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Monica Czausz Berney

Fanciful and Divine

Sun / Mar 13, 2022 - 7:30PM

The extravagantly gifted young American organist makes her debut here.

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Program

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About this Performance

American virtuoso Monica Czausz Berney has been recognized as one of the top 20 organists under 30, for her “superior accomplishments, leadership, creativity, and innovative thinking” (The Diapason). The recipient of first prize in numerous competitions, Czausz Berney makes her Walt Disney Concert Hall debut.

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The Walt Disney Concert Hall Organ

Architect Frank Gehry devoted a great deal of time to the design. He worked with Los Angeles organ designer and builder Manuel J. Rosales to create something different from a typical church organ with its rows and rows of metal tubes. Gehry’s initial designs included pipes hanging from the ceiling and the organist in a cage halfway up the wall. Rosales found the concepts fanciful and marvelous, but he knew there was no way they would lead to the construction of a practical musical instrument.

Eventually, Gehry presented a concept that looked like a cluster of flowers shooting out of the ground. Rosales found this design wonderful and agreed that it was something they could pursue. Rosales recommended European organ builder Casper von Glatter-Götz to fabricate and install the many complex components. What we see today is the dramatically splayed composition of beams which Gehry refers to as “French fries.” (And they are certainly Super-Sized!)

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Artist Frank Gehry and organ builder Manuel Rosales collaborated on the visual design of the organ.