Celebrating in Concert

Walt Disney Concert Hall is one of Los Angeles’s architectural standouts. Many also credit the Frank Gehry creation for helping to catalyze the ongoing resurgence of the city’s downtown. With the concert hall’s grand opening, leadership of the Los Angeles Music Center decided to use the media moment to spotlight not only the new facility but also the Center’s three other, older, also-significant venues—together with such storied tenants as the Center Theatre Group, LA Opera and Master Chorale. Marc Friedland used the distinctive shapes of all four venues in the grand opening materials. Taking cues from the Walt Disney Concert Hall architecture, Marc composed with colors, patterns and finishes inspired by the building, including a custom upholstery pattern named after the concert hall’s chief patron, Lillian Disney. In addition to its sensual richness, the solution helped to dispel any confusion about the concert hall’s relationship to The Music Center’s other venues—and successfully conveyed that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts—even if one of those parts is amazing.