Evenings on and off the roof

This is the story of the adventurous concert series that brought Los Angeles to musical maturity. Launched in 1939, the now-famous Evenings on the Roof were the inspiration of writer Peter Yates and his wife, pianist Frances Mullen. In 1954 directorship of the concerts was taken over by Lawrence Morton, and the series continues today as the Monday Evening Concerts. Convinced that Los Angeles concertgoers were exposed only to the most staid and popular classical music, the Yateses determined to create an audience for "that class of music which is always contemporary, whether written by the sixteenth-century composers Byrd and Gibbons or by the twentieth-century composers Hindemith and Ives." To their rooftop studio they welcomed emigre musicians and composers who turned Los Angeles into a capital of the world of art music in the late 30s and early 40s. Performers who came to play gave their talent, with little or no financial return; composers offered their new works; and audiences grew in numbers and continued to welcome the challenge not only of new music but of early music not performed elsewhere. Evenings on the Roof and Monday Evening Concerts introduced Los Angeles to the most important twentieth-century composers of Europe and America, including Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Lukas Foss, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez, John Cage, and Lou Harrison. The concerts also provided a springboard for the careers of American performers Robert Craft, Marilyn Horne, Marni Nixon, Gregg Smith, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Lawrence Foster. The history of these concerts is a microcosm of changing tastes and trends in twentieth-century art music, of the relationship between the American and European musical communities, and of the growth of Los Angeles as a cultural center. It is also a story of personal adventure, of the idealism and determination of the Yateses and the tenacity and skill of Lawrence Morton. Their courage, bolstered by the devotion of extraordinary performers, moved innovative music into the mainstream of the Los Angeles cultural scene.