Walt Disney Concert Hall

1987

A widow's gift in 1987 took 16 years to become a hall

The project began in 1987, when Lillian Disney, the widow of Walt Disney, made a gift as a tribute to his devotion to the arts and to the city. Frank Gehry delivered completed designs in 1991. Work on the hall itself stalled from 1994 to 1996 for lack of fundraising. It opened on October 23, 2003.

Frank Gehry

An unlikely architect used fighter jet software

Gehry, though well known, found himself an unlikely candidate for the job, in his own hometown. He said that it was the least likely thing that he thought would ever happen to him in his life. Because of the mathematical complexity of his design, he used a computer program called CATIA, which is typically used in the design of French fighter jets, to produce plans that contractors could build.

The sound

The acoustics won the praise of the orchestra at once

The acoustics were designed by Minoru Nagata, and his assistant and protégé Yasuhisa Toyota supervised the final completion. The hall seats 2,265 and is a compromise between a vineyard-style seating plan and a classical shoebox design. After the first rehearsals, the orchestra's music director Esa-Pekka Salonen said that everyone could now hear what the L.A. Phil is supposed to sound like.

2,265seats, in a hall between a vineyard and a shoebox design

Home

The home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic

The hall is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center. It is the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. It is bounded by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, and First and Second streets.