtree Lisa Peterson Playwrights Arena Will Power Rimini Protokoll Rainpan 43 Marco Ramirez Ken Roht Matt Sax Al Smith Roger Guenveur Smith Ripe Time Paula Vogel Tracey Scott Wilson

(L–R, center) Demian Bichir and Matias Ponce and the cast of Zoot Suit. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

I have no idea. The honest truth is, audiences are different from place to place. And one of the joys of having this career is that I go to different places and sit in the audience, and it’s the first time I’ve been in this place and sat with these people. One of the challenging things about New York is you feel a little bit too cool for school—we all take for granted that great work is just going to be delivered to our laps.

It’s really nice to see different audience experiences.

But I have no doubt Zoot Suit is very meaningful beyond Los Angeles; there’s no question about that.

You’ve had a lot of success early in your career.

Has that changed the way you write, and the expectations you feel?

It was certainly a blessing. After the Pulitzer, Water by the Spoonful got more well-known, was put on more syllabi across the country. I’m very fortunate to have that happen with the piece. You can kind of celebrate for a minute, but you have to get back to the work, to the writing. I just finished editing the galleys of the second edition of Water by the Spoonful.

The first edition was published after the first production. After that, I made some edits, especially around the intermission area. In returning to the text, I do recognize that this play is a little different, that something special happened when I was writing it.

It was a kind of confluence of what was in the air culturally and some resources I discovered that felt very charged and energized in my writing life.

When there’s something in the air you become a conduit for, that elevates the work. You become the voice of that moment in your genre. You’re always wanting to be open for that. I think you’re really going to enjoy having Water by the Spoonful at the Taper, where the audience wraps itself around the play, and it becomes a very intimate experience.

And I’m thrilled to have Lileana Blain-Cruz, who’s a really muscular director. It’s a challenging piece; there’s this heightened language that’s Shakespearean and this vernacular. In the right hands, really interesting visual ideas happen.

I love the visual element that your play ends on. It’s so beautiful. I think she’s going to be a great match.

And at the same time that Water by the Spoonful is at the Taper, we’re going to have Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue at the Douglas. Is this the first time they’ve been onstage together?

The trilogy has been done at two theatres, but not concurrently—the plays have been done over the course of one or two seasons, so you wouldn’t necessarily get a chance to go in the course of one weekend and experience them back-to-back. I’m going to be very involved in the productions, and it’ll be interesting to see if there will be any writing shifts to be made that reflect on the proximity.

Photo by Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging.

CENTER THEATRE GROUP

ENGAGE

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A recent survey by statewide arts education coalition Create CA found that only 26 percent of middle and high school students in California have access to music, theatre, dance, and visual art—access that is required by state law. The numbers for theatre in particular are bleak: just 4 percent of students across the state are enrolled in theatre classes.

BUILDING A for California Educators A New Theatre Teaching Credential and a Fresh Commitment to Access & Equity Bring New Opportunities

This is in part a matter of inequity and access; some schools have great and well-funded theatre programs while others don’t have the resources to offer anything at all. In response to this survey, Create CA is calling for school districts to adopt a Declaration of the Rights of All Students to Equity in Arts Learning.

But these statistics are also a reflection of how our country and our state value the arts and theatre in particular. Some of this can be seen at the national level, in the fight to sustain funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. But it is also deeply entrenched at the state level. Until recently, there has not been a theatre or dance teaching credential in our great state. California was one of just two states in the country that did not offer teaching credentials in theatre and dance, thanks to the much maligned Teacher Preparation and Licensing Law of 1970, known as the Ryan Act. That has meant that teachers leading instructions in those subjects have had to obtain their credentials in another subject specialization in order to teach in local schools (English and physical education, respectively). It was like telling science teachers that their body of knowledge did not warrant a clear credential and that they could simply get a degree in math… close enough, right?

Last year, Governor Brown set the course for a brighter future for California’s students

by signing SB 916 into law, legislation establishing singlesubject teaching credentials in dance and theatre. And while this victory was hard fought and won by theatre and arts education advocates, the historic absence of a state-awarded credential resulted in years of systemic vulnerability for theatre programs that will take concerted effort to rebuild and institutionalize in schools and districts.

The percentage of students enrolled in theatre classes and participating in school productions isn’t going to skyrocket overnight. At Center Theatre Group, we’re doing everything we can to support theatre educators in bringing equity and access to more students, and to providing young people in California with the highest quality theatre education.

By Leslie K. Johnson CENTER THEATRE GROUP DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL STRATEGY, INNOVATION AND IMPACT

Educators have always been our most essential partners in making theatre education possible for the widest range of students. We see educators as instructional leaders, change agents in their schools and communities, innovators and artists, and fellow theatre-lovers. Annually, we partner with hundreds of educators to make learning in theatre a part of students' basic education. We regularly collaborate with teachers to bring students to our three theatres. We work together to make connections between the work on our stages, their students’ studies, and their lives. And teachers serve as our most important bridge to meet the young people in our community and help them get connected directly to our theatre through programs such as the Student Body, Student Ambassadors, and the August Wilson Monologue Competition.

Educators also enrich our work as advisors and sounding boards for our program development.

New opportunities and needs will no doubt emerge as more dedicated theatre educators and classes come to our schools.

Last year, for the first time, we hosted a Summer Theatre Immersion for Educators—an intensive four-day workshop immersing high school teachers in the work of a single playwright. In 2016, it was August Wilson. In 2017, we’ll be diving into the work of Quiara Alegría Hudes. We’ve also created a version of our Theatre Crash Course for Students designed for teachers—a one-day workshop that explores different elements of creating a professional production.

Building on successful professional development models like these, we plan to continue to play a significant role in supporting educators across Los Angeles.

I have often said that a community cannot hope to have a successful theatre ecosystem—full of artists and audiences who love their work—on the “outcomes” end of a system without having high-quality theatre education for all students at input end. I am hopeful that this new credential and a fresh commitment to access and equity will open up fresh partnerships and opportunities to work with our teacher colleagues in new and impactful ways.

We see educators as instructional leaders, change agents in their schools and communities, innovators and artists, and fellow theatre-lovers.

CENTER THEATRE GROUP

INSPIRE

Brindell Roberts Gottlieb has been one of our biggest champions for decades.

She and her late husband, Milton Gottlieb, went on one of their first dates at the Mark Taper Forum. Brindell joined our Board of Directors in 1999; in 2005, she and Milton founded the Artistic Director’s Circle; and after Milton’s death, Brindell made a major gift in his honor to Brindell Roberts Gottlieb and Michael Ritchie. Photo by Steve Cohn Photography. the 2008 renovation of the Taper. As we approached our 50TH Anniversary Season, she decided to strengthen her support even further. Both her enduring love for her husband and her ongoing commitment to Michael Ritchie’s vision are why she has made a leading gift to celebrate our 50TH Anniversary Season. Thanks to Brindell, Center Theatre Group will be constructing new offices and a new home for Los Angeles theatre: Brindell & Milton Gottlieb’s Encore at The Music Center. “I couldn’t be so giving if I hadn’t met Milton,” said Gottlieb. “Milton is there in everything and anything I do…He was generous to the right time, right party, right thing.” In this case, it’s also about the right person. “Michael Ritchie has shown an extraordinary amount of guts, courage, perseverance, and love of the theatre,” said Gottlieb. “He’s brought Center Theatre Group to where it is. He’s still aggressive, and still in love with it all. You can’t give him enough credit.”

As a nonprofit theatre company, Center Theatre Group has relied on the generosity of our supporters for half a century.

From the controversy that surrounded The Devils through today, they have stood by our artistic ambitions, matching bold creativity with equally bold generosity. That holds especially true as we turn 50 years old. After hearing about Center Theatre Group’s plans for the future of Los Angeles theatre, a number of longtime donors have stepped up their level of giving at $1 million and above to make achieving our ambitions possible. Here are a few of their stories.

THE EDGERTON FOUNDATION HAS SUPPORTED CENTER THEATRE GROUP FOR WELL OVER A DECADE, and piloted its Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards with us in 2006, which have since gone on to support an extended rehearsal process for nearly 300 World premieres around the country. As Center Theatre Group turns 50, Edgerton Foundation President Bradford W. Edgerton, M.D. has joined our Board of Directors and spearheaded the creation of a slate of bold new partnerships with world-renowned theatres and artists. “In recognition of Center Theatre Group’s long-standing mission to develop new art for the American stage, we are excited to offer commissioning funds for more than 50 new plays in the Edgerton Foundation Playwrights Initiative,” said Edgerton.

Center Theatre Group Board of Directors President Kiki Ramos Gindler, along with her husband, David Gindler, also have stepped up in honor of our 50TH Anniversary Season.

Kiki and David have enjoyed performances at the Ahmanson Theatre since 1982, the Mark Taper Forum since 1988, and have subscribed to the Kirk Douglas Theatre since it first opened; both enthusiastically support the future of all performing arts in Los Angeles and beyond. “Center Theatre Group continues to create some of the most groundbreaking artists in the American theatre today,” she said. “Considering our history, our size, the expertise of our staff, and the commitment and breadth of experience of our Board, we have a unique ability to ensure that non-profit theatre remains a thriving and relevant part of our local community as well as our nation.” Gindler continues to lead and support the organization because of her belief in the positive impact of our programming, both on and off stage, and the transformative power of theatre, now and in the future. “Theatre is one of the most important pathways to connect with own humanity and deepen our compassion for others,” she said.

Kiki Ramos Gindler and David Gindler.

Photo by Steve Cohn Photography.

Our Anniversary Has Inspired Major Commitments from Center Theatre Group Donors Kirk Douglas has said that “supporting Center Theatre Group is an ingrained habit with the Douglases.”

A GIFT FROM THE AHMANSON FOUNDATION CONTINUES A MULTIGENERATIONAL FAMILY TRADITION OVER 50 YEARS IN THE MAKING. In 1965, while The Music Center was still under construction, businessman and philanthropist Howard Ahmanson donated $1.5 million to establish a special fund for the performing arts. The Ahmanson Theatre is named in his honor. His nephew, William H. Ahmanson, is currently Chairman of the Center Theatre Group Board of Directors and President of The Ahmanson Foundation. “The founding families through the years— that would be the Chandlers, the Tapers, the Ahmansons, the Douglases, and the Wassermans—are important because it’s a link to the past but also an obligation to the future,” said Ahmanson. “The quality of our donors maintains the quality of the productions on the stage.”

(L–R) Michael Ritchie and Kirk Douglas.

Indeed, he and his wife Anne were among the early champions of The Music Center in the 1960s; “Anne worked closely with Dorothy Chandler to make The Music Center a reality,” recalled Douglas.

In 2004, they helped make the Kirk Douglas Theatre a reality in Culver City, and now they are again helping Center Theatre Group make a new leap forward with their gift. The Douglases have offered to match donations in order to challenge donors to do more for the company—just as Dorothy Chandler challenged Kirk to step up his very first gift. “When I wrote a check for $10,000, Mrs. Chandler sent it back to me saying, ‘You can do better.’ I did. Much better,” said Douglas.

This is just a handful of the donors who are investing in Center Theatre Group in honor of our golden anniversary. We are also grateful to Laura & James Rosenwald & Orinoco Foundation, Renee & Meyer Luskin, The Annenberg Foundation, Patricia Glaser & Sam Mudie, Aliza Karney Guren & Marc Guren, Ann & Stephen F. Hinchliffe, Jr., a donor who wishes to remain anonymous, and Sue Tsao for cash gifts of $1 million and above. In addition, we would like to thank Judith & Tom Beckmen and Diane Morton for their $1 million and above legacy gifts. Read more about the generosity of our supporters at CenterTheatreGroup.org and in upcoming publications.

“City National helps keep my financial life in tune.”

So much of my life is always shifting; a different city, a different piece of music, a different ensemble. I need people who I can count on to help keep my financial life on course so I can focus on creating and sharing the “adventures” of classical music. City National shares my passion and is instrumental in helping me bring classical music to audiences all over the world. They enjoy being a part of what I do and love. That is the essence of a successful relationship.

City National is The way up® for me.

Michael Tilson Thomas Conductor, Educator and Composer

©2017 City National Bank

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