In case you missed it on the front page of The Inquirer today, here's a link to some very big news for the Kimmel Center. In short, they've wiped out $30 million in debt and boosted their endowment to an adequate level.
And now, Kimmel president Anne Ewers says, attention can be paid to improving the acoustic of Verizon Hall. But the question is: Who should do the work? Artec, the hall's original acoustician, very much wants the job, arguing that budget constraints prevented them from fully realizing plans. Or should another firm take a fresh listen for a solution?
Let me just pose this basic question:
Do we want a hall with an adjustable acoustic after all? Discuss.
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Clean Slate At Kimmel Center
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The Author
Peter Dobrin has been writing about classical music and the arts for The Inquirer since 1989. He earned an undergraduate degree in performance from the University of Miami, and received a master's degree in music criticism from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
He’s grateful for news tips, willing to engage in a certain amount of back and forth with readers, but is unfortunately unable to remove old LPs from your basement or post photographs of your cat.
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Comments (2)
I sit with the gods in the third tier and was really disappointed with the hall when it first opened and for a few seasons after. However, it has become obvious to me that significant changes have occurred within the past few seasons to dramatically improve the sound, at least in the area where I sit.
There used to be real problems when a choir was on stage, but now that aspect seems to have been dealt with adequately.
To answer your question, I don't know enough to make a suggestion because I don't know what is currently being done, if anything, behind the scenes to cope with the different combinations on stage. I suspect very few of us in the audience would have any idea how to answer this question.
Perhaps you could come up with a blog article describing what has already been done to improve the sound.
ray
Posted by Ray Perry | April 23, 2008 8:43 PM
Posted on April 23, 2008 20:43
We, too are third tier dwellers. One of our major complaints was the lack of adequate PA whenever spoken introductions were being made by conductor, musicians, dignitaries or even during some vocal solos. Our latest experience with Bernstein's "Kaddish" symphony seemed a significant improvement. Samuel Pisar's riveting narration and Kelley Nassief's poignant lullaby were plainly heard and seemed balanced with the orchestra and choirs. This balance seemed inadequate for Simon Rattle's "Peri" last December.
We are optimistic and have renewed our present seats for 2 series in 2008-09.
As to Sir Simon, We'd love to see him at the very least as principal guest conductor if that is all that is possible.
Posted by Hal Sacks | April 24, 2008 8:46 PM
Posted on April 24, 2008 20:46