Recital hall set to open by Thanksgiving
Donning an official name and a contemporary structure, the new performance hall nears completion and should be hosting its first show at the start of spring semester.
The Manon Caine Russell Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall – named after the two sisters who presented the university with the largest private gift in its history – should be turned over to Utah State by Thanksgiving, project coordinator Jordy Guth said.
With the exterior of the building completed, work has shifted to the interior landscaping aspects of the project, Guth said. The primary structure features a zinc material folding that wraps around the building. To the front there is a glass lobby, which is nearing completion.
However, the most essential aspect to the performance hall lies inside: acoustic quality.
“Sound was the first directive – from the movement of air to the sound the seats make when you sit so it doesn’t distract from what you hear,” said Tom Peterson, director of the recently named Caine School of the Arts.
The hall is tunable, featuring movable partitions and banners to adjust the sound for each performance, he said. The primary building has 12 inches of solid concrete acting as buffer to outside noise, Guth said, creating a secluded venue.
The hall itself is isolated from all of the other systems in the building as well, such as lighting transformers and the mechanical aspects of the facility that could create noise.
“This project is a really special project. The donors stipulated that it be a world-class recital hall,” she said, and “acoustically it is as good as anything in the world.”
The university is fortunate to have such a facility available, Peterson said, because it will attract a higher quality and greater diversity of performers to the campus.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to have on the Utah State University campus a world-class performance hall that will present performing groups in a venue that is designed for that purpose,” Peterson said.
The process of making the performance hall a reality has been a positive one, he said.
“People are taking a lot of pride in the facility,” Peterson said. “It’s very exciting when people want to be a part of that. It’s a very awesome building.”
The hall, with about 400 seats, will be used by USU music students for events such as senior recitals and faculty performing groups will also make the most of building as well, he said. Although catering mostly to music, the hall will feature other performing arts. ASUSU will host an evening of the one-man show “Black Boy” and other dialogue performances will also take to the stage, Peterson said.
There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony in January with an open house and various performers, Peterson said.
-kcashton@cc.usu.edu