A big anonymous gift for Chapman University’s performing arts center remains anonymous, but the Insider has a guess. Chapman President Jim Doti mentioned a $25 million matching grant during last week’s festive groundbreaking for the center, which has a total price tag of $64 million. He also announced that the center will be named for Paul and Marybelle Musco. Doti made a passing reference to a matching grant the philanthropic couple made, along with their other contributions to the school—but he didn’t say whether the Muscos’ grant was the $25 million gift …
Leave it to Doti to shoot high and higher. Newsweek recently named Chapman the nation’s third-most-beautiful college; Doti boasted that the new center will elevate it to “first in the universe.” The center is scheduled to open sometime in 2015, but Doti urged that the date be moved up to late 2014 …
Featured speaker Placido Domingo, the Muscos’ close friend, said he hoped to return for the center’s opening “to walk the stage.” That wasn’t quite good enough for Doti, who said he hoped the famed tenor would sing Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma” to a dance accompaniment from Doti and his dance partner Julia Argyros (see related story, “CHOC’s New Capability,” page 1) …
Plenty of donors and plenty of talent at the opening. Besides Domingo was diva and Chapman supporter Milena Kitic (Mrs. Milan Panic). Singing at the luncheon was Chapman alum Ben Bliss (class of 2009), who is now Domingo’s protégé at LA Opera …. And what a thrill for Chapman soprano Emily Dyer (class of 2014), whose rendition of Verdi’s Caro Nome received a standing ovation from Domingo and everyone else. …
Speaking of donors: Doti also announced a $4 million gift from the Kay Family Foundation to equip the center with “state-of-the-art technology,” as well as plans to name the area in front of the center the Bette and Wylie Aitken Plaza, complete with Bette’s Bistro, where performance goers can grab “their first cocktail” …
Also in attendance was the person who will do the center’s sound, famed acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota, whose list of achievements includes Disney Hall. One difference with this new job: Disney Hall, he said, was primarily designed for a single ensemble, the LA Philharmonic. Chapman’s hall will need to be more flexible, serving not just orchestras but opera companies and student classes. Also in attendance was the team from L.A.-based Pfeiffer Architects, the center’s designer. Their many prior projects include the Hyperion Theater at Disney’s California Adventure and Clayes Performing Arts Center at Cal State Fullerton.
