The LA Phil Heads to the Tournament of Roses

Photo courtesy of the LA Phil

The centennial celebration for the LA Phil continues as the old year passes and the new one begins. If you watch the 2019 Rose Parade roll through the streets of Pasadena, you’ll see some members of the LA Phil and Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) sitting atop a float called Music Moves Us — Inspiring a Healthier World. It’s a collaboration between Kaiser Permanente and the LA Phil which measures 24 feet high, 18 feet wide, and 55 feet long and features live music performed along the entire 5.5 mile length of the parade route.

The float has been under construction for months. It draws its inspiration from the LA Phil’s iconic performing venues: the facade of Walt Disney Concert Hall and the shell of the Hollywood Bowl. Individual petals of silverleaf protea form the stainless steel facade of Disney Hall and crisp white coconut chips with yellow and gold strawflower petals combine to make up the shell of the Hollywood Bowl. Elsewhere on the float, there is a swirling musical score made from gold strawflower petals and floating notes made from golden clover seed.

Photo courtesy of Kaiser Permanente/LA Phil

More than 12,000 red Freedom roses also adorn the float–a tribute to Lillian Disney. Also featured are ginger, anthuriums, peony, Sumatra lilies, and cymbidium orchid sprays with Prestige, Rouge Baiser and Black Magic roses.

Incidentally (perhaps not so incidentally), the notes depicted in the score on the float are actual notes of an actual piece of classical music: the finale from Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird, which is one of the pieces the musicians on the float will play.

Check out the LA Phil’s Instagram Story for a behind-the-scenes look at the construction process.