Voyeur's paradise

The inaugural concert featured music by composers Bach, Mozart, Gabrielli, Stravinsky and Ligeti by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The new concert hall will become the orchestra's permanent home. The concert hall is seen as the US city's chance to increase its cultural profile away from just movie-making. Supporters hope the multi-million venue will become an icon for the city, in much the same way as Gehry's Guggenheim museum for Bilbao and Spain. Gehry said he was proud of his new building, whose acoustics had been designed by Japanese acoustic expert Yasuhisa Toyota. "It's a voyeur's paradise," Gehry said of the building. "Not only can you hear everything in it, you can see everybody and watch other people, which is something we like to do." The idea for a dedicated concert hall in LA was put forward by Walt Disney's late widow Lillian, who initially donated $50m to the project because of her husband's love of classical music. Gehry said he took Lillian's love of flowers as his inspiration for the building.