A MIGHTY MONUMENT TO MUSIC.

The article describes the success of the new Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by architect Frank Gehry. When the conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen, took the podium of the new Walt Disney Concert Hall one morning in late June 2003, anticipation hung in the air. Disney Hall will finally open this fall--16 tortured years after the late Lillian Disney, Walt's widow, instigated the project with a $50 million gift. Both buildings in the hall are sheathed mainly in metal (Bilbao in titanium, not steel) and employ Gehry's unique architectural language, but they're significantly different in mood and design. In 1997, faced with losing control over the details of the design, Gehry nearly quit. But Diane Disney Miller, Lillian's daughter, backed him, using the last $14 million of her mother's gift as leverage against the philharmonic's building committee. INSET: History of The Hall.