Third time's a charm (we hope): Avery Fisher Hall to get yet another makeover.
NYPO is already thinking about where they might perform during the two years the hall is unavailable. New York State Theater? Park Avenue Armory?
Carnegie Hall?
Some high school auditoriums?
11 comments:
I'm guessing a mix of places. Staying at Lincoln Center would be easiest, but I thought acoustics at the old State Theater were worse than Avery Fisher? Armory sounds good. How about some Brooklyn run-outs?
Yeah, the State Theater acoustics aren't great, but it's a well-equipped theater and logistically it would certainly be easiest, both for the orchestra and the audience. Run-outs, for sure; that is more or less what I meant by h.s.auditoriums. :)
Also, BAM for some run-outs, and maybe locations in NJ. There is a good hall in Newark, I believe.
BAM is exactly what I was thinking when I said Brooklyn run-out (I didn't actually say it, but don't hold that against me).
If memory serves correctly, the hall in Newark that the NJSO uses was designed by the same team that did Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts here in SoCal, which is a tad too bright for my taste -- though if I had to choose, I'd take too bright rather than too dull (e.g. Avery Fisher).
I've never been to the Newark Hall, alas, but yeah. I would take too bright over Avery Fisher any day.
Why don't they play in Carnegie Hall anyway? It's Carnegie Hall!
I'm assuming that is rhetorical?
Why should it be? They play in a hall well-known to be terrible; there's a world-renowned hall a few blocks away; what's the problem? Other than the psychological phenomenon of trying to prove that a wrong decision was right by sticking to it, or the practical concern of booking conflicts, I have no idea why they stay there.
I thought it probable that you were familiar with what happened in, oh, 2003? when the NYPO started negotiating to move back to Carnegie. There were huge problems: with Lincoln Center, where they are under contract; with the other organizations that perform at Carnegie; in negotiating with Carnegie's management.
I'll put it another way: Carnegie has a pretty full schedule. Moving an orchestra in there as a permanent resident would take up from 2 to 4 evenings a week for 30 or more weeks every year, plus a large amount of rehearsal time during the day.
There was a ton of reporting on this in the Times back then.
Booking conflicts, then, as I suggested. Actually, th3ey should have considered this long before 2003.
More complicated than that.
Here is the first of many articles about the 2003 discussions.
In addition to the scheduling issues, there's the matter of $10 million to $20 million to expand the backstage facilities.
Here's an article about the orchestra's legal obligations to Lincoln Center.
The Times archive has lots of articles.
Well. I'm a little late on this but the NYPO moving out of Lincoln Center would pretty much negate what the complex was built for. The NYPO and MET were to be the premier national companies in classical music and opera with the NYCB and City Opera representing the region. The Vivian Beaumont Theatre was built for a national theatre company which was headed by Jules Irving (father of Amy) and Herbert Blau. I was at the last performance of that original company, "A Streetcar Named Desire." The Beaumont now functions basically as a Broadway house.
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