In the late 1960s, a number of Orange County community leaders decided it was time for their community to have a world-class performing arts venue. The region’s population had grown, businesses were headquartering here and major educational institutions were being established. Two of the county’s existing artistic organizations - Philharmonic Society of Orange County and Pacific Symphony - needed a concert hall with seating and acoustics appropriate to their needs and the caliber of their performances: a setting in which to grow and achieve greater prestige and recognition. Clearly, the time was right for the creation of a cultural institution worthy of this thriving community.

In 1979, the local Segerstrom family donated a 5-acre (20,000 m2) site for the original facility. It was also determined that the new performing arts complex would be built entirely through private funding. Government funding would be neither solicited nor accepted. The Center held the distinction of being the first such organization of its scope in the country to hold this distinction. Charles Lawrence served as lead architect. An international team of Dr. A. Harold Marshall, Dennis Paoletti and Jerald R. Hyde designed the acoustics.

The vision of the Center's founders became reality on September 29, 1986, when Segerstrom Hall – one of the nation’s most innovative and technically advanced homes for the performing arts – opened its doors to the public for the first time. Soprano Leontyne Price inaugurated the venue by singing the "Star Spangled Banner" with Zubin Mehta conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic.