Tropicana Magazine Mar-Apr 2018 #117: Edge Of Excitement

THE HOME
MUSIC TO
YOUR EYES
Concert halls and opera houses as wondrous on the eyes as they
are on the ears
TEXT BY MUNA NOOR
A
date with a symphony orchestra or
an operatic tenor has always been
an occasion. But a recent crop of
concert halls and opera houses designed
by star architects has elevated the
experience to one that is multi-sensual.
Marrying fabulous form with perfect
function, these astounding structures
are not mere works of beauty, but
engineering feats. Here acoustic design
is the unseen, unbilled performer
equally deserving of a rapturous
applause. We survey six performance
halls, some modern others classic, that
simultaneously enthral one’s sense of
sight and sound.
WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL, LOS ANGELES
As part of a number of initiatives undertaken to revitalise Downtown Los Angeles, there
was little doubt that Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall would have the capacity to
transform particularly given the magical spell his Guggenheim Museum cast in Bilbao.
A mere stroll from City Hall and Grand Central Market, its shimmering metal curves
and crisp silver folds are an undeniable attention grabber particularly against the glass
towers and rectangular brownstone buildings typical of the area. As a result, Walt Disney
Concert Hall has already secured countless cameos in a number of films and TV shows
since it was unveiled in 2003.
The building, which is home to the LA Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Master
Chorale was a gift to the city partially funded by Lilian Disney, widow to Walt, and later
when project costs escalated by the Disney family and Walt Disney Company.
Standing in stark contrast to its exterior, its Concert Hall, designed in a shoebox and
arena arrangement by Japan’s Nagata Acoustics, utilises hardwoods like Douglas Fir and
Oak. The Walt Disney Concert Hall also has fans in the city’s Transportation Authority.
Noise suppression measures were utilised during the construction of the Metro which
runs under the auditorium. Now that deserves an encore!
TM | MARCH/APRIL 2018
42