Opened in 1983 and owned by Kentucky Performing Arts, the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts is home to the Kentucky Opera, the Louisville Ballet, and the Louisville Orchestra. From here you can feel the steady hum of company life: tenants include the Kentucky Opera, the Louisville Ballet, the Louisville Orchestra, StageOne Family Theatre and Broadway Across America. The center was dedicated on November 19, 1983, an evening attended by Charlton Heston, Diane Sawyer and Lily Tomlin, and a year later it even hosted one of the U.S. presidential election debates between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale.
Inside, three performance spaces shape the program: Robert S. Whitney Hall, the largest with 2,406 seats, named for the Louisville Orchestra’s founding conductor; the Moritz von Bomhard Theatre, with 619 seats, named for the founder of the Kentucky Opera and equipped with an M1D Meyer Sound system; and the intimate Boyd Martin Theatre, 139 seats, also known as “The MeX,” named for Boyd Martin of the Louisville Courier-Journal. Around you, sculptural artwork by Alexander Calder, Joan Miró, John Chamberlain, Jean Dubuffet and others punctuates the plaza and lobby. Notice the sculptures and façades framing this center of performance.