Phoenix Symphony Hall

Last updated
Phoenix Symphony Hall
2021 Phoenix Symphony Hall, 75 North 2nd Street.jpg
(2021)
Phoenix Symphony Hall
Address75 North Second Street
Phoenix, Arizona 85004
United States
Location Downtown Phoenix
Coordinates 33°26′55.90″N112°4′13.89″W / 33.4488611°N 112.0705250°W / 33.4488611; -112.0705250
Public transit
OwnerCity of Phoenix, Phoenix Convention Center and Venues Department
Type Concert Hall
Seating typeReserved
Capacity 2,312
Construction
Broke ground1969
Opened1972
Renovated2004
Architect Charles Luckman
General contractor Del E. Webb Construction Company
Website
Venue website

Symphony Hall is a multi-purpose performing arts venue, located at 75 North 2nd Street between North 3rd Street and East Washington Street in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. Part of Phoenix Civic Plaza, the hall is bounded to the north by the West Building of the Phoenix Convention Center. The Hall is the home of the Phoenix Symphony, Arizona Opera, and Ballet Arizona, and the site of numerous other performances. It was built from 1969 to 1972 and was designed by Charles Luckman in the Brutalist style. The Hall was renovated in 2004.

Contents

History

Symphony Hall was completed in 1972, as part of the Phoenix Civic Plaza, and quickly became the home of the People's Pops Concert founded in 1970 by Theresa Elizabeth Perez, Music Coordinator for the City of Phoenix (1969–1983), which has been performed at Phoenix College. Theresa's Children's Opera Series (Help, Help, the Globolinks! Noye's Fludde, and Beauty is Fled) were also presented at Symphony Hall.

As well as being the home of the Phoenix Symphony, Arizona Opera and Ballet Arizona, it is also the site for Broadway touring companies, a variety of dance productions, and appearances by popular entertainers, as well as the location for business seminars, and convention general sessions.

In June 2004, a $18.5 million renovation took place, in conjunction with the construction of the neighboring Phoenix Convention Center West Building.

Symphony Hall now features 2,312 seats, with wood bases for better acoustics. Reconfigured main-floor cross aisles, additional elevators and a new wheelchair seating section, greatly improve accessibility for patrons with disabilities and updates compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. There is a 60-foot × 100-foot (18.29m × 30.48m) stage area, high technology acoustical, lighting, rigging and sound systems, a Green Room, rehearsal hall and star, chorus and musicians dressing rooms.

It has been designated as a Phoenix Point of Pride. [1]

Transportation

Symphony Hall is served by the 3rd Street and Washington Street and 3rd Street and Jefferson Street METRO station. (Signs at the station denote that station as Convention Center but METRO maps only use the street intersection names.)

Phoenix Symphony Hall appears in the Clint Eastwood film The Gauntlet (1977), where it is used as the exterior of "Phoenix City Hall." Eastwood's bus crashes onto the steps of Symphony Hall at the climax of the movie. John Stewart's live album, The Phoenix Concerts , was recorded there.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln Center</span> Performing arts venue in New York City

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a 16.3-acre (6.6-hectare) complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 million visitors annually. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts</span> Cultural center in Washington, D.C.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. It was named in 1964 as a memorial to assassinated President John F. Kennedy. Opened on September 8, 1971, the center hosts many different genres of performance art, such as theater, dance, orchestras, jazz, pop, psychedelic, and folk music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Angeles Music Center</span> Performing arts center in Los Angeles, California

The Los Angeles Music Center is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Located in downtown Los Angeles, The Music Center is composed of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Roy & Edna Disney CalArts Theatre (REDCAT), and Walt Disney Concert Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Civic Center, San Francisco</span> Neighborhood of San Francisco, United States

The Civic Center in San Francisco, California, is an area located a few blocks north of the intersection of Market Street and Van Ness Avenue that contains many of the city's largest government and cultural institutions. It has two large plazas and a number of buildings in classical architectural style. The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, the United Nations Charter was signed in the Veterans Building's Herbst Theatre in 1945, leading to the creation of the United Nations. It is also where the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco was signed. The San Francisco Civic Center was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places on October 10, 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McCaw Hall</span> Opera house in Seattle, Washington, U.S.

Marion Oliver McCaw Hall is a performing arts hall in Seattle, Washington. Located on the grounds of Seattle Center and owned by the city of Seattle, McCaw Hall's two principal tenants are the Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet. The building is named for Marion Oliver McCaw, whose four sons donated $20 million to fund a major renovation in 2003. It was formerly known as the Civic Auditorium and Seattle Opera House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downtown Phoenix</span> Central business district of Phoenix, Arizona

Downtown Phoenix is the central business district (CBD) of the City of Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is in the heart of the Phoenix metropolitan area or Valley of the Sun. Phoenix, being the county seat of Maricopa County and the capital of Arizona, serves as the center of politics, justice and government on the local, state and federal levels. The area is a major center of employment for the region, with many financial, legal, and other national and international corporations housed in a variety of skyscrapers. Major arts and cultural institutions also call the area home. Downtown Phoenix is a center of major league sports activities, live concert events, and is an equally prominent center of banking and finance in Arizona. Regional headquarters for several major banks, including JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, US Bank, Bank of America, Compass Bank and Midfirst Bank are all located within or close proximity to the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Jersey Performing Arts Center</span> Performing arts center in Newark, New Jersey, US

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center</span> Performing arts center in Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico

The Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center is a multi-use performance centre located in the barrio of Santurce in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It features three main concert and theater halls for plays, ballet, operas and concerts. It was renamed in 1994 after the late Puerto Rican philanthropist, politician and Governor of Puerto Rico, Luis A. Ferré.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MassMutual Center</span> Multi-purpose arena and convention center

The MassMutual Center is a multi-purpose arena and convention center complex located in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, in the city's Metro Center. The arena opened in 1972 and the convention center opened in 2005. It serves as a venue for meetings, conventions, exhibitions, sporting and entertainment events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall</span> Music venue in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.

The Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, often referred to simply as the Meyerhoff, is a music venue that opened September 16, 1982, at 1212 Cathedral Street in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The main auditorium has a seating capacity of 2,443 and is home to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. It is named for Joseph Meyerhoff, a Ukrainian-Jewish Baltimore businessman, philanthropist, and arts patron who served as president of the Baltimore Symphony from 1965 to 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex</span> Architectural structure

The Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex is an entertainment, sports, and convention complex located in the heart of Birmingham, Alabama's Uptown Entertainment District. The Sheraton Birmingham and Westin Birmingham are located on the campus adjoining the convention center. Alongside over 220,000 square feet of exhibit halls, meeting space, and ballrooms, the complex features four entertainment venues: a stadium, an arena, concert hall, and theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houston Theater District</span> Neighborhood in Harris County, Texas, United States

The Houston Theater District, a 17-block area in the heart of Downtown Houston, Texas, United States, is home to Houston's nine professional performing arts organizations, the 130,000-square-foot (12,000 m2) Bayou Place entertainment complex, restaurants, movies, plazas, and parks. More than two million people visit the Houston Theater District annually.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Century II Performing Arts & Convention Center</span> Performing arts and convention center in Wichita, Kansas

Century II Performing Arts & Convention Center is a performing arts and convention center in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is located between Douglas Street and Waterman Street near the east bank of the Arkansas River in downtown Wichita. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. The convention center is operated by Kansas native Phillip Anschutz's ASM Global.

The Cultural District is a fourteen-square-block area in Downtown Pittsburgh bordered by the Allegheny River on the north, Tenth Street on the east, Stanwix Street on the west, and Liberty Avenue on the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion</span> Concert amphitheater in The Woodlands, Texas, U.S.

The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, sometimes called The Woodlands Pavilion or simply The Pavilion, is a concert amphitheatre located in The Woodlands, Texas, an outer suburb of Houston, Texas. It caters to both the performing arts and contemporary artists and is also available for rental. It is owned and operated by The Center for the Performing Arts at The Woodlands and is a non-profit organization. In March 2014, Huntsman signed a five-year contract to be the pavilion's presenting sponsor. The amphitheatre seats 16,500 people and has been the second-most heavily used amphitheater in the world. The venue features 6,500 covered seats and up to 10,000 uncovered lawn capacity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heinz Hall</span> Performing arts center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Heinz Hall is a performing arts center and concert hall located at 600 Penn Avenue in the Cultural District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Home to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) and the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra, the 2,676 seat hall presents about 200 performances each year. Originally built in 1927 as Loew's Penn Theatre, the former movie palace was renovated and reopened as Heinz Hall in 1971.

The Phoenix Convention Center is an events venue in downtown Phoenix, Arizona located along East Monroe, East Washington, East Jefferson, North Second, North Third, and North Fifth Streets. The center opened in 1972, and has since hosted national and regional conventions, trade shows, consumer events, and theatrical productions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3rd Street/Jefferson and 3rd Street/Washington stations</span> Valley Metro Rail station in Phoenix, Arizona

3rd Street/Jefferson station and 3rd Street/Washington station, collectively known as Convention Center/Ballpark/Arena, are a pair of light rail stations on Valley Metro Rail in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. They are the fifteenth stop westbound and the fourteenth stop eastbound on the initial 20-mile (32 km) rail segment. The station has two platforms, the westbound platform which is located on 3rd Street and Washington Street, and the eastbound platform on 3rd Street and Jefferson Street, approximately 500 feet (150 m) apart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keller Auditorium</span> Performing arts center in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Keller Auditorium, formerly known as the Portland Municipal Auditorium, the Portland Public Auditorium, and the Portland Civic Auditorium, is a performing arts center located on Clay Street in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. It is part of the Portland's Centers for the Arts. Opened in 1917, the venue first changed names in 1966, being renamed again in 2000 in honor of a $1.5 million renovation donation by Richard B. Keller. An extensive remodeling and modernization in 1967–68 effectively changed its original exterior appearance beyond recognition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symphony station (Sound Transit)</span> Light rail station in Seattle, Washington

Symphony station, formerly University Street station, is a light rail station that is part of the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel in Seattle, Washington, United States. The station is located under 3rd Avenue at University Street, near Benaroya Hall, and is served by Sound Transit's 1 Line. It is located between Westlake and Pioneer Square stations and has surface connections to buses operated by King County Metro and other providers.

References

  1. "Phoenix Points of Pride". Archived from the original on October 1, 2006. Retrieved October 18, 2006.