Concert Halls
Damn You Alex Ross!
Thu, Nov 11, 2009
by Drew McManus
For years now, I’ve been enjoying the benefits of seatguru.com, which until it was picked up by TripAdvisor.com in 2007, was a fairly well kept secret. After that, the associated spike in traffic meant more travelers with inside info but for whatever reason, the handful of business colleagues I tipped off to seatguru had never
Orchestral Acoustics 102: Orchestra vs. Hall
Mon, Oct 10, 2009
In a recent blog post, Washington Post music critic, Ann Midgette, posed questions concerning: what influence a hall’s acoustic response has on orchestral performance technique, and what effect the 1997 renovation of the Kennedy Center Concert Hall had in improving acoustics onstage and in the audience. In response to the first, I can report conclusively
James Russell Gets It
Wed, Jul 7, 2009
by Drew McManus
The 6/28/09 edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) published a guest column by James Russell, the architecture critic for Bloomberg. For my money, Russell is one of the rare visionary writers in this country. His onetime blog, Sticks and Stones, was a beacon of insight and reason that not only predicted the 2008 housing fiasco
Digging Around In Nashville’s Basement
Mon, Jan 1, 2007
by Drew McManus
Back in September when the Schermerhorn Symphony Center opened to the public, the only part of the basement level that was easily accessible was the kitchen. The rest of the space was consumed with ad hoc storage, not yet finished, and generally inaccessible. Skip ahead four months to and some of the space is still
Following Up On The Schermerhorn Symphony Center
Fri, Jan 1, 2007
by Drew McManus
While touring through the Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center (SSC) during the gala opening events in September, 2006 I only found a few problems throughout the otherwise superlative building. Nevertheless, I was anxious to discover if those problems have been addressed over the past four months…
