Walt Disney Concert Hall

"All this -- it's a lot of fun," maestro Gustavo Dudamel said Thursday night at the inaugural gala for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, regarding all the hoopla surrounding his arrival. It wasn't just Saturday's free concert at the Hollywood Bowl, his picture on city buses and the free Bravo Gustavo app for iPhone users. The pieces of confetti that rained down on concertgoers following the event at Walt Disney Concert Hall had his name printed on them in boldface capital letters.

When pianist Murray Perahia decided to study with Vladimir Horowitz in the 1980s, there was cause for worry. Horowitz famously ate other pianists alive. Few had questioned Perahia's technique before he knocked on Horowitz's door. He had already been hailed for his maturity, sensitivity and tonal beauty, especially in works by Mozart, Chopin, Schumann and Brahms. So why did Liszt's flam- boyant "Spanish Rhapsody" and Rachmaninoff's knotty Etudes-tableaux suddenly show up on Perahia's programs?

On his first official day of rehearsal with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, amid an enthusiastic welcome from musicians and unprecedented media fanfare, Gustavo Dudamel wanted to make one thing perfectly clear: He's ready to get down to business. At 28, Dudamel is carrying the weight of his new title -- the L.A. Phil's music director -- as well as great expectations from the classical music world on his shoulders. But speaking Wednesday at a news conference at his new home, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Dudamel rejected frequent media speculation that the formidable demands of the prestigious post could prove too much for him. The Venezuelan conductor calls his English "terrible," but he had no problem putting his thoughts on this matter into words: "No -- really, no ," he said in answer to the question following the day's rehearsals.

The Wayans family must be deeply alarmed: The Baldwins have surged back to claim the title of the most unavoidable family name in showbiz, with that icky Spears clan from Louisiana right behind 'em. But the Wayanses have a new hope and, no, it's not the director's cut DVD of "White Chicks": Kim Wayans (sister of Damon, Keenen, Shawn and Marlon) is getting attention for "A Handsome Woman Retreats," her one-woman play about a disaffected soul talked into attending a 10-day meditation program.

It WOULD be the vacation of a lifetime: Quebec, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Hungary, Vietnam and Taiwan in one fell swoop. But anyone interested in sampling the cultural traditions and contemporary arts of those countries without having to shell out the cash for an around-the-world plane ticket might want to visit the Music Center's “World City.” The free globe-trotting performance and workshop series begins its sixth season at the outdoor W.M.

Never underestimate hero worship as a factor in a musician's life. Stravinsky's childhood hero was Tchaikovsky, and Esa-Pekka Salonen has made no secret of his deep admiration for Stravinsky. And, as it happens, both Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky were extraordinarily well served Thursday by Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall in a night that began with Stravinsky's "Fireworks," an early piece, and concluded with "The Firebird," the ballet that established his fame.

In 2004, Gustavo Dudamel won a conducting competition in Bamberg, Germany, and the buzz began. In 2005, the young Venezuelan conductor made his U.S. debut at the Hollywood Bowl conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic and bowled over audiences, critics and an army of American arts administrators who came armed with contracts and pens. But it was the Bowl; who can really tell in the great outdoors?

After a 20-year odyssey to finance and build downtown's Walt Disney Concert Hall, the bedazzling highlight of Los Angeles' skyline will finally return to county hands this week. At one level, it will be a ministerial act, the signing of a deed that places title to the architecturally distinctive structure under county control. But at another, it symbolizes the extraordinary turnaround that Los Angeles itself has experienced in recent decades.

Pianist Helene Grimaud has canceled her recital tonight at Walt Disney Concert Hall because of back problems, according to a Los Angeles Philharmonic spokesman. The Philharmonic, the recital's sponsor, has rescheduled the recital for June 17. Tickets held for tonight's performance will be honored at that date. Grimaud was forced to cancel two appearances at Disney Hall last year due to aftereffects of pneumonia. * Chris Pasles

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.