The Wild Beast

"I am interested in how the wild beast lives in the jungle, not in the zoo."

-morton feldman

when i was a student at calarts one of my favorite things to do was to see as much music, dance, film, and theatre that i could fit into my schedule, in addition to attending weekly art openings. it wasn't hard to do, there was always something (and there still is) going on around the campus or at the REDCAT downtown.

i graduated in 2005 and at the time it was apparent that the music school was sorely in need of a dedicated performance space. they had the roy o. disney concert hall (which is tiny) and would occasionally program concerts in the main gallery or the modular theatre, but the availability and capabilities of those spaces was very limited and i'm glad to see that they now have this incredible indoor-outdoor music pavilion. it's a wonderful addition to the calarts campus and a fantastic, versatile performance venue.

named in honor of morton feldman, a pioneer avant garde composer who once wrote an essay about about the illusive and expansive nature of creative energy, the wild beast resides in the taper foundation courtyard and it's quite the force to be reckoned with. the thirty two hundred square foot structure has a long rolling wall along the front that can slide aside to transform the space into an open air amphitheatre that seats over seven hundred fifty people or, when all the hatches are closed and the wall rolled shut, it can be configured into an intimate recital hall that seats up to one hundred people in addition to serving as a music classroom/studio.

designed by the culver city based architectural firm hodgetts + fung, the wild beast roared into existence in the spring of 2010 and is an acoustical instrument in and of itself. all of the odd shaped curves and walls made from glass and wood coalesce into a beautifully complicated infrastructure that produces superb acoustic clarity.

i've had the opportunity to attend several shows here and they've all been wonderful. with programming that stretches the gamut from balinese gamelan performances to orchestral concerts headlined by german krautrock band faust to a long distance elton john performance (this was particularly fascinating, with a grand piano set on stage wired up to mimic a piano that elton john was playing offsite), concerts are free and open to the public. it's the perfect place to take a picnic and enjoy some great music.