Tour - Los Angeles, Disney Hall (performance)

June 20, 2018

Tour - Los Angeles, Disney Hall (performance)

As if one concert isn't enough, the next day we had another concert. We are busy folks.

Performed at Disney Hall, home of the LA Philharmonic. A beautiful hall that many of the older choir members were excited to sing in again. The choir performed last at Disney Hall for the ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) conference in 2005. At the time, Craig Jessop was still the director and the choir traveled without the orchestra. They only sang a few songs so this was a treat to return and sing a complete concert in this Hall.

The building is all metal on the outside and then all wood on the inside. Very interesting combination. Architectually unique, it's a landmark. It is also known for the "french fry" looking organ pipes.

The sound produced in the hall during our sound check rehearsal was very warm. No real echo and yet the sound was full. There were still microphones but I think the hall itself made it easy. Personally I felt a nice balance in the hall with all the parts and the orchestra. It is probably one of my favorite places to have performed.

One of the interesting memories I have of this space is that I was asked to help with a blessing for someone in the choir and because we did not have a place to do it, we actually just set up a chair in the hall on the upper level. An usher came over and allowed us to use the space briefly but the idea of giving a blessing in that space will always be a memory I have of this hall.

The audience was wonderful. Among the great surprises in this area was our guest conductor, Prager Universities own, Dennis Prager. What a gift for us.

The day after the concert, Mr. Prager shared his feelings about the experience.

"...still on a high; I want to maintain it. I don't have highs by the way....I decided at a very early age that I would be very happy in life if I were at a pretty constant 7.5 out of 1 to 10. And I never seek tens because tens are usually followed by twos. It's just, you know you make your own choice. You may have a very different view, but that's been mine. But I have to say last night was at a ten. And happily I'm not at a two now. I would like to, but you can't preserve it. It's almost like how do you preserve the excitement of a new car? As the new car smell dissipates, so does your excitement. It's something to bear in mind, incidentally, when you buy a car....But last night was something special, to stand there in front of the, arguably, the world's most--certainly the world's most famous choir and arguably the world's greatest. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Six hundred, six hundred magnificent voices. And the Walt Disney concert hall probably has the finest acoustics probably in America, probably even in the world today. I don't particularly like the way it looks outside, I think it looks goofy, but the inside acoustics are unbelievable. And then I conducted--what was it?--This Land is Your Land. I'm going to try to get a recording for you if it is allowable to be played but you can only get a smidgen of an idea what it sounded like. And the place went wild. It was really something. Lot of good people in the Mormon community. Its a credit to the United States, the Mormons. Even people that I know, and I don't judge theologies, I only judge results. But even people who do judge theologies and have a negative view, acknowledge what a quality of life the Mormons have created in their family life and their communal life. And its just true. And let me ask you a question in that regard, I'd like to ask all of you a question. I'm asking this if you're an atheist, if you're a leftist. Okay? If a million people currently living in the inner cities--not everybody in the inner city is troubled, but troubled people disproportionately live in the inner cities--many of them people of color as is well known. Nothing controversial about that. If a million, across the country became Mormons, would they be better off, would the country be better off? Whatever your theology, from normative Christian to Jewish to atheist to agnostic. I judge results, I judge fruits not seeds. Possible to have an awesome theology and not produce many good people. Theory is theory and results are results. They interviewed me afterwards on Mormon television after the evenings events and after I conducted the next to last piece. And then I told them that I gotta admit that there is a barrier for me and that is cigars because they don't allow smoking in the Mormon church. Anyway, they're quite something."

Watch more of this here. This is an hour long but he talks about it at the beginning of this video:

The french-fry decor is so interesting. It's weird and yet, beautiful.

We arrived on a sunny day. The walls were hot to touch.

From my seat. The Disney Hall is an interesting hall. It feels like a pit. The seats are a dusty color and they are separated in sections. Still, it was a great hall for music, especially choral music.

Choir meal at Disney Hall in the Lillian Garden. As you can tell, we eat healthy foods. Surf and turf here with Salmon and chicken. Delicious meal and with wonderful company.

When you walk around the building on the third level the walkway takes you through a canyon of walls. The way merges into a small garden dedicated to one of the concert hall’s major investors – Lillian Disney. The peaceful oasis blocks out the busy city perfectly and is a mingling point for many lovebirds out there. It also gives you a pretty nice view of the city and on good days you can look as far as the Hollywood sign!

The beautifully designed fountain in the center of the garden – made of broken pieces of Delft China and is shaped in the form of a rose. Architect Frank Gehry named it “A rose for Lillian” after the wife of Walt Disney.