The Charles Vanda Honorary Concert, named in honor of its founder, opened at the Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall on October 18, 1976. Over the years, artists performing at the Concert Hall have included the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, the New York City Opera, Aaron Copland, Andres Segovia, Kathleen Battle, Frederica Von Stade, the Moscow Festival Ballet, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta, the Philadelphia Orchestra with Eugene Ormandy, and countless others.

About Charles Vanda

Charles Vanda worked for CBS in the 1930s, becoming a freelance producer, director and writer in 1936. After doing a stint in Army intelligence during the war, he joined the J. Walter Thompson Agency’s Hollywood office where he was producer for the Jack Benny Show and Milton Berle Music Hall. “Retiring” in 1969, Vanda came to Las Vegas at the age of 67, where he served as an advisor for PBS, director of the Western Alliance of Arts Administrators and executive producer of the St. Jude’s Ranch for Children Night of Stars. As Director of Concert Hall Programming, Vanda was a fixture at the UNLV Performing Arts Center until the end of his life in 1988.