Ambassador Auditorium is located on the historic Ambassador College campus in Pasadena, California, United States. Its architectural design has been noted to be somewhat similar to that of the Temple in ancient Israel. The auditorium's main hall has a capacity of 1,262. History Called by some concertgoers "The Carnegie Hall of the West", this relatively small yet beautiful concert hall hosted 20 seasons of the world's best musicians and performers from 1974 to 1995. Ambassador Auditorium is actually a large chamber music sized hall, with the design amenities of the finest large concert halls. It was built under the guidance of Herbert W. Armstrong as both a facility to be used by the Worldwide Church of God for church services, college functions for the then adjacent Ambassador College, and as a concert hall for public performances celebrating the performing arts. At the time of its construction the building was furnished with Iranian onyx, African teak, wool carpets woven in India, and splendid gold-leaf overlay. It seats 1,262 persons. It was officially opened by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. It is estimated that 2.5 million attendees saw over 2,500 concerts at Ambassador Auditorium by Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Claudio Arrau, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Horacio Gutierrez, Alicia de Larrocha, Arthur Rubinstein, Andrés Segovia, Yo-Yo Ma, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Gerhard Oppitz, Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis Junior, Frank Sinatra, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan (including for their last visit together to the U.S. in 1982 - Mahler Symphony No. 9 on one program) and many others during this period. With regard to classical music, the intimate feel of the venue was especially well suited to small ensembles, and soloists such as guitarists Julian Bream and John Williams. Many artists were enticed to perform west of Chicago by reports of superior acoustics. It is one of the few concert halls constructed in the century with nearly perfect orchestral acoustics. (Opera was less successful at this venue due to insufficient behind the stage space and acoustics optimized for orchestral performance.) To illustrate the clarity of the acoustics, tour guides would drop a pin on the stage. The tour group, at the back of the hall, could hear it drop and the slight bounce when the pin hit the stage. Arthur Rubenstein spoke glowingly of its acoustic qualities. For many years he refused to play on the West Coast due to earlier