As Los Angeles boomed after World War II, The Music Guild grew to meet the needs of a major American metropolis in the twenty-first century. In our early years, we annually promoted a handful of concerts at the Wilshire Ebell Theater. Today we have transitioned to one of the biggest classical music concert presenters in the West. Originally a musical series providing comfort for Eastern European émigrés, The Music Guild is now a major supplier to Los Angeles schools as the first non-profit chamber music organization in the United States to both produce concerts for and provide instruments to disadvantaged inner-city school children.

In 1944, radio personality Alfred Leonard envisioned a new series of concerts featuring chamber music performed by the world’s outstanding artists. The premiere concert at the Ebell was in the autumn of 1945. Over six decades and hundreds of concerts later, The Music Guild is now L. A.’s oldest, continuous series of chamber music concerts. The late Daniel Cariaga, as music editor of the Los Angeles Times, wrote:

““Along with the Philharmonic, The Music Guild, our longtime purveyor of first-rank ensembles,may be the closest this community gets to having a musical core. Attending a Music Guild event . . . one often feels in the center of things. Interesting music is made there; important musicians perform there. And the loyal and dedicated Music Guild audience recognizes the distinctions.””

The Los Angeles Times also reported:

“. . . Some of the best chamber music groups in the world visit the Southland under the auspices of The Music Guild.”

And Jim Ruggirello of the Long Beach Gazette added,

"The Music Guild music series . . . reminding us once again that you don't have to go far to hear some truly international caliber music . . . What the Guild offers is what their audience wants: repertoire played at the highest level."

Originally, The Music Guild audiences centered around Russian and German immigrants whose European background caused them to be deeply devoted to and knowledgeable of classical music. Well-known personalities, such as critic Arthur Knight, Max Laemmle of Laemmle Theatres, and screen writer Mac Benoff joined the Board of Directors.

The most famous ensembles in the world . . . the Juilliard String Quartet, the Budapest String Quartet, the Guarneri String Quartet, the Paganini String Quartet, and the Beaux Arts Trio . . . were given their first opportunities to perform in Los Angeles by The Music Guild.

Dorothy Huttenback, an impresario and artist manager, took over the reins of The Music Guild in 1952. Until 1985 when she was 88 years old, Mrs. Huttenback single handedly ran the series, proud of its complete independence from government grants. In 1986, Eugene Golden followed Mrs. Huttenback and continues today as Executive and Artistic Director.

The Music Guild now presents 54 concerts annually: 18 evening concerts in the fall/winter season at three locations: Schoenberg Hall at UCLA, Gerald R. Daniel Recital Hall at Cal State Long Beach (CSULB), and the Plaza del Sol Performance Hall at Cal State Northridge (CSUN). For seniors who prefer not driving at night and to enable children to attend, The Music Guild presents four Sunday afternoon concerts of Coffee, Cookies and Concerts, each spring at the University Synagogue in Brentwood. The Music Guild presents the same artists who perform to the adult audiences in 32 kid's concerts in Los Angeles schools, the Cienega, 52nd Street, Hoover, Charles H. Kim, and Tenth Street Elementary Schools, the Village Glen School for autistic children, the Summit View School for learning differences, the Community Magnet School and Juvenile Hall.

"The Music Guild music series . . . reminding us once again that you don't have to go far to hear some truly international caliber music . . . What the Guild offers is what their audience wants: repertoire played at the highest level."

Gail Eichenthal, KUSC Radio

With its "Music Changes Lives"‚ program in 1992, The Music Guild fulfilled its mission: To present classical music in an intimate setting to children at an early age, before they have heard from their elders or their peers that they should not like it. The objective of the children's concerts is not only to introduce great music to them, but to inspire them to want to study and perform classical music. The Music Guild selects schools that have music departments with the ability to teach all students who want to study.

In 2002, The Music Guild initiated "Strings for Students", a program to acquire string instruments for those children inspired to study classical music. Full-sized instruments are donated to The Music Guild, repaired and sold to obtain funds to purchase‚ ¾ sized new violins. These instruments are donated for use by students. In 2004, the "Keyboards for Kids"‚ program was added, purchasing new electronic keyboards and donating them to the schools to enable kids to study piano and was expanded in 2006 to include the Watts Towers Art Center.

Many colleges and universities are undergoing financial difficulties and have cut back on their presentations of classical music concerts. The Music Guild has stepped forward to meet this need. Proving the private sector can and does help with the needs of higher education, The Music Guild presents Master Classes for students at UCLA, CSULB and CSUN.

The Music Guild supports Music Angelica, the Maestro Foundation, the Los Angeles and Long Beach Operas and other art institutions in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area. For some years, The Music Guild has invited as its guests the students of the American Youth Symphony, UCLA Youth Orchestra, Crossroads School, Colburn Performing Arts School, Braille Institute and children from each of the elementary schools where the ensembles perform.

The Music Guild's great contributions to the music life of Los Angeles have been recognized with resolutions by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the City of Los Angeles, and has been profiled on KUSC Radio.

The Music Guild’s great contribution to the music life of Los Angeles has been recognized with Resolutions by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the City of Los Angeles.

Alfred Leonard Founder/Manager

1944 - 1952

Born in Germany in 1909, Alfred Leonard arrived in Los Angeles at age 24. He became director of symphonic programs on KFAC radio and host of The Golden Hour. He owned the Gateway to Music (store) and in 1944 founded The Music Guild. An avid supporter of classical music, his inner-circle included Ernst and Lilly Toch, Artur Schnabel, piano duo performers Vitya Vronsky and Victor Babin whose concerts he sponsored and careers he followed.

In the historical collections at UCLA are copies of his published works in magazines, essays, and unpublished writings and lectures. He published "Gateway to Music - Bulletin" with reviews of recordings as an adjunct to his store. He kept reel to reel recordings of his radio shows, and maintained recordings of The Music Guild concert performances also now at UCLA. Mr. Leonard died September 10, 1988.

Dorothy Huttenback Manager

1952 - 1985

Dorothy Huttenback, the longest running Manager of The Music Guild, was born Dorothy Alice Marcuse in San Francisco on October 30, 1896. She became an international artist when her mother took her to Berlin in 1907. Because of her youth, she was rejected entry into the Berlin Conservatory, but composers Engelbert Humperdinck and Casimir Hofmann helped take responsibility for her further piano studies. She played on the concert stage until 1922, when she married Dr. Otto Huttenback.

With Hitler rising to power in Germany, the Huttenbacks moved to London in 1933 where Mrs. Huttenback joined the Van White Artist Agency. Then at the start World War II in 1939, they relocated to Los Angeles. Mrs. Huttenback gained fame during her long career representing artists such as Rubenstein, Horowitz, Tamanova, and discovering and developing the careers of Marilyn Horne and Mary Costa Mrs. Huttenbach died in 1987.

Eugene Golden
Executive/Artistic Director

1985 - Present

Los Angeles attorney, Eugene Golden, took over the reigns of The Music Guild in 1985 when Dorothy Huttenbach had a stroke. Since then, he expanded the number of annual concerts from five in one venue to 22 in four venues and 32 children's concerts and established a fund-raising program to acquire instruments for children. In 1977, he joined with the LA Philharmonic to form the LA Philharmonic Chamber Music Society.

At the request of the U. S. Information Agency in 1990, Mr. Golden flew to Moscow with 10 other representatives of U. S. arts organizations to participate in a seminar sponsored by the Russian Ministry of Culture to assist Russian arts organizations to operate more efficiently. In 1991, the USIA again requested Mr. Golden to host 10 Mexican conductors and composers at a conference of the American Symphony Orchestra League. He convinced and assisted them in forming their own Association of Mexican Symphony Orchestras and represented them in the formation of the International Alliance of Orchestra Associations in Winnepeg, Canada and at conferences of the Association of British Orchestras in England. In St. Louis, he renovated and developed the historic Sheldon Concert Hall into a performing arts center

Mr. Golden arranged for national broadcasts of The Music Guild concerts on NPR and joined with actor Philip Sterling to present classical music and commentary on KCSN. During the summer months, Mr. Golden has acted as Artistic Adviser at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre. He states that he has plans for further expansion of The Music Guild activities during the next 25 years.