The Music Center's Walt Disney Concert Hall
Designed by architect Frank Gehry, The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall (Concert Hall) opened in 2003 as the newest of The Music Center’s four venues. The Concert Hall was conceived when Lillian B. Disney made an initial gift of $50 million to build an additional performance space on Los Angeles County land in honor of her late husband Walt Disney and his dedication to the arts. Home to LA Phil and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Walt Disney Concert Hall is one of the most acoustically sophisticated concert halls in the world and provides both visual and aural intimacy through its exterior and interior design.
More than 6,000 panels create the curving stainless steel skin of the Concert Hall’s exterior. Resembling silver sails, the Concert Hall’s design plays off the bowed cornice of The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, forging a link between the old and the new.
The use of natural materials and skylights creates a bright and airy interior in the Concert Hall. Gehry’s team visualized the lobby as a transparent and light-filled “living room for the city.” Massive columns within the lobby structure evoke an image of tree trunks. They are clad in vertical grain Douglas fir and serve the functional purpose of housing the lighting, heating and air conditioning systems.
The 2,265-seat auditorium is a concrete box that is structurally independent of the rest of the building. Gehry collaborated with renowned acoustician Dr. Yasuhisa Toyota to design the acoustics. The walls of the auditorium are vertical grain Douglas fir and the floor is red oak. The stage is Alaskan yellow cedar, the same wood often used on the backs of cellos and violas and can be configured to hold larger performing organizations by removing the first rows in Orchestra View. Natural light enhances daytime concerts with a large 36-foot-high rear window and skylights.
The terraced vineyard style seating is designed to bring the audience close to the orchestra and provide an intimate view of the musicians and conductor from any seat. A focal point for the auditorium is the 50-foot organ that houses 6,134 pipes ranging in size from a pencil to a telephone pole. Only two percent of the pipes are visible. The organ weighs more than 40 metric tons and was designed by Los Angeles organ designer Manuel Rosales along with Frank Gehry.
Gehry’s design includes details as specific as the carpet pattern used in the auditorium. Named “Lillian” in Mrs. Disney’s honor, the pattern was designed to bring Mrs. Disney’s garden into the Concert Hall and is featured in the seating upholstery as well. Foam padding, the material and the hollow underside of the seats mimic the human body in reflecting sound; in fact, the sound is the same no matter how full or how empty the auditorium. The only piece of art in the Concert Hall, “Blue”, was created by Los Angeles artist Peter Alexander. It is located above the Grand Avenue staircase between the Garden and Terrace levels.
The Concert Hall includes BP Hall, which is an additional space for performances and can accommodate up to 350 people. Clad in vertical grain Douglas fir as well, the curved room posed an acoustical challenge. To avoid focusing sound in one area of the space, perforations were added to the wood paneling with special material placed behind the panels to give the room proper acoustics.
Located on the second floor of the Concert Hall is the Library of Congress/Ira Gershwin Gallery. Designed by Hodgetts + Fung Design Associates, the gallery was made possible by a gift from the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Trust for the Benefit of the Library of Congress and rotates its collection bi-annually.
The Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT), named in honor of Walt Disney’s brother and partner Roy and Roy’s wife, Edna, is also housed within the Concert Hall. An interdisciplinary contemporary arts center, the theatre is programmed by CalArts, based in Valencia, California. REDCAT features a flexible 200- to 270-seat multi-use theatre and a 3,000 square-foot exhibition space. Its entrance includes a marquee of curvilinear stainless steel and leads directly into an expansive multi-use space that includes a lobby and lounge for meetings, receptions and post-performance events. The REDCAT stage can be transformed into several configurations, from thrust and end stage to completely in the round. The performance space is lined with hinged panels, each with finished wood on one side and sound-absorbent material on the other. To quiet outside noise and prevent transmission of vibrations from the Concert Hall, REDCAT is built as a steel box-within-a box, with the interior box floating on 72 special rubber pads.
Featured at Walt Disney Concert Hall
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Tue Apr 15 8:00 PM
LA Phil Shostakovich and Ravel
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Harp, winds, and strings come together for a lively program of Ravel, Hindemith, Caplet, and Shostakovich.
Harp, winds, and strings come together for a lively program of Ravel, Hindemith, Caplet, and Shostakovich.
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Thu Apr 17 8:00 PM
Fri Apr 18 8:00 PM
LA Phil Carlos Simon’s Gospel Mass with Dudamel
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Gustavo Dudamel leads the world premiere of Carlos Simon’s exalted Gospel Mass, a celebratory homage to Black joy, spiritual discovery, and the power of faith. Navigating themes of loss, gratitude, hope, and resilience, Simon...Show More
Gustavo Dudamel leads the world premiere of Carlos Simon’s exalted Gospel Mass, a celebratory homage to Black joy, spiritual discovery, and the power of faith. Navigating themes of loss, gratitude, hope, and resilience, Simon takes inspiration from Bernstein’s MASS and his own experience attending church with his family to create something distinctly his own.
Simon’s Gospel Mass features The Sunday Service Collective and an experience-enhancing visual narrative from Melina Matsoukas, renowned for her award-winning music video work with icons like Beyoncé and Rihanna. The night opens with Leonard Bernstein’s Divertimento, a token of affection and appreciation for the city of his youth and its symphony orchestra, before Randall Goosby brings his “lush, warm tone and exceptional technique” (NPR) to Florence Price’s Second Violin Concerto.
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Sat Apr 19 8:00 PM
LA Phil Cody Fry with Orchestra
Walt Disney Concert Hall
The feeling you get when a black-and-white film suddenly bursts into technicolor in a rush of emotion? That’s the sound of Cody Fry’s music. It’s no wonder the singer, songwriter, composer, producer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist has stirred...Show More
The feeling you get when a black-and-white film suddenly bursts into technicolor in a rush of emotion? That’s the sound of Cody Fry’s music. It’s no wonder the singer, songwriter, composer, producer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist has stirred up a huge following over the last 10 years with his emotional orchestral pop. Fry followed up his #1 Billboard Classical Tracks hit "I Hear a Symphony" with 2023's The End, an album of lush, surging songs that explore intimate themes like mental health and personal change. Coming on the heels of a Grammy nomination for his re-orchestration of the Beatles' classic "Eleanor Rigby," it’s no wonder American Songwriter said, "Cody Fry’s music is simultaneously familiar and breathtakingly innovative."
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Tue Apr 22 8:00 PM
LA Phil Mendelssohn's Octet
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Experience big performances on a more intimate scale when musicians from the LA Phil perform chamber music in small ensembles. Come early and enjoy a complimentary glass of wine before the performance, starting at 6:30pm.
Experience big performances on a more intimate scale when musicians from the LA Phil perform chamber music in small ensembles. Come early and enjoy a complimentary glass of wine before the performance, starting at 6:30pm.
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Thu Apr 24 8:00 PM
LA Phil Evgeny Kissin
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Evgeny Kissin—piano sensation since the ’80s and a known expert of Romantic era classics—returns for his first Walt Disney Concert Hall recital in over a decade for a night of Chopin, Beethoven, and Shostakovich.
Evgeny Kissin—piano sensation since the ’80s and a known expert of Romantic era classics—returns for his first Walt Disney Concert Hall recital in over a decade for a night of Chopin, Beethoven, and Shostakovich.
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Fri Apr 25 8:00 PM
Sun Apr 27 2:00 PM
LA Phil Mozart & Nielsen
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Written against the backdrop of the First World War, Carl Nielsen’s Fourth Symphony shifts between turbulent and triumphant as two sets of timpani, winds, and strings wage an internal conflict that ends with the universal truth that the composer d...Show More
Written against the backdrop of the First World War, Carl Nielsen’s Fourth Symphony shifts between turbulent and triumphant as two sets of timpani, winds, and strings wage an internal conflict that ends with the universal truth that the composer described as “music is life, and like life, it is inextinguishable.” Los Angeles-native Ryan Bancroft leads the LA Phil in Nielsen’s primal and spirited symphony as well as Anders Hillborg’s Sound Atlas that channels otherworldly sounds like a glass harmonica to create snowy, crystalline landscapes.
South Korean pianist Yeol Eum Son brings “elegance and clean, sharply chiseled” sensibility to Mozart that the Vancouver Sun describes as both thoroughly modern but “very much in the spirit of Mozart’s era.” She joins the LA Phil for Mozart’s dramatic and rollicking Concerto No. 24.
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Wed Mar 19 12:00 PM
Mon Jun 30 6:00 PM
A TMC Arts Program: Digital Innovation Initiative The Music Center Presents Breakthru
Jerry Moss Plaza
Join us for Breakthru, a free daily movement and breathing-based microbreak on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center. Every day at NOON and 6:00 p.m., Angelenos come together to move, breathe and reset—right in the heart of Downtown L.A.Show More
Join us for Breakthru, a free daily movement and breathing-based microbreak on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center. Every day at NOON and 6:00 p.m., Angelenos come together to move, breathe and reset—right in the heart of Downtown L.A.
Guided by a series of two-minute breathing and movement sequences, shift your mood by choosing joyful, energized, centered and confident. This ever-evolving, crowd-curated experience gives us all permission to pause, reflect and recharge.
Show LessFree
Learn MoreFree
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Wed Mar 19 12:00 PM
Mon Jun 30 6:00 PM
A TMC Arts Program: Digital Innovation Initiative The Music Center Presents Breakthru
Jerry Moss Plaza
Join us for Breakthru, a free daily movement and breathing-based microbreak on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center. Every day at NOON and 6:00 p.m., Angelenos come together to move, breathe and reset—right in the heart of Downtown L.A.Show More
Join us for Breakthru, a free daily movement and breathing-based microbreak on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center. Every day at NOON and 6:00 p.m., Angelenos come together to move, breathe and reset—right in the heart of Downtown L.A.
Guided by a series of two-minute breathing and movement sequences, shift your mood by choosing joyful, energized, centered and confident. This ever-evolving, crowd-curated experience gives us all permission to pause, reflect and recharge.
Show LessFree
Learn MoreFree
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Wed Mar 19 12:00 PM
Mon Jun 30 6:00 PM
A TMC Arts Program: Digital Innovation Initiative The Music Center Presents Breakthru
Jerry Moss Plaza
Join us for Breakthru, a free daily movement and breathing-based microbreak on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center. Every day at NOON and 6:00 p.m., Angelenos come together to move, breathe and reset—right in the heart of Downtown L.A.Show More
Join us for Breakthru, a free daily movement and breathing-based microbreak on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center. Every day at NOON and 6:00 p.m., Angelenos come together to move, breathe and reset—right in the heart of Downtown L.A.
Guided by a series of two-minute breathing and movement sequences, shift your mood by choosing joyful, energized, centered and confident. This ever-evolving, crowd-curated experience gives us all permission to pause, reflect and recharge.
Show LessFree
Learn MoreFree
-
Wed Mar 19 12:00 PM
Mon Jun 30 6:00 PM
A TMC Arts Program: Digital Innovation Initiative The Music Center Presents Breakthru
Jerry Moss Plaza
Join us for Breakthru, a free daily movement and breathing-based microbreak on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center. Every day at NOON and 6:00 p.m., Angelenos come together to move, breathe and reset—right in the heart of Downtown L.A.Show More
Join us for Breakthru, a free daily movement and breathing-based microbreak on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center. Every day at NOON and 6:00 p.m., Angelenos come together to move, breathe and reset—right in the heart of Downtown L.A.
Guided by a series of two-minute breathing and movement sequences, shift your mood by choosing joyful, energized, centered and confident. This ever-evolving, crowd-curated experience gives us all permission to pause, reflect and recharge.
Show LessFree
Learn MoreFree
-
Wed Mar 19 12:00 PM
Mon Jun 30 6:00 PM
A TMC Arts Program: Digital Innovation Initiative The Music Center Presents Breakthru
Jerry Moss Plaza
Join us for Breakthru, a free daily movement and breathing-based microbreak on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center. Every day at NOON and 6:00 p.m., Angelenos come together to move, breathe and reset—right in the heart of Downtown L.A.Show More
Join us for Breakthru, a free daily movement and breathing-based microbreak on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center. Every day at NOON and 6:00 p.m., Angelenos come together to move, breathe and reset—right in the heart of Downtown L.A.
Guided by a series of two-minute breathing and movement sequences, shift your mood by choosing joyful, energized, centered and confident. This ever-evolving, crowd-curated experience gives us all permission to pause, reflect and recharge.
Show LessFree
Learn MoreFree
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Sat Apr 05 10:00 AM
Sat Apr 19 10:00 AM
A TMC Arts Program Gloria Molina Grand Park's Easy Mornings
Gloria Molina Grand Park
From puppetry, storytelling, and surfing in the park to arts and crafts and live DJ entertainment, Gloria Molina Grand Park’s Easy Mornings offers a variety of experiences for curious little minds! Start off the weekend with relaxing and ...Show More
From puppetry, storytelling, and surfing in the park to arts and crafts and live DJ entertainment, Gloria Molina Grand Park’s Easy Mornings offers a variety of experiences for curious little minds! Start off the weekend with relaxing and family-friendly activities for all ages, focused on deepening relationships with self, community and the park. This year, Easy Mornings is teaming up with Smorgasburg LA to bring more interactive experiences for everyone!
Show LessFree
Learn MoreFree
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Sat Apr 19 8:00 PM
LA Phil Cody Fry with Orchestra
Walt Disney Concert Hall
The feeling you get when a black-and-white film suddenly bursts into technicolor in a rush of emotion? That’s the sound of Cody Fry’s music. It’s no wonder the singer, songwriter, composer, producer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist has stirred...Show More
The feeling you get when a black-and-white film suddenly bursts into technicolor in a rush of emotion? That’s the sound of Cody Fry’s music. It’s no wonder the singer, songwriter, composer, producer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist has stirred up a huge following over the last 10 years with his emotional orchestral pop. Fry followed up his #1 Billboard Classical Tracks hit "I Hear a Symphony" with 2023's The End, an album of lush, surging songs that explore intimate themes like mental health and personal change. Coming on the heels of a Grammy nomination for his re-orchestration of the Beatles' classic "Eleanor Rigby," it’s no wonder American Songwriter said, "Cody Fry’s music is simultaneously familiar and breathtakingly innovative."
Show Less -
Wed Mar 19 12:00 PM
Mon Jun 30 6:00 PM
A TMC Arts Program: Digital Innovation Initiative The Music Center Presents Breakthru
Jerry Moss Plaza
Join us for Breakthru, a free daily movement and breathing-based microbreak on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center. Every day at NOON and 6:00 p.m., Angelenos come together to move, breathe and reset—right in the heart of Downtown L.A.Show More
Join us for Breakthru, a free daily movement and breathing-based microbreak on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center. Every day at NOON and 6:00 p.m., Angelenos come together to move, breathe and reset—right in the heart of Downtown L.A.
Guided by a series of two-minute breathing and movement sequences, shift your mood by choosing joyful, energized, centered and confident. This ever-evolving, crowd-curated experience gives us all permission to pause, reflect and recharge.
Show LessFree
Learn MoreFree

Tour The Music Center Campus
Free tours are available of all The Music Center's theaters.