Gehry’s voice to take wing in hall

Perhaps designing Walt Disney Concert Hall was not enough for Frank Gehry. Now his voice will sound there too.

The architect recently joined Los Angeles Philharmonic music director Esa-Pekka Salonen in a Culver City studio, where Gehry’s voice was recorded for incorporation into “Wing on Wing” -- the piece that Salonen is composing as a gift to Disney Hall. It will premiere there June 5.

The men sat facing each other in the small tracking room, with Gehry reading words and phrases about the hall. “It was very casual,” says Fred Vogler, the sound designer. “They kidded about singing, but nothing was sung.”

Salonen got the title for his new work from a description of the hall by Gehry, an avid sailor. “Wing on Wing” is a nautical term to describe when the wind’s at your back and the mainsail and jib are spread.

-- Louise Roug