Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Receives $2 Million Gift for New Orchestral Works by Media Composers

variety.com:

Jon Burlingame Emmy-winning composer Jeff Beal (“House of Cards”) and his wife Joan have donated $2 million to the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra to fund original works for the concert hall by film, TV and game composers.

LACO executive director Ben Cadwallader announced the gift at a private event Sunday at the Steinway Piano Gallery in Beverly Hills attended by LACO executives, music director Jaime Martín, and members of the L.A.

music community. Cadwallader said that they are hoping to match the Beal gift with other donations to create a $4 million endowment fund, and that they have already received a pair of “six-figure” gifts by interested donors. “There is an awkward, odd disconnect between the concert stage and the composers of Hollywood, and the music they create,” Beal said. “This is an effort to give back, to support a wonderful orchestra of folks who’ve played on our scores for years, and try and influence the conversation around the concert stage and the deep pool of brilliant composers in Los Angeles and beyond.” Cadwallader pointed out that most of LACO’s musicians primarily earn their living playing on film and TV scores in the L.A.

studios, and that this initiative — having their usual employers, the composers, create new works for the concert stage — will help to bring these two worlds together.