Disney Concert Hall Opens in Los Angeles
Posted on: Friday, 24 October 2003, 06:00 CDT
The debut of the Walt Disney Concert Hall began with a solo voice singing "The Star Spangled Banner" and ended with silver confetti, cut in the outline of the Frank Gehry landmark, falling on a cheering crowd.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale and jazz singer Dianne Reeves wowed a packed crowd who loudly endorsed the hall's much-heralded acoustics. Thursday evening's grand gala closed with fireworks illuminating the night sky.
"I've never heard music like this," said Elliott Horwitch of Beverly Hills, a longtime subscriber to the Philharmonic.
"I love sitting in the middle - this is a stroke of genius," his wife Adrienne said.
The concert was the first of three opening galas following more than a decade of struggle to build the stainless steel and glass landmark that resembles a ship in full sail or a flower in bloom.
The 2,265-seat venue drew rave reviews.
"The outside is spectacular," former Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca said during intermission. "The acoustics are out of this world."
The hall was the idea of Disney's widow, Lillian, who donated $50 million in seed money in 1987. By 1996, the project was running out of money. Then-mayor Richard Riordan called on billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad for help.
Lillian Disney gave another $25 million, other gifts followed, and construction began again in 1999.
Gehry designed the hall before his acclaimed Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. The two buildings share a gleaming metal exterior with few straight lines.
Located near the Music Center, the Disney Concert Hall is intended to be the centerpiece of a plan to rejuvenate the downtown.
The city has announced a $1.2 billion plan to create a 16-acre downtown park, linking the Disney Hall and the new Roman Catholic cathedral at one end with the refurbished Central Library at the other.
"I hope what this means is that L.A. has finally found its center," said Laura Trombley, president of Pitzer College.
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On the Net:
Los Angeles Philharmonic: http://www.laphil.com
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