It's money well spent, Marcella and I agreed. The newly refurbished Alice Tully Hall finally reopened. The corner of Broadway and 65th came alive with this all-glass design by the firm lead by Elizabeth Diller of Diller Scofidio and Renfro. She won the bid over Frank Gehry, imagine that? There's another feather for a woman's cap! It's long overdue, the concert hall needed that face lift, after all the old design no longer fits into the neighborhood character. That was like a fortress.Wednesdays at One is one of Juilliard's concert series, how honored the student performers must be to have participated during the reopening of this venue. There were no lines snaking around the block, there is enough room in the spacious sunlit sunken lobby to keep over 1000 attendees warm while waiting for the doors to open. Unbelievable - the hall was packed for the Juilliard Faculty and Student All Schubert concert.
I got a good seat left of the orchestra, now I'm happy. Later I was joined by a nameless young lady from Australia who's a child therapist hoping to get a job in NY (good luck with that) and a lovely old lady, Marcella who lives in downtown Manhattan. It was such a joy talking to both of them; flanked by these two ladies, perfect - now I'm no longer the oldest in the crowd!
There was no change in the stage configuration, just reupholstery of the seats and replacement of the walls with almost dark orange-brown wood which gave the hall a warm tone. Alice Tully Hall offers the best seating arrangement, so much better than Avery Fisher Hall, smaller it may be. I heard that the architects added some elements to the design to improve the already almost perfect acoustics and the stage is now equipped with mechanized extensions to accomodate all types of performances.
It was a mixed program of piano for four-hands, a string quartet, clarinet, tenor and soprano performances. These young musicians are so enviable with their talent and discipline. It was an hour long of guilt-free pure entertainment. Yeah, I skipped the Ash Wednesday services this morning for this, but not to worry, I attended mass tonight and got my ashes. I did my good deed for today anyway; a guy came out of the concert looking lost and turned to me for help. It was no big deal, he was looking for the nearest Starbucks coffee shop and that was a no-brainer. There are two in the area diagonally across from the concert hall. I was so thrilled to have been asked - one New Yorker's little moment of pride!
Thanks to the ubiquitous Starbucks. A stranger was caffeine-happy!
You go, Elizabeth Diller - art and architecture - a design that knocks one socks off!
