The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a multi-arts center in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York City. It hosts progressive and

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

performances, with theater, dance, music, opera, film programming across multiple nearby venues. BAM was chartered in 1859, presented its first show in 1861, and began operations in its present location in

Fort Greene, Brooklyn Fort Greene is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Flushing Avenue and the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the north, Flatbush Avenue Extension and Dow ...

, in 1908. The Academy is incorporated as a New York State

not-for-profit corporation A nonprofit corporation is any legal entity which has been incorporated under the law of its jurisdiction for purposes other than making profits for its owners or shareholders. Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, a nonprofit corporation m ...

. It has

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

status. Gina Duncan has served as president since April 2022. David Binder became artistic director in 2019.

History

Original facility

On October 21, 1858, a meeting was held at the

Polytechnic Institute An institute of technology (also referred to as technological university, technical university, university of technology, polytechnic university) is an institution of tertiary education that specializes in engineering, technology, applied science ...

to measure support for establishing ''"a hall adapted to Musical, Literary, Scientific and other occasional purposes, of sufficient size to meet the requirements of our large population and worth in style and appearance of our city."''A Brooklyn Academy of Music
. ''

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''Kings County Democrat'', later ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' before shortening title further to ''Brooklyn Eagle'') was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city ...

''. October 22, 1858. p. 2. The group applied to the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the Bicameralism, two houses that act as the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York: the New York State Senate and the New York State Assem ...

for a charter in the name of Brooklyn Academy of Music. The New York Legislature passed the bill to incorporate the Brooklyn Academy of Music on February 16, 1859. The group raised $60,000 by November 22 and another $90,000 by March 16, 1859. The Brooklyn Academy of Music opened on January 15, 1861."Speech of Mr. Chittendon"
''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle''. January 16, 1861. pp. 2–3. At the inaugural address on the opening, the management announced that no dramatic performance should ever be held within its walls. The first concert opened with the overture to ''

Der Freischütz ' (Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns, J. 277, Opus number, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German List of operas by Carl Maria von Weber, opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Johann Fried ...

'', followed by arias and excerpts from various operas, including the ''William Tell'' Overture which opened part 2 of the concert. Founded in 1861, the first BAM facility at 176–194 Montague Street in

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south ...

was conceived as the home of the Philharmonic Society of Brooklyn. The building, designed by architect

Leopold Eidlitz Leopold Eidlitz (March 10, 1823, in Prague, Bohemia – March 22, 1908, in New York City) was an American architect based in New York. He is best known for his work on the New York State Capitol (Albany, New York, 1876–1881), as well as " Ira ...

, housed a large theater seating 2,109, a smaller concert hall, dressing and chorus rooms, and a vast "baronial" kitchen. BAM presented amateur and professional music and theater productions, including performers such as

Ellen Terry Dame Alice Ellen Terry (27 February 184721 July 1928) was a leading English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and toured ...

Edwin Booth Edwin Thomas Booth (November 13, 1833 – June 7, 1893) was an American stage actor and theatrical manager who toured throughout the United States and the major capitals of Europe, performing Shakespearean plays. In 1869, he founded Booth's Th ...

, and

Fritz Kreisler Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler (February 2, 1875 – January 29, 1962) was an Austrian-born American violinist and composer. One of the most noted violin masters of his day, he was known for his sweet tone and expressive phrasing, with marked por ...

. On her lecture tour of the United States in 1889-1890, Egyptologist and founder of the

Egypt Exploration Society The Egypt Exploration Society (EES) is a British non-profit organization founded in 1882 for the purpose of financing and facilitating the exploration of significant archeological sites in Egypt and Sudan, founded by writer Amelia Edwards and coin ...

Amelia Edwards Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards (7 June 1831 – 15 April 1892), also known as Amelia B. Edwards, was an English novelist, journalist, traveller and Egyptologist. Her literary successes included the ghost story ''The Phantom Coach'' (1864), the nov ...

gave her first and last lectures here, in November and March, respectively.

Current facilities

After the building burned to the ground on November 30, 1903, BAM made plans to relocate to a new facility in

. Herts & Tallant designed the new building. The cornerstone was laid at 30 Lafayette Avenue on May 25, 1907. A series of opening events were held in November 1908; the first opera to be staged there was the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

production of ''

Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...

''. It was also used for religious services during the early 1900s, when

Charles Taze Russell Charles Taze Russell (February 16, 1852 – October 31, 1916), or Pastor Russell, was an American Adventist minister from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and founder of the Bible Student movement. He was an early Christian Zionist. In July ...

, founder of the bible students movement (now

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...

and

International Bible Students Association A number of corporations are used by Jehovah's Witnesses. They publish literature and perform other operational and administrative functions, representing the interests of the religious organization. "The Society" has been used as a collective t ...

), gave sermons there.

1960s to 1990s

The Waltann School of Creative Arts (WSCA), founded in 1959, located at 1078 Park Place, Brooklyn, was a BAM venue during the 1960s and 1970s. One of the dance teachers there was African American contemporary dancer Carole Johnson, and the

Eleo Pomare Dance Company Eleo Pomare (20 October 1937 – 8 August 2008) was a Colombian-American modern dance choreographer. Known for his politically-charged productions depicting the Black experience, his work had a major influence on contemporary dance, especially Bl ...

performed there in 1967. In 1967, Harvey Lichtenstein was appointed executive director and during his 32 years in that role, BAM experienced a turnaround, attracting audiences with new programming and establishing an endowment. BAM established a shuttle bus service to Manhattan, the BAMbus, which ran from 1968. BAM began hosting the annual Next Wave Festival in 1983, featuring performances by international and American artists. The

Chelsea Theater Center The Chelsea Theater Center was a not-for-profit theater company founded in 1965 by Robert Kalfin, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. It opened its doors in a church in the Chelsea district of Manhattan, then moved to the Brooklyn Academy ...

was in residence from 1967 to 1977. The Harvey Theater was completed in 1987.

2000s to present

From 1999 to 2015, Karen Brooks Hopkins was president, and Joseph V. Melillo was executive producer through 2018. 30 Lafayette Avenue's facade was restored for $8.6 million in 2004. Due to low ridership and increasing expenses, the BAMbus service was discontinued in 2013. In 2012, BAM opened its Richard B. Fisher Building, which includes a 250-seat

experimental theater Experimental theatre (also known as avant-garde theatre), inspired largely by Wagner's concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, began in Western theatre in the late 19th century with Alfred Jarry and his Ubu plays as a rejection of both the age in particular ...

. A regular event at the time was BAMcinemaFest, a festival focusing on

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...

s. Katy Clark was president from 2015 and left the institution in 2021. The BAM Strong complex opened in October 2019, and a renovation of the Harvey Theater was finished at that time. The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted BAM's finances. BAM KBH, which includes a black box theater and an archives space, opened in early 2025. ''The New York Times'' wrote the same year that, while many of BAM's previous executives (including Melillo and Hopkins) had worked there for several decades, their successors had left after only a few years.

People

Artists who have presented work at BAM include

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

Trisha Brown Trisha Brown (November 25, 1936 – March 18, 2017) was an American choreographer and dancer, and one of the founders of the Judson Dance Theater and the postmodern dance movement. Brown’s dance/movement method, with which she and her danc ...

Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Shak ...

Pina Bausch Philippine "Pina" Bausch (27 July 1940 – 30 June 2009) was a German dancer and choreographer who was a significant contributor to a neo-expressionist dance tradition now known as . Bausch's approach was noted for a stylised blend of dance move ...

Merce Cunningham Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...

Bill T. Jones William Tass Jones, known as Bill T. Jones (born February 15, 1952), is an American Choreography, choreographer, director, author and dancer. He is the co-founder of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. The company's home in Manhattan. J ...

/Arnie Zane Company,

Laurie Anderson Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson (born June 5, 1947) is an American avant-garde artist, musician and filmmaker whose work encompasses performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and sculpting,Amirkhanian, Cha ...

Lee Breuer Esser Leopold "Lee" Breuer (February 6, 1937 – January 3, 2021) was an Obie Award-winning and Pulitzer-, Grammy-, Emmy- and Tony-nominated American playwright, theater director, academic, educator, filmmaker, poet, and lyricist. Breuer taugh ...

, ETHEL,

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (, ; born Pervez Fateh Ali Khan; 13 October 1948 – 16 August 1997), also known by his initials NFAK, was a Pakistani singer, songwriter, and music director. Khan was primarily a singer of qawwali, a form of Sufi devot ...

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich descr ...

Seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

, Mark Morris, Robert Wilson,

Peter Sellars Peter Sellars (born September 27, 1957) is an American theatre director, noted for his unique stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays. Sellars is a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he teaches ...

, BLACKstreet,

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...

, David Van Tieghem,

Michael Moschen Michael Moschen is an American juggler. Early life Moschen was a classmate of Penn Jillette's at Greenfield High School in Greenfield, Massachusetts, class of 1973. The two worked together developing juggling performances immediately after hig ...

Twyla Tharp Twyla Tharp (; born July 1, 1941) is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1965 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance, which merged with American Ballet Theatre in 1988. She regrouped the compa ...

Ralph Lemon Ralph Lemon (born August 1, 1952 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American choreographer, company director, writer, visual artist and a conceptualist. Raised in a religious environment, he developed his artistic creativity as a child.Diana Stockon, � ...

Ivo van Hove Ivo van Hove (born 28 October 1958) is a Belgian theatre director. He is known for his Off-Broadway avant-garde experimental theatre productions. For over twenty years, he served as the director of the Toneelgroep Amsterdam. On Broadway, he has d ...

, and the

Mariinsky Theater The Mariinsky Theatre (, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic opera house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces ...

. American punk band ''

Hole A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid Body (physics), body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in m ...

'' recorded their live album MTV Unplugged at BAM on February 14, 1995.

Alice in Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AiC) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1987. Since 2006, the band's lineup has comprised vocalist/guitarists Jerry Cantrell and William DuVall, bassist Mike Inez, and drummer Sean Kinney. Voca ...

also recorded their live album ''

Unplugged Unplugged may refer to: *Acoustic music, music not produced through electronic means * "Unplugged" (B.A.P song), 2014 * "Unplugged" (''Modern Family''), a 2010 episode of ''Modern Family'' Albums and EPs * ''Unplugged'' (5'nizza album), 2002 * '' ...

'' on April 10, 1996, at the Harvey Theater for ''

MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV. It showcases recorded live performances of popular music artists playing acoustic instrument, acoustic or "unplugged" variations of songs. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999. F ...

'', and

Alanis Morissette Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, musician, and actress. Known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting, she became a cultural phenomenon during the mid 199 ...

also recorded her live album ''

'' at BAM on September 18, 1999.

Facilities

Brooklyn Academy of Music New York October 2016 001

The Peter Jay Sharp Building in the Fort Greene Historic District houses the Howard Gilman Opera House and the BAM Rose Cinemas (formerly the Carey Playhouse). It was designed by the firm Herts & Tallant in 1908, in the

renaissance revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of ...

style. It is a U-shaped building with an open court in the center of the lot between two theater wings above the first story. The building has a high base of gray

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

, with cream colored brick trimmed in

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

with some

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

detail above. ''See also:'' ''and'' The Howard Gilman Opera House has 2,109 seats and BAM Rose Cinemas, which opened in 1998, comprises four screens, and primarily shows first-run, independent and repertory films and series. Also within the Peter Jay Sharp Building is the Lepercq Space, originally a ballroom and now a flexible event space which houses the BAMcafé, and the Hillman Attic Studio, a flexible rehearsal/performing space. The BAM Strong, an array of spaces, includes the 874-seat BAM Harvey Theater at 651 Fulton Street. Formerly known as the Majestic Theater, it was built in 1904 with 1,708 seats and eventually showed vaudeville and then feature films, and was named in Lichtenstein's honor in 1999. A renovation by architect

Hugh Hardy Hugh Hardy (July 26, 1932 – March 17, 2017) was an American architect, known for designing and revitalizing theaters, performing arts venues, public spaces, and cultural facilities across the United States. ''The New Yorker'' writer Brendan ...

left the interior paint faded, with often exposed masonry, giving the theater a unique feel of a "modern ruin". In April 2014, CNN named the BAM Harvey as one of the "15 of the World's Most Spectacular Theaters". The complex also features a dedicated art gallery. The BAM Fisher Building, opened in 2012, contains Fishman Space, a 250-seat

black box theater A black box theater is a performance space, typically a square or rectangular room, with black walls and a black, flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interact ...

, and Fisher Hillman Studio, a flexible rehearsal and performance space, as well as administrative offices. The BAM Hamm Archives are located off-site in Crown Heights at 1000 Dean St. and maintain the publicly accessible Levy Digital Archive. The BAM Sharp and Fisher Buildings are located within the Brooklyn Academy of Music Historic District created by the

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the Government of New York City, New York City agency charged with administering the city's Historic preservation, Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting Ne ...

in 1978; the BAM Strong is not. BAM is adjacent to

downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third-largest central business district in New York City (after Midtown Manhattan, Midtown and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighb ...

, near

Atlantic Terminal Atlantic Terminal (formerly Flatbush Avenue) is the westernmost commuter rail terminal on the Long Island Rail Road's (LIRR) Atlantic Branch, located at Flatbush Avenue and Atlantic Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. It is the prima ...

, the

Barclays Center Barclays Center ( ) is a multi-purpose list of indoor arenas, indoor arena in the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Brooklyn. The arena is home to the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association and the New York Liber ...

arena, and the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower (once the tallest building in Brooklyn). BAM is part of the Brooklyn Cultural District.

Notable productions

References

External links

*
Brooklyn Academy of Music on NYC-ARTS.org

Brooklyn Academy of Music on NYCkidsARTS.org

Brooklyn Academy of Music at Google Cultural Institute
{{authority control 1861 establishments in New York (state) Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City Cinemas and movie theaters in New York City Concert halls in New York City Culture of Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn Fort Greene, Brooklyn Entertainment venues in Brooklyn Event venues on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City Historic districts in Brooklyn Leopold Eidlitz buildings Music venues in Brooklyn National Register of Historic Places in Brooklyn New York City designated historic districts New York City Designated Landmarks in Brooklyn Performing arts centers in New York City Special Tony Award recipients Theatres in Brooklyn Tourist attractions in Brooklyn United States National Medal of Arts recipients