Encore!
January 16, 2007 - William Inman
The first phase of a $2.3 million project to renovate the venerable Florence Kopleff Recital Hall wrapped up this fall, but unless you've been inside the 404-seat auditorium recently, you may not even know.
"A lot of the phase one improvements are things you can't really see," said John Haberlen, director of the School of Music.
One obvious new amenity is a steel-framed elevator lift for opera productions and a pit orchestra.
Called the Encore Project, the renovation of the 36-year-old Recital Hall is being financed through a fundraising campaign initiated in 2003, which has raised $1.94 million including a $500,000 gift from the Cousins Foundation. But an additional 15 percent, or $400,000, must be raised by March to complete the second phase of the plan.
"We're renovating this hall for our students to stay competitive and to give them the very best," Haberlen said. "We want to give our students and faculty a renewed place with pizzazz for performances."
The hall hosts more than 200 events a year and is the school's home for faculty recitals, chamber ensemble concerts, lectures, workshops and master classes.
First-phase improvements include a new stage floor, cherry veneer stage panels and bathroom renovations. The second phase, which will begin in May, includes the construction of a new canopy entrance to the lobby, a new surround-sound system, a new lighting system, an aisle expansion and a restoration of the hall's interior seats.
Haberlen says the renovations will accentuate the hall’s already renowned acoustics.
"The goal is to maintain and hopefully enhance the good acoustics that already exist."