Listening to the radio at breakfast this morning, I heard that Frank Gehry turns 90 years old today. The broadcaster said Gehry will celebrate his birthday as the guest of honor at the Pierre Boulez Saal this evening. Gehry lives in Santa Monica, so why would he come all the way to Berlin for a birthday concert? I was intrigued. Juggling cappuccinos and cereal bowls, I quickly tried to book a ticket on the Boulez Saal’s website. There was only one left, an aisle seat close to the ”front,” but someone else must have been in the process of booking it, because it disappeared before I could say “Brückner .” Very disappointing! I’m a big fan of Gehry’s and I’d heard nothing but rave reviews about the acoustics at the Pierre Boulez. Moreover, I was curious about the design of the hall itself. In November of last year, we saw an architectural exhibition of two iconic concert hall projects, one of which was b...