A gift for The la phil
Lillian B. Disney, in honor of her late husband Walt Disney, donated $50 million to the Music Center for a new concert hall. The Disney family had a long-standing association with the Music Center, and the donation was a reflection of her husband’s love of music, a love he had shared with the world in his collaboration with conductor Leopold Stokowski to combine classical music with animation in the 1940 film Fantasia.
“First and foremost, the concert hall…must be designed and built…to be one of the finest in the world and serve as a permanent tribute to my late husband, Walt Disney.”
Lillian Disney
A living room for the city
Architect Frank Gehry envisioned a place in which people would come together and feel comfortable doing so - an iconic destination with which people would identify and think of as their own. He wanted to create “a living room for the city” where music would be accessible to great numbers of people.
Video: Deborah Borda and Frank Gehry discuss 10 years of the LA Phil in Walt Disney Concert Hall, 2013
“I’m trying to make a building that invites you in - the body language is welcoming.”
Frank Gehry