No Disney Hall parking for Israel Philharmonic
THE underground parking garage at Walt Disney Concert Hall will be closed for security reasons when the Israel Philharmonic performs Feb. 5 and 6. And inside the theater will be either metal detectors or human screeners.
No threats have been received, Philharmonic spokesman Adam Crane said Wednesday, but similar precautions were put in place when the orchestra played a sold-out performance at the hall in 2003. “There are more than 2,000 parking spaces at Disney, but there are enough lots to take the overflow,” Crane said.
The Philharmonic is advising audience members to park at the Los Angeles County Music Center, with two entrances on North Grand Avenue between Temple and 1st streets, or at nearby lots, and to arrive 30 minutes early.
Tight security measures are typical whenever the orchestra plays abroad. Metal detectors were placed at the doors for its concert in Columbus, Ohio, in 2003, and security guards were in the theater there and when the Philharmonic played that year at the Salzburg Festival in Austria.
A sold-out benefit concert at Carnegie Hall in New York in January 2002 was delayed nearly half an hour as roughly 2,800 ticket-holders went through metal detectors following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Later in 2002, the orchestra canceled an eight-city American tour, including stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, asserting that no U.S. security company would agree to guard the musicians and patrons.
Orchestra Chairman Zeev Dorman said that the orchestra had problems in arranging security until then. But Angela Duryea of Shuman Associates, which represented the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer at the time that the real reason for the cancellation was poor ticket sales. The orchestra’s concerts in Australia and Taiwan took place as scheduled.
Security has also been an issue at home for the Tel Aviv-based orchestra, although that, as well as disagreements with the Israeli government’s politics and policies, led to cancellations of international stars, including soprano Jane Eaglen, who was scheduled to perform in 2002.
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