Colburn will open its new Frank Gehry designed campus expansion in downtown Los Angeles with a gala concert on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2027, in the 1,000 seat Terri and Jerry Kohl Hall.

Colburn President and Chief Executive Officer Sel Kardan announced the date. A community celebration will follow on Sunday, Sept. 26, with a ribbon cutting ceremony, free performances across the campus, and inaugural performances at the Dance Center. A finale concert in Kohl Hall that evening will close the day. The two days will begin a week long opening festival with guest artists, visiting ensembles, resident organizations, faculty, and students.

Kohl Hall is a concert hall in the round with an orchestra pit and a stage built for large orchestrations. Adjustable acoustic elements hang above the performers. The hall is equipped for orchestra, dance, opera, jazz, and other productions, and it will become the permanent home of the Colburn Orchestra. Yasuhisa Toyota of Nagata Acoustics, who worked with Gehry on Walt Disney Concert Hall, served as acoustician, and Michael Ferguson of TheatreDNA served as theater consultant.

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra will make Kohl Hall its new downtown home beginning with the 2027-28 season. That season will include a commissioning initiative supported by Seth MacFarlane, with premieres of new fanfares by film composers. John Williams will contribute a work to be performed at the orchestra’s inaugural concert in the hall. Colburn will announce its full 2027-28 season in the spring.

Leadership gifts from Carol Colburn Grigor and Terri and Jerry Kohl support the Building Our Future campaign, with additional early support from the Ahmanson Foundation and the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation.

“We are excited to announce the opening date for our extraordinary new facilities, which the late Frank Gehry designed for us with unsurpassed artistry and skill and heartfelt devotion to our mission. Transformational philanthropic support has enabled the creation of a building which will offer new opportunities for world class music and dance education and exceptional performances at Colburn. We look forward to welcoming students, faculty, audiences, artists, and performing arts organizations to Terri and Jerry Kohl Hall and the Dance Center in downtown Los Angeles, making the Colburn campus more vital than ever as a hub of artistic activity and exchange,” Kardan said, per an official press release.