Walt Disney Concert Hall

The Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles, California is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, 1st and 2nd Streets, it seats 2,265 people and serves (among other purposes) as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

Organ

The design of the hall included a large concert organ, completed in 2004, which was used in a special concert for the 2004 National Convention of the American Guild of Organists, in July of that year. The organ had its public debut in a non-subscription recital performed by Frederick Swann, on September 30th, 2004, and its first public performance with the Philharmonic two days later, in a concert featuring Todd Wilson.

Related Topics:
Organ - American Guild of Organists - Recital

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The organ's Gehry-designed facade sparked a great deal of controversy, as it includes a large number of pipes deliberately set at odd angles. Some people viewing early renderings and models compared it to a bag of French-fried potatoes. Nearly everybody who has seen the finished installation, however, agree that it fits perfectly with the design of the hall.

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The organ was built by the German organbuilder Caspar Glatter-Götz, under the tonal direction of Manuel Rosales; their other collaborations include the installations for United Church of Christ congregations in Claremont, CA, and Palos Verdes, CA. It has an attached console, built into the base of the instrument, from which approximately half the ranks are playable by direct mechanical, or "tracker" key action, with the rest playing by electropneumatic key action; this console somewhat resembles North-German Baroque organs, and has a closed-circuit television monitor set into the music desk. It is also equipped with a detached, movable console, which can be moved about as easily as a grand piano, and plugged in at any of four positions on the stage, this console has terraced, curved "ampitheatre"-style stop-jambs resembling those of French Romantic organs, and is built very low, with the music desk entirely above the top of the console, presumably for the sake of visibility. From the detached console, all ranks play by electropneumatic key action.

Related Topics:
United Church of Christ - Claremont - Palos Verdes - Baroque - Piano - Romantic

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