With the death of 96-year-old Frank Gehry last week, America lost one of its most innovative and visionary architects.

One of his designs is credited with transforming Miami Beach's architectural — and musical — landscape.

The Gehry-designed New World Center sits just a stones-throw away from the old Lincoln Theatre, where the New World Symphony was previously based.

The orchestral academy was co-founded in 1987 by Gehry's long-time friend, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas.

During the New World Center's grand opening celebration in January of 2011, Tilson Thomas told WLRN that he wanted to give the Symphony's gifted young musicians — called Fellows — a state-of-the-art training facility.

But he also wanted the general public to experience classical music in a new kind of space.

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