The working relationship between Frank Gehry and the LA Phil is unique in the history of cultural institutions in this country. A friend of the LA Phil’s then-General Manager Ernest Fleischmann, Gehry was first hired by the orchestra in 1970 to solve the difficult acoustics at the Hollywood Bowl. Then in 1987, his design was selected to build the future home of the LA Phil, his Walt Disney Concert Hall creation becoming one of the world’s most recognizable landmarks. Of it, Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel has said: “Physically it’s beautiful, but it is much more than that. It has become part of the soul of the orchestra and of the city."

Since the opening of Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003, Gehry’s collaborations with the orchestra have continued to grow and evolve. In 2012, he helped Dudamel realize one of his first large-scale artistic projects – a production of Don Giovanni that kicked off Dudamel’s three-year Mozart/Da Ponte Trilogy. In 2018, the LA Phil and Frank Gehry’s partnership expanded to include Dudamel’s signature education program, Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA). Gehry volunteered his services to design the program’s first permanent, purpose-built facility: the Judith & Thomas L. Beckman YOLA Center at Inglewood, which officially opened its doors in October 202.