Orchestration of a new sight and sound on campus

What meets the eye in the creation of a symphony hall is ultimately challenged in what meets the ear, and how the space feels. Though designed for the symphony, the performance hall had to be flexible enough to serve the University’s broader needs for a variety of smaller ensembles, vocalists, and other programs. A 1,100 seat concert hall lends itself to an intimate and focused experience. The stage floor is set in a pale maple. Balcony seating faced in beech panels wraps around the stage. Exposed concrete block walls in muted shades play with the lighting for a highly finished look. Fabric panels in a guillotine configuration are designed to drop from the walls incrementally from Gothic ceilings for acoustic changes appropriate to varied musical programs. Other elements include a 350 seat ensemble hall, 3,000 sf orchestra rehearsal space, 180 seat recital hall, and black box space for multimedia performances. The School of Music comprises over 50 eminently qualified resident faculty members and some 400 students. It includes the 1,100 seat Performance Hall with its 350 seat ensemble hall, also part of the TVS master plan. The five-story School of Music itself presented an ambitious design program. Placement of classrooms along with faculty and graduate offices on each of the three floors encourages interaction of students and instructors. Elements include a 180 seat performance and recital hall located off the main entry, a black box multimedia space housing three state-of-the-art electronic composition studios and theatrical lighting, and separate practice studios designed for each orchestral section. Students have access to over 55 smaller practice rooms, two group piano classrooms, two organ recital studios, a percussion suite, a computer assisted instruction laboratory, and a fully equipped music research laboratory.