Abravanel Hall
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Abravanel Hall is a concert hall in
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...
,
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
that is home to the
Utah Symphony The Utah Symphony is an American orchestra based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The orchestra's principal venue is Abravanel Hall. In addition to its Salt Lake City subscription concerts, the orchestra travels around the Intermountain West serving c ...
, and is part of the Salt Lake County Center for the Arts. The hall is an architectural landmark in the city, and is adjacent to
Temple Square Temple Square is a complex, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), in the center of Salt Lake City, Utah. The usage of the name has gradually changed to include several other church facilities that are immediately ...
and the
Salt Palace The Calvin L. Rampton Salt Palace Convention Center, more commonly known as the Salt Palace, is a convention center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Named after Utah's 11th governor, Calvin L. Rampton, the name "Salt Palace" was previously used by two ...
on South Temple Street. The hall can hold up to 2,811 occupants.


History

The Board of the Utah Symphony created a Design and Construction Committee which included
Maurice Abravanel Maurice Abravanel (January 6, 1903 – September 22, 1993) was an American classical music conductor. He is remembered as the conductor of the Utah Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years. Life Abravanel was born in Salonika, Rumelia Eyalet, Otto ...
, O.C. Tanner, and Jack Gallivan, to advise the architectural design team headed by Bob Fowler. Construction took three years and $12 million. Abravanel Hall first opened in September 1979, and was originally known as Symphony Hall, but was renamed in May 1993 for
Maurice Abravanel Maurice Abravanel (January 6, 1903 – September 22, 1993) was an American classical music conductor. He is remembered as the conductor of the Utah Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years. Life Abravanel was born in Salonika, Rumelia Eyalet, Otto ...
, conductor of the Utah Symphony. The grand opening featured
Stanisław Skrowaczewski Stanislaw Pawel Stefan Jan Sebastian Skrowaczewski (; October 3, 1923 – February 21, 2017) was a Polish-American classical conductor and composer. Biography Skrowaczewski was born in Lwów, Second Polish Republic (now Lviv, Ukraine). His pa ...
guest conducting Béla Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra and Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 4 on September 14-15, 1979. In 1998, the Hall underwent an expansion project which added wheelchair accessible restrooms, a new Ticket Office, and a new reception room. The expanded facility hosted several events during the 2002 Olympics Arts Festival including a concert with Audra McDonald and the Utah Symphony; the building also was decorated with an image of a biathlete during the games.


Architecture

The hall is actually a
concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...
building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fu ...
within a brick building. The building was designed by FFKR Architects and acoustical design services were provided by Dr. Cyril M. Harris with the outcome of creating an environment of acoustic excellence. Harris was the acoustical consultant for the remodeled
Avery Fisher Hall David Geffen Hall is a concert hall in New York City's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The 2,200-seat auditorium opened in 1962, and is the home of the New York Philharmonic. The facility, desi ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, the
Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...
in
Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
, and Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The hall is rectangular in shape, similar to some of the world's finest symphony halls, such as the Grosser Musikvereinssaal in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
, the
Concertgebouw The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb acoustics place it among the finest concert halls in ...
in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
, and Symphony Hall in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. The stage was designed strictly for use as a concert hall, and has no proscenium - meaning that it is an extension of the audience. Cello and bass players are also encouraged to make holes in the stage with their endpins, so that their sound resonates with the wood of the hall, and not just their instrument. To enter the hall, patrons must pass through sound lock corridors designed to isolate the concert hall from the noise and confusion of the lobby. Inside the hall, there are convex curved surfaces on the walls and ceilings. There are no perfect ninety degree angles in the hall, because of their effect on sound. Suspended from the ceiling are six 16 x brass chandeliers with 18,000 hand-cut beads and prisms of Bohemian crystals imported from
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
and
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
. The lobby is four stories high, with a white oak and brass ceiling, and a glass curtain or wall which covers much of the East face of the triangular-shaped lobby. The lobby itself is an architectural marvel due to its many tiers, the staircase that goes upwards and to the left along with the triangular shape of the enclosure, the gold leafing that covers all visible sides of the stairs and balconies, and the red blown-glass sculpture (''The Olympic Tower'', by renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly) that is displayed prominently in the middle. This piece was purchased in 2002, after private donors and the Salt Lake Organizing Committee raised Chihuly's asking price of $625,000. The Olympic Tower was valued at $900,000, although Chihuly was willing to sell it at the lower cost pursuant to an agreement that it would stay at Abravanel Hall and that the public would be able to view it without attending a show.


See also

* List of concert halls


References


External links


Utah Symphony

Abravanel Hall: A Retrospective
{{Coord, 40, 46, 8, N, 111, 53, 43, W, type:landmark_scale:5000_region:US, display=title Buildings and structures in Salt Lake City Concert halls in Utah Music venues completed in 1979 Music venues in Utah Tourist attractions in Salt Lake City 1979 establishments in Utah