Sunday’s (9/22) Los Angeles Times carries multiple articles relating to upcoming celebrations marking the tenth anniversary of the building of Disney Concert Hall, home to the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 2003. Among the pieces are a conversation with architect Frank Gehry, who reminisces about the fifteen-year period when the hall was being built. “This has become my home and family, and changed my life,” says Gehry, “and it’s the one building other than my house that I get to use—a building that I’ve designed that I get to use.” Also included are “first impressions” of the hall by Los Angeles Philharmonic musicians, conductors, and management; and conversations with David C. Bohnett, chairman of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association; Diane Disney Miller, daughter of Walt and Lillian Disney, for whom the hall is named; Disney Hall’s head usher, Ismael Tenorio; and acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota. “Frank [Gehry] built a hall for the music, and for the musicians, not for architects and critics,” [Miller] says. “I wanted something that would bear my father’s name, that would come from his wealth but not be commercial. That would be just a wonderful thing for the city, for the spirit, for the soul. I think we achieved that.” The Los Angeles Philharmonic kicks off the Disney Hall celebration this week with free community concerts in Duarte, mid-Wilshire, Long Beach, and at Disney Hall.
Posted September 23, 2013
