After 16 years and 274 million dollars, hassles with earthquake code changes and sound-proofing for police helicopters, Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall holds its inaugural concert this Thursday. Designed by an architect who was relatively unknown at the time, the building has the curvy hallmarks we have come to expect from Frank Gehry. Gehry’s willingness to work closely with Yasuhisa Toyota of Japan’s Nagata Acoustics made a positive impact on the aural aspects.

Press coverage revs up this week with critiques of the building itself and recountings of the hall’s lengthy genesis beginning with a $50 million donation from Lillian Disney. But the music critics will likely wait until after the first concerts to declare whether the Gehry and Toyota partnership was a success. They’ll have plenty of material to work with as the inaugural concert runs the gamut of acoustic range with a Bach solo violin work, a piece for 8 brass, a choral number with solo voice, a Mozart Symphony, and, the capstone, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. The Los Angeles Philharmonic is set to prove that all the money and delays have achieved Lillian Disney’s goal to create one of the finest concert halls in the world, a suitable tribute to her late husband.