Walt Disney Concert Hall

The story

In downtown Los Angeles, the Walt Disney Concert Hall stands as the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center, and Frank Gehry designed it.² It opened on October 23, 2003, and it is home base for both the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.² The project began with a gift from Lillian Disney, Walt Disney's widow, in 1987.² She intended the venue as a gift to the residents of Los Angeles and as an homage to her partner's devotion to both the arts and the city itself.²

Inside, the hall holds 2,265 people.² Its seating mixes two traditions, the vineyard style seen in Berlin's Philharmonie and the classic shoebox shape of halls such as the Vienna Musikverein.²

History

Gehry finished his designs in 1991.² Work on the underground parking garage started the next year and wrapped up in 1996.² Meanwhile, building the hall itself paused between 1994 and 1996 because fundraising had fallen short.² To save money, the plans changed, and Gehry's original stone exterior gave way to a cheaper skin of stainless steel.² Ground was finally broken on the hall in December 1999.²

Minoru Nagata designed the acoustics, and his protege Yasuhisa Toyota oversaw the final stage of that work.² When construction was done in 2003, the Philharmonic held off on its grand opening so the orchestra and the Master Chorale could get used to the new room.² By opening day, performers and critics felt the wait had paid off.² Douglas-fir lines the walls and ceiling, and the floor is made of oak.²

A large concert organ was part of the design and was finished in 2004.² German builder Caspar Glatter-Götz made it, while Manuel Rosales guided its tonal character and voicing.² The instrument counts 72 stops, 109 ranks and 6,125 pipes.² Its pipes run from just a few inches up to a length of 32 feet.²

What to see and do

The hall's praised architecture and acoustics give visitors plenty to take in.² - **The stainless steel exterior:** The steel skin that replaced the planned stone gives the building its look, and on the north side the box columns lean forward by seventeen degrees.² Gehry used this angular design to suggest musical movement and the motion of the city.² - **The main auditorium:** The room's layout balances a vineyard-style arrangement with a traditional shoebox form, and it holds 2,265 people.² - **The concert organ:** Gehry shaped the organ's façade while consulting with Rosales.² Rosales likened the curved wooden pipe idea to a logjam turned on its side.² - **The acoustics:** Sound lingers in the empty hall for roughly 2.2 seconds, and for about 2.0 seconds when it is full.²

Why it matters

Gehry's architecture and the hall's acoustics have both won praise, unlike its predecessor, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.² Los Angeles Times music critic Mark Swed wrote about the rehearsals and the moment the hall suddenly came alive with sound.² In an interview with PBS, Esa-Pekka Salonen, who once served as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, remarked that audiences were at last able to experience the ensemble's genuine sound.² According to Wikipedia, the hall's launch ranks among the most triumphant concert venue premieres the United States has ever seen.²

Getting there

The hall fills the downtown block framed by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, and 1st and 2nd streets.² Metro built an elevated walkway that links the Grand Avenue Arts/Bunker Hill station to the concert hall.²