When we think of Disney, we often think of the children’s stories and animations. But Disney is also about musicals, and this is something that Ron Ozer is particularly interested in. He is from New York himself, where there are many concert halls and other such venues. However, he regularly travels to Los Angeles to view the Walt Disney Concert Hall as well. Interestingly, the rest of the world is not much aware of this particular concert hall. While everybody has heard of the amazing Disney resorts and of Eurodisney, the concert hall is a hidden gem.
Ron Ozer on the Walt Disney Concert Hall
The Walt Disney Concert Hall is a marvel of acoustic architecture. In fact, it is the world’s most sophisticated of its kind! Frank Gehry designed the hall and Yasuhisa Toyota worked on the acoustics. It was all made possible thanks to corporate and individual donors, including Lillian Disney, who all have a passion for art and music.
The hall is found in Los Angeles at 111 S. Grand Avenue. It opened in 2003 and immediately became the home of the prestigious Los Angeles Philharmonic, who Ron Ozer always makes a point of seeing. Uniquely, the hall has a sophisticated yet intimate experience. Additionally, it has already started to become one of California’s greatest structural landmarks. In essence, it has become what the West End is to London and Broadway is to New York.
The exterior of the building is absolutely fascinating as well. Its curves are stainless steel, but they have a matte finish. This makes it look very modern and state of the art. Inside, the Children’s Amphitheater and the Founder’s Room have panels that are like mirrors, and they have concave sections to further amplify them. This architectural drama is like a musical composition in its own right. The individual panels, meanwhile, have been sanded down so that it would not cause glare or heat problems for those around the building.
One year after the concert hall opened, in 2004, more work on the building was completed. Specifically, the large concert organ finished and this is a true masterpiece. The final decisions were made by Manuel Rosales who look at the designs that Gehry had made, and he consulted with Caspar Glatter-Gotz on these matters. The organ is one of the largest of its kind, with 109 ranks, 72 stops, and no less than 6,125 varieties of pipe ranges. Since completion, musicians the world over have put in requests for the chance to play this magnificent instrument. The organ was expensive, of course, but as a gift to Los Angeles County, Toyota Moto Sales, USA, Inc. decided to sponsor it. This made construction possible.
Since construction was completed, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which for some reason still hasn’t managed to grab the international attention it deserves, has featured in a range of television shows and movies. In fact, it was in Everyday Italian, Iron Man 2, The Soloist, Brothers and Sisters, and also in the Matrix Revolution. And if you play the game Midnight Club: Los Angeles, you may be able to spot it in there as well.
