“With numerous high-profile projects already in various stages of design, including Facebook headquarters, Los Angeles’ Grand Avenue and the President Eisenhower memorial in Washington, architect Frank Gehry has signed on to create a new performance space named for conductor Gustavo Dudamel in Venezuela,” writes David Ng in Monday’s (12/2) Los Angeles Times CultureMonster blog. “Gehry, who designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, has been hired to envision a new facility that will include a concert hall, rehearsal studios and educational space, according to Dudamel’s London manager. The building will be located in Dudamel’s hometown of Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Plans for La Sala Dudamel—or Dudamel Hall—were recently announced by José Antonio Abreu, the founder of Venezuela’s El Sistema music education program, at a televised news conference. Abreu has served as Dudamel’s mentor since the conductor was a young student in the El Sistema program. Details of the new facility and a completion date have not been disclosed. Dudamel, who is music director of the L.A. Philharmonic, collaborated with Gehry on a 2012 production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni at Disney Hall. The architect has previously designed performance halls in Miami and at Bard College in New York.”
Posted December 3, 2013
