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  • Los Angeles Philharmonic Announces Frank Gehry Fund For Creativity
  • Mar. 8, 2019
  • LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC ANNOUNCES
    FRANK GEHRY FUND FOR CREATIVITY

     

    Los Angeles, CA (March 7, 2019) – Tonight from the stage of Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles Philharmonic Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel announced the establishment of the Frank Gehry Fund for Creativity, honoring the architect’s contributions to the LA Phil as the visionary creator of Walt Disney Concert Hall and as an innovative artistic partner over nearly five decades.

    The announcement came just before the second half of Dudamel’s concert leading the orchestra in a program featuring the world premiere of the LA Phil-commissioned piano concerto from Creative Chair John Adams, Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?, with soloist Yuja Wang, generously supported by the Lenore S. and Bernard A. Greenberg Fund.

    Gustavo Dudamel said: “It is a privilege and pleasure for me to announce the Frank Gehry Fund for Creativity in honor of my dear dear friend Frank Gehry on the occasion of his 90th birthday. This new fund will enable us to tour the piano concerto you just heard to six cities across three continents over the next nine months, as well as to record the piece.”

    Of the Fund, Gehry said: “One of the greatest joys of my life has been my involvement in the classical music world. My entrée into this world was Ernest Fleischmann, who was my mentor and my guide and who set me on a 40-year musical educational journey, which has informed and enhanced my life and work immensely. I am overwhelmed by the generosity of spirt and resources that the LA Phil has put forth today in the establishment of their fund for creativity. In supporting new compositions and supporting the artists who are exploring and experimenting, the LA Phil has once again shown their dedication to the artistry of music. It is an honor to be a part of this grand adventure, and I hope to see and hear the fruits of this fund for many years to come.”

    Simon Woods, CEO of the LA Phil, added: “Frank Gehry has been part of the LA Phil’s story for nearly 50 years. His understanding of the intimate relationship between music and architecture has given us some of the greatest performing spaces in the world. Walt Disney Concert Hall is the ultimate embodiment of his art and a celebration of the vibrant, democratic spirit of Los Angeles. We are thrilled to be able to create this Fund to ensure that Frank’s legacy as an artist and a humanist will find expression in the LA Phil’s work for years to come.”

    The Fund was inaugurated with Board-approved $10 million in specially designated assets and received additional support from a number of supporters closest to the LA Phil and Frank Gehry. The Fund has been established to encourage artistic collaboration in the spirit of Frank Gehry, inspired by his collaborative and innovative genius, and will support projects with creative artists who share in his humanist values and aspire to his breadth of imagination.

    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 fifth site and first permanent, purpose-built facility: the Judith & Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center at Inglewood, with an anticipated completion in the summer of 2020. 

     

    FRANK GEHRY BIOGRAPHY
    Raised in Toronto, Canada, Frank Gehry moved in 1947 with his family to Los Angeles where he subsequently received his Bachelor of Architecture degree at the University of Southern California in 1954. Upon graduating, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, and, with the assistance of the GI Bill, he studied City Planning at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design until 1957. Since then, Gehry has built an architectural career that has spanned more than six decades and he has produced public and private buildings throughout the world. His work has earned Gehry several of the most significant awards in the architectural field, including the Pritzker Prize.

    Notable projects include Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California; Eight Spruce Street Residential Tower in New York City, New York; Opus Hong Kong Residential in Hong Kong, China; Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, France; the Biomuseo in Panama City, Panama; the Dr. Chau Chak Wing Building for the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia; the West Campus for Facebook in Menlo Park, California; and the Boulez Hall in Berlin, Germany.

    Current projects include the King Street Development in Toronto, Ontario; the Grand Avenue Project in Los Angeles, California; 8150 Sunset in Los Angeles, California; the Ocean Avenue Project in Santa Monica, California; the World Jewish Museum in Tel Aviv, Israel; the Los Angeles River revitalization project in Los Angeles, California; a new center for the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) in Inglewood, California; and single-family residential projects in Atherton, California; Los Angeles, California; and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

    Projects under construction include the LUMA / Parc des Ateliers in Arles, France; Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Facebook Campus in Menlo Park, California; the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, D.C.; La Maison LVMH – Arts, Talents, Patrimoine in Paris, France; the Battersea Power Station Development in London, England; and the Louis Vuitton Gallery in Seoul, South Korea.

    LA PHIL:
    The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, under the vibrant leadership of Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, presents an inspiring array of music from all genres – orchestral, chamber, and Baroque music, organ and celebrity recitals, new music, jazz, world music, and pop – at two of L.A.’s iconic venues, Walt Disney Concert Hall (laphil.com) and the Hollywood Bowl (hollywoodbowl.com). The LA Phil’s season at Walt Disney Concert Hall extends from September through June, and at the Hollywood Bowl throughout the summer. With the preeminent Los Angeles Philharmonic at the foundation of its offerings, the LA Phil aims to enrich and transform lives through music, with a robust mix of artistic, education, and community programs.

     

  • Contact:

    Sophie Jefferies, sjefferies@laphil.org, 213 972 3422 
    Lisa White, lwhite@laphil.org, 213 972 3408 
    Lydia Fong, lfong@laphil.org, 213 972 3689 
    Photos: 213 972 3034