Alice Tully Hall Opening Nights Festival

Following an 18-month transformation designed by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro in association with FXFOWLE Architects, a dramatically re-imagined Alice Tully Hall will open on February 22, 2009 with a two-week festival offering nine premieres. The celebration will feature joint programming by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The Film Society of Lincoln Center, The Juilliard School, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc., with Festival tickets available at $25 or less.

Festival highlights include an all new music evening with Alarm Will Sound, Bang on a Can All-Stars, and the Steve Reich Ensemble; the U.S. premiere of Martynov’s opera Vita Nuova led by Vladimir Jurowski with the London Philharmonic; the Oscar-nominated actor Klaus Maria Brandauer in a Chamber Music Society concert of poetry and music; the opening night presentation of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema from the Film Society; plus period ensembles, choral works, and world music.

For the complete press release, click HERE.

For comprehensive information about the past, present, and future of
Alice Tully Hall, click any of the links on the left of your screen.

Alice Tully Hall Background

The building housing the Juilliard School and Alice Tully Hall (ATH), designed by architect Pietro Belluschi, was completed in 1969. When the Hall opened on Ms. Tully’s birthday in September of that year—she had donated the entire amount needed to design and build the Hall—it was the first major concert venue in the City designed specifically for chamber music, and the last building of the original Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex to be completed. The concert also marked the first-ever performance by the new chamber music organization that would make the Hall its home, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In October, The Juilliard School celebrated its opening with three concerts in ATH, including a Gala televised on CBS with remarks by Leonard Bernstein and performances by Juilliard alumni Van Cliburn, Shirley Verrett, and Itzhkak Perlman.

Since then, Alice Tully Hall has been utilized by the Mostly Mozart Festival, Great Performers, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Lincoln Center Festival, outside events, and served as the venue for the “Classical Jazz” series, the forerunner of Jazz at Lincoln Center. It has been the setting for thousands of stellar events, from Lincoln Center performance debuts and world premieres, to star-studded openings and galas including the annual New York Film Festival. Luminaries ranging from Leopold Stowkowski to Spike Lee, Sir Harold Pinter to David Byrne, Yo-Yo Ma to Rosie O’Donnell, and Beverly Sills to Clint Eastwood have graced its stage.

Alice Tully Hall Transformed

Alice Tully Hall closed for renovations following a gala Good Night Alice concert on April 30, 2007. After nearly 40 years of year-round use (approximately 750 events are held on average each year), theater facilities—in both front and back of house—have received the much-needed upgrades that were incorporated into the dramatic new design for Alice Tully Hall by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro in association with FXFOWLE Architects. Among the Hall’s numerous improvements are a greatly expanded 5,000 square foot outer lobby with a larger box office, bar and concession spaces open to the public throughout the day, and a mezzanine-level donor room for special events. The theater’s inner lobby will offer more restrooms as well as additional concession options, and its new glass curtain wall will provide concertgoers with uninterrupted views of the urban landscape on West 65th Street. The redesign of the auditorium itself includes custom theater seats that retain the original spacious plan required by Ms. Tully, adjustable house lighting that emanates softly from custom-molded translucent wood-veneer walls, an automated screen for film events, and a mechanized stage extension for more intimate performances. For artists, a new warm-up/rehearsal room has been added along with expanded dressing/choral spaces, extended stage wings, and a bigger freight elevator to accommodate larger stage equipment for a variety of presentations.