Music to your Ears: New recital hall set to open Thursday
When the design team began work on Utah State University’s new performance hall in January 2004, the first thing on their minds was students, said Vinicius Gorgati, principal architect.
“From day one, the task was to build a world-class venue, ” Gorgati said. “It was a critical aspect in the donors’ minds.”
A ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house will be held Thursday from 4-6 p.m. It will start in the Morgan Theatre and proceed to the performance hall west of the Fine Arts Building, where tours will be given. The first performance in the hall will be Jan. 14 by internationally acclaimed pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet.
The performance hall is the result of the largest single donation USU has received. The donors, sisters Manon Caine Russell and Kathryn Caine Wanlass, founded the Marie Eccles Caine Charitable Foundation, which was chosen as one of the top 50 Utah foundations that give grants.
Among the organizations and artists that have received support from the foundation are the Nora Eccles Harrison Art Museum and the Fry Street Quartet, USU’s resident string quartet.
“I think it will become a USU icon like Old Main, for the arts,” said Tom Peterson, director of the Caine School of Arts. Peterson said the hall will be the new cornerstone for the school of arts, which encompasses the liberal arts on campus, from theater arts to landscape and interior design. “The performance hall will be a magnet to attract brighter students, ” Peterson said.
Gorgati said that the small performance hall, designed to accommodate 421 audience members and a maximum of 22 musicians, will make the university better by raising the bar for students. He said it will create an excellent musical and learning environment for students to study in and would attract high-quality musicians to the school.
Exuding pride in the new building, Gorgati said the acoustics were painstakingly designed and the design carefully forged to fit in with the dynamics of the campus.
“I wanted to work on relevant buildings; ones that had impact,” Gorgati said. “When you design for a school, you do that. This building is for the USU community.”
Peterson said he expected the hall to improve the school overall, not just the arts department, and he wants to instill a love of arts in students.
-ella@cc.usu.edu