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Frank Gehry to design performance space named for Gustavo Dudamel

United Kingdom Architecture News - Dec 03, 2013 - 11:38   2040 views

Frank Gehry to design performance space named for Gustavo Dudamel

Frank Gehry, left, and Gustavo Dudamel at a gala at Walt Disney Concert Hall in September. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times / November 29, 2013)

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.

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.

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