Location | 10 Lincoln Center Plaza New York, NY 10023 |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°46′19″N73°59′05″W / 40.7720°N 73.9847°W |
Public transit | New York City Subway : at 66th Street–Lincoln Center NYCT Bus : M5, M7, M11, M66, M104 |
Type | Performing-arts center |
Construction | |
Built | 1955–1969 |
Opened | 1962 (when the center's first venue, Philharmonic Hall, opened) |
Website | |
lincolncenter |
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a 16.3-acre (6.6-hectare) complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. [1] It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 million visitors annually. [1] It houses internationally renowned performing arts organizations including the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Juilliard School.
A consortium of civic leaders and others, led by and under the initiative of philanthropist John D. Rockefeller III, built Lincoln Center as part of the "Lincoln Square Renewal Project" during Robert Moses's program of New York's urban renewal in the 1950s and 1960s. [2] Respected architects were contracted to design the major buildings on the site.
Rockefeller was appointed as the Lincoln Center's inaugural president in 1956, and once he resigned, became its chairman in 1961. [3] He is credited with raising more than half of the $184.5 million in private funds needed to build the complex, including drawing from his own funds; the Rockefeller Brothers Fund also contributed to the project. [2] Numerous architects were hired to build different parts of the center (see § Architects). The center's first three buildings, David Geffen Hall (formerly Avery Fisher Hall, originally named Philharmonic Hall), David H. Koch Theater (formerly the New York State Theater), and the Metropolitan Opera House were opened in 1962, 1964, and 1966, respectively. [3]
It is unclear whether the center was named as a tribute to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln or for its location in the Lincoln Square Neighborhood. [4] The name was bestowed on the area in 1906 by the New York City Board of Aldermen, but records give no reason for choosing that name. [5] There has long been speculation that the name came from a local landowner, because the square was previously named Lincoln Square. However, property records from the New York Municipal Archives from that time have no record of a Lincoln surname; they only list the names Johannes van Bruch, Thomas Hall, Stephen De Lancey, James De Lancey, James De Lancey Jr. and John Somerindyck. [6] One speculation is that references to President Lincoln were omitted from the records because the mayor in 1906 was George B. McClellan Jr., son of General George B. McClellan, who was general-in-chief of the Union Army early in the American Civil War and a bitter rival of Lincoln's. [7]
In 1955, the first city institution to commit to be part of the Lincoln Square Renewal Project, an effort to revitalize the city's west side with a new performing arts complex that would become the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, was the Fordham Law School of Fordham University. [23] In 1961, Fordham Law School was the first building to open as part of the renewal project, and in 1968, Fordham College at Lincoln Center welcomed its first students. [23]
The development of the condominium at 3 Lincoln Center, [24] completed in 1991, designed by Lee Jablin of Harman Jablin Architects, made possible the expansion of The Juilliard School and the School of American Ballet. [24] [25] [26]
The center's cultural institutions also have since made use of facilities located away from the main campus. In 2004, the center expanded through the addition of Jazz at Lincoln Center's newly built facilities, the Frederick P. Rose Hall, at the new Time Warner Center, located a few blocks to the south. [14] In March 2006, the center launched construction on a major redevelopment plan that modernized, renovated, and opened up its campus. Redevelopment was completed in 2012 with the completion of the President's Bridge over West 65th Street. [17]
When first announced in 1999, Lincoln Center's campus-wide redevelopment was to cost $1.5 billion over 10 years and radically transform the campus. [27] The center management held an architectural competition, won by the British architect Norman Foster in 2005, but did not approve a full scale redesign until 2012, in part because of the need to raise $300 million in construction costs and the New York Philharmonic's fear that it might lose audiences and revenue while it was displaced. [28] [29] Among the architects that have been involved were Frank Gehry; Cooper, Robertson & Partners; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Beyer Blinder Belle; Fox & Fowle; Olin Partnership; and Diller & Scofidio. [30]
In March 2006, the center launched the 65th Street Project – part of a major redevelopment plan continuing through the fall of 2012 – to create a new pedestrian promenade designed to improve accessibility and the aesthetics of that area of the campus. Additionally, Alice Tully Hall was modernized and reopened to critical and popular acclaim in 2009 and Film at Lincoln Center expanded with the new Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. Topped by a sloping lawn roof, the film center is part of a new pavilion that also houses a destination restaurant named Lincoln, as well as offices. Subsequent projects were added which addressed improvements to the main plazas and Columbus Avenue Grand Stairs. Under the direction of the Lincoln Center Development Project, Diller Scofidio + Renfro in association with FXFOWLE Architects and Beyer Blinder Belle Architects provided the design services. Additionally, Turner Construction Company and RCDolner, LLC [31] were the construction managers for the projects. [32] [33] Another component to redevelopment was the addition of the David Rubenstein Atrium designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, a visitors' center and a gateway to the center that offers free performances, day-of-discount tickets, food, and free Wi-Fi.
Architects who designed buildings at the center include:
The center has 30 indoor and outdoor performance facilities including:
The center serves as home for eleven resident arts organizations: [49]
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) is one of the eleven resident organizations, and serves as presenter of artistic programming, leader in arts and education and community relations, and manager of the center's campus. LCPA has some 5,000 programs, initiatives, and events annually, and its programs include American Songbook, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Midsummer Night Swing, the Mostly Mozart Festival, Target Free Thursdays, the White Light Festival and the Emmy Award–winning Live from Lincoln Center . [49] [51]
In July 2006, the LCPA announced it would join with publishing company John Wiley & Sons to publish at least 15 books on performing arts, and would draw on the Lincoln Center Institute's educational background and archives. [52]
Lincoln Center Cultural Innovation Fund is the first of its kind as a grant program that seeks to make the arts accessible to all people, focusing on those who live in some of New York City's poorest neighborhoods. [53] Partnering with the Rockefeller Foundation, the new pilot grant program offers one-time grants to non-profit organizations to provide cultural activities in these communities in the diverse neighborhoods of Central Brooklyn and the South Bronx. [54] Each of the 12 grantees will receive support and financial backing for their project based on organizational budget size. These are one-year long projects, and grant amounts range from $50,000–$100,000. [54] The over-all goal of the program is to support non-profit organizations in creating cultural innovative strategies that cultivate participation in the arts as well as increase the range and availability of cultural activities to underserved communities. [55]
The Juilliard School, often abbreviated simply as Juilliard, is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named after its principal benefactor Augustus D. Juilliard. Juilliard is one of the most prestigious performing arts schools in the world.
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.
Max Abramovitz was an American architect. He was best known for his work with the New York City firm Harrison & Abramovitz.
The David H. Koch Theater is a theater for ballet, modern and other forms of dance, part of the Lincoln Center, at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and 63rd Street in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Originally named the New York State Theater, the venue has been home to the New York City Ballet since its opening in 1964, the secondary venue for the American Ballet Theatre in the fall, and served as home to the New York City Opera from 1964 to 2011. The theater occupies the south side of the main plaza of Lincoln Center, opposite David Geffen Hall.
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), in Downtown Newark in Newark, New Jersey, is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Home to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO), more than nine million visitors have visited the center since it opened in October 1997 on the site of the former Military Park Hotel.
The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College is a performance hall located in the Hudson Valley hamlet of Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The center provides audiences with performances and programs in orchestral, chamber, and jazz music, and in theater, dance, and opera. Designed by architect Frank Gehry, the 110,000-square-foot (10,000 m2) center houses two theaters, four rehearsal studios for dance, theater, and music, and professional support facilities. The building's heat and air-conditing systems are entirely powered by geothermal sources, enabling the Fisher Center to be fossil fuel free during standard operations. The total cost of the project reached $62 million and took three years to complete, opening in April 2003. The New Yorker calls it "[possibly] the best small concert hall in the United States."
Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The hall is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and philanthropist whose donations assisted in the construction of the hall. Tully Hall is located within the Juilliard Building, a Brutalist structure, which was designed by architect Pietro Belluschi. It was completed and subsequently opened in 1969. Since its opening, it has hosted numerous performances and events, including the New York Film Festival. Tully Hall seats 1,086 patrons. It is the home of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
The Mostly Mozart Festival was an American classical music festival based in New York City.
Rohan De Silva is a Sri Lankan pianist. De Silva initially studied at Isipathana College, Colombo and later he migrated abroad to study at the Royal Academy of Music, London and The Juilliard School, New York, while working with violinist Dorothy DeLay. He was awarded a special prize as Best Accompanist at the 1990 Ninth International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. The following year, De Silva joined the collaborative arts and chamber music faculty of the Juilliard School. In 1992, he was awarded honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. His radio and television credits include The Tonight Show, CNN's “Showbiz Today”, NHK Television in Japan, NPR, WQXR and WNYC in New York, and Berlin Radio. He has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, CBS/Sony Classical, Collins Classics in London, and RCA Victor.
Dalit Hadass Warshaw is a New York-based composer, pianist, thereminist. Previously on the composition and music theory faculty of Boston Conservatory, she currently serves on the composition faculty at Juilliard and CUNY-Brooklyn College. Her works have been performed by dozens of orchestral ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the Y Chamber Orchestra, the Colorado Symphony and the Albany Symphony Orchestra. In April 2006, her piece After the Victory for orchestra and chorus, was premiered by the Grand Rapids Symphony and the North American Choral Company. Her first recording, entitled "Invocations" was released by Albany Records in 2011. Her first piano concerto, Conjuring Tristan, was commissioned by the Grand Rapids Symphony in 2014. The work was inspired by Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, as well as by Thomas Mann's novella Tristan. The piece received its world premiere in January 2015, with Warshaw as the soloist.
Anthony McGill is the principal clarinetist for the New York Philharmonic, after having served for a decade as principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
The Metropolitan Opera House is an opera house located on Broadway at Lincoln Square on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Part of Lincoln Center, the theater was designed by Wallace K. Harrison. It opened in 1966, replacing the original 1883 Metropolitan Opera House at Broadway and 39th Street. With a seating capacity of approximately 3,850, the house is the largest repertory opera house in the world. Home to the Metropolitan Opera Company, the facility also hosts the American Ballet Theatre in the summer months.
Harrison & Abramovitz was an American architectural firm based in New York and active from 1941 through 1976. The firm was a partnership of Wallace Harrison and Max Abramovitz.
Clancy Newman is an American cellist and composer. In 2001 he won first place in the International Naumburg Competition, and in 2004 he received an Avery Fisher Career Grant.
San Juan Hill was a community in what is now the Lincoln Square neighborhood of the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Its residents were mostly African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and Puerto Rican, and comprised one of the largest African-American communities in New York before World War I. San Juan Hill was bound by 59th Street to the south, West End Avenue to the west, 65th Street to the north, and Amsterdam Avenue to the east. The site is now occupied by Lincoln Center, a 16.3-acre (6.6 ha) complex dedicated to the performing arts.
Michael Stephen Brown is an American classical pianist and composer. He is the recipient of the 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, 2018 Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center, and the 2010 Concert Artists Guild Competition. Brown has performed as soloist with the Seattle, Grand Rapids, North Carolina, Maryland and Albany symphony orchestras, and at Carnegie Hall, Caramoor, the Smithsonian, Alice Tully Hall, and the Gilmore Festival. He is an artist at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and is a former member of CMS Two. He regularly performs duo recitals with cellist Nicholas Canellakis. He has received commissions from many organizations and some of today’s leading artists, and recently toured his own Piano Concerto around the US and Poland with several orchestras.
Revson Fountain is a fountain installed in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The fountain was dedicated in 1964 and a redesign was completed in 2009.
Kevin Zhu is an American concert violinist. He is a recipient of the 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant and was the first prize winner of the 55th edition of the International Paganini Competition in Genoa, Italy, aged just 17. He was also the first prize winner in the junior division of the 2012 Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists in Beijing, China. In 2019, he made his debut at Carnegie Hall at Weill Recital Hall.
Mia Chung is a concert pianist, educator and writer based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is also the Professor of Musical Studies and Performance at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Chung is the recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and the winner of the Concert Artists Guild Award.
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