Yale Bulletin and Calendar

August 29, 2003|Volume 32, Number 1|Two-Week Issue

A new lighting system is just one of the improvements made to Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Hall. The grand concert hall also boasts a state-of-the-art sound system, new acoustical panels, sound-proof doors and windows, and digital recording equipment.

Refurbished Sprague Memorial Hall is
an 'architectural and acoustical triumph'

Music will once again sound in the 86-year-old Albert Arnold Sprague Memorial Hall, which will open its doors to the public on Sept. 5 after two years of extensive renovation.

The School of Music will officially celebrate the reopening of the building with a pair of concerts featuring legendary jazz performers The Heath Brothers on Friday, Sept. 5, and Grammy Award-winning classical guitarist and School of Music alumna Sharon Isbin on Saturday, Sept. 6. (See related story.)

The renovation team for the project -- which included the architecture firm Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg, noted acoustician Lawrence Kierkegaard and staff from Yale's Facilities Management office -- worked carefully to retain Sprague Hall's original beauty and acoustics while adding modern amenities.

"The restoration of Sprague Hall is an architectural and acoustical triumph," says School of Music Dean Robert Blocker. "It signals an abiding commitment to music at Yale and to the creation and re-creation of music in a new century. I am deeply grateful to the many people that made this possible."

The refurbished building now has completely quiet heating and air conditioning; sophisticated stage lighting; a control booth for running the Morse Recital Hall's new built-in sound system, theatrical lighting, projections and opera super-titles; acoustical panels that allow for subtle adjustments to a performer's sound (taking into account whether the hall is hosting a solo guitarist or a 40-piece chamber orchestra, for example); blackout shades to keep daytime light from distracting matinee performances; sound-proof doors and windows to keep out street noise; new dressing rooms and backstage space as well as a refurbished reception room overlooking College Street; and digital recording equipment which effectively make Morse Recital Hall a large sound studio.

Built in 1917, Sprague Hall -- considered an architecture treasure on campus -- was admittedly showing signs of age. Prior to the renovations, there was no air-conditioning system in the concert hall, and the heating system was so loud that it could not be turned on during a concert. Thus, throughout the day of an evening concert, the heat had to be pumped into the hall until it reached an extremely warm temperature to ensure that when it was turned off for the concert, the hall would not become too cold. The occasional banging of steam pipes also disrupted concerts, as did the sound of street bustle. Musicians complained of not having adequate dressing room space; in fact, the two dressing rooms in the hall were more or less part of a hallway and could not be made private without violating fire codes.

When Dean Robert Blocker took the helm of the School of Music in 1997, he set out to correct these deficiencies, as well as to add the sorts of amenities needed to make Sprague Hall a state-of-the-art concert hall. Working with Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg and with Yale Facilities Management, Blocker oversaw a plan that not only provided for the installation of totally silent heating and cooling systems, but also new sound and light locks as well as sound-isolating windows to improve the acoustics and enhance the visual beauty of the hall. The modern control booth that has been installed in the rear of the orchestra allows for the acoustics of the hall to be subtly manipulated and for the engineering of concert recordings.

Outside Morse Recital Hall, the architects designed a grand staircase leading from the ground floor of the building to the hall's entrance, with a landing overlooking Wall Street. To passers-by on College Street, the illumination of the building has been redesigned to make it appear more open and inviting.

In addition to these improvements, the new hall also boasts additional administrative office space and student practice space on the first floor, as well as new, state-of-the-art sound studios in the basement. The School of Music's concert office and full-time box office are now located in Sprague Hall, rather than down the street in Leigh Hall.

"The key challenges facing us was to insert contemporary systems and create a forward-looking working and performance space while honoring and striking a resonant chord with the existing historic building," says Thomas Payne, the lead architect for the renovation. "It has always struck me that Yale is distinguished from other Ivy League schools by its tremendous strength in the arts, a presence that pervades and energizes the campus. To have had the opportunity to revalue one of the treasures of the central Yale campus and the headquarters of musical performance at Yale is a huge honor."

In celebration of the newly renovated music hall, the School of Music is offering a special concert season. In addition to the Heath Brothers and Sharon Isbin, other performers on this year's roster include Ruth Laredo, Emmanuel Ax, Elvin Jones, The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, the Tokyo String Quartet, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, the Hungarian folk/gypsy ensemble Muszikás, the Brentano String Quartet, the Salzburg Hyperion Ensemble, the Takács String Quartet, Yale faculty musicians Claude Frank, Boris Berman, Syoko Aki and Joan Panetti, as well as the Yale Cellos and numerous other musical artists.

Most of the concerts are offered free of charge. For concert information and to purchase season or individual tickets to Chamber Music Society, Horowitz Piano Series and Duke Ellington Fellowship concerts, call (203) 432-4158 or visit the School of Music website at www.yale.edu/music. Beginning Aug. 25, individuals may also purchase tickets at the Sprague Hall box office, corner of College and Wall streets, 1-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

A Message to the Yale Community

Refurbished Sprague Memorial Hall is an 'architectural . . . triumph'

Concerts celebrate the reopening of Sprague Hall

Professorship honors memory of Donald Cohen

Damaged law books are taken out of a deep freeze

Renowned neuroscientist Patricia Goldman-Rakic dies

Exhibit offers look at ancient forms of life on Earth

Wildfire costs are higher than accounted for, report charges

Computer-generated designs featured in architecture gallery

Artist's works portray Christianity through Thai art forms

Exhibit explores influences on American furniture design

Women veterans are found to be at higher risk for homelessness

Day of Caring drive will put books into hands of area children

Documentary on contemporary artists to be screened on campus

Alumni group supports students' summer service

Quest camera will aid scientists in astronomical research

Grant to Child Study Center supports evaluation of home-based care

Historian Jaroslav Pelikan is honored for contributions

Former Law School dean honored with the Fleming Award

'What Is a Good Death?' among topics of Bioethics Project programs