Minnesota Orchestra Unveils Designs for Expansion of Orchestra Hall

By -

Orchestra raises $38m towards $40m project

Award-winning Toronto-based architects Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg (KPMB) today unveiled schematic designs for the renovation and expansion of Orchestra Hall, home of the Minnesota Orchestra in downtown Minneapolis . The $40 million project to revitalize Orchestra Hall—towards which the Orchestra has raised $38 million to-date—focuses on a reinvention of its public lobby spaces and creates a dramatic exterior that better connects the Hall to the city outside.

“In renovating Orchestra Hall, we made it a priority to preserve the iconic elements of the original 1974 design, while also re-envisioning aspects of the building to better fit the current city and context,” says architect Bruce Kuwabara, who serves as design partner on the renovation. “This project offers a remarkable opportunity to renew a great venue and revitalize Orchestra Hall’s relationship to the city of Minneapolis .”

The renovation doubles Orchestra Hall’s available lobby space, simplifies lobby circulation, adds two exterior terraces and creates a new multi-purpose “City Room” on the lobby’s west side that can flexibly accommodate a range of catered receptions, dinners and performances – and opens directly to a generous open-air terrace in warm months. “The expanded lobby will be one broad, interconnected space, and it will feel more inclusive,” says architect Marianne McKenna, who serves as partner-in-charge. “We’ve clarified the circulation, doubled the square footage per patron and improved access to amenities. All these factors contribute to the appeal of Orchestra Hall as a wonderful gathering place, ideal for its setting in the heart of downtown.”

The new Orchestra Hall is expected to open in 2013. Including State bonding support, the Orchestra’s fundraising for the renovated venue now totals $38 million, the vast majority of which has been raised in the last seven months. “We undertook this renovation in the midst of a very testing economy, and it has been critical that we tightly focus the scope of the project and run it with considerable discipline,” says President and CEO Michael Henson. “Our community has responded to this approach with tremendous support, and we are pleased to now unveil the new designs.”

“From our first meetings with KPMB, the architects grasped the complexities of the renovation and also saw its many exceptional possibilities,” continues Henson. “It has been fascinating to watch them create a renovated venue that preserves the signature elements of the current Orchestra Hall and yet creates something absolutely new.”

The project will also include modest renovations to backstage areas and to the auditorium, including refreshed finishes and updated lighting and sound systems. London-based Sound Space Design will oversee acoustics during the renovation, making appropriate onstage adjustments and ensuring that the auditorium’s current excellent acoustics are maintained through the renovation.

Says Music Director Osmo Vänskä, “It is a great thing when a community comes together to support the arts in such a strong way. The revitalization of our Hall will improve the experience of our audiences and players for decades to come.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In &quo
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

The Art of String Quartets by Brian Ferneyhough

By -
Image
When an artist sets paint to canvas, there are brush strokes used for different effects. Sometimes those strokes are subtle, imperceptible; they produce works of art like the Mona Lisa . Other times the very obvious nature of the stroke is the art, as in works by Van Gogh. With some composers of music, the notes on the page are their craft. How those notes translate into an aural experience is what defines some composers as great artists. Brian Ferneyhough has a masterful command of the techniques of putting notes on the page. These techniques are sometimes so subtle, even though written in black and white, they escape detection. Some of what he attempts with his music is just that, to escape detection, to bury the framework, diverting the ear away from the structure, so only the music is heard . The subtlety is so fine it is almost imperceptible. Even though he studied at several institutions, he is considered self-taught, studying scores from Boule
Read more