Lincoln Center - Alice Tully Hall

I have no idea how I ended up on the New York Opera mailing list. Yet somehow I am, and they sent me information about the newly renovated Alice Tully Hall, and how the New York City Opera had a special discounted performance called Looking Forward, a "concert of vocal and orchestral music by great composers of the 20th century."

Great. It was one of those moments where I had to decide whether my long term cultural aspirations were more important than my giggly fits at operatic singing styles. I've never been one for the "classical" side of things, preferring an unbridled rock concert to the refined sophistication of the symphony. But I made a promise to myself when I moving to NYC that I would earnestly try to embrace the cultural opportunities the city had to offer - and this included ballet, opera and the symphony.

So, I bought the tickets, and managed to get box seats for the same base general admission discount price. I am fairly confident I will not be able to afford box seats again in a very long time, so this was pretty exciting.

Specially because, seriously, the building? It's awesome. I'd heard about it, and passed by the construction scaffolding before. But in all honesty, I wasn't familiar with the project and design details. Sometimes (often), I feel like I fail in keeping up with the architecture world. I don't know what that means about my career aspirations, and frankly, I don't care to find out. I still managed to get crazy with the pictures, so I guess I am in the right field.

For the sake of this blog I've dug up some online information on the building. Curbed - Diller Scofidio + Renfro Architectural Record The very confusing flash hyperactivity of the Diller Scofidio + Renfro official website


What I can say, the massing is exciting, and the glass facade feels modern and airy. It reminded me of a Jean Nouvelle building, and I mean that as the biggest compliment. The design includes some pretty amazing overhangs, details of warped wood panels, and a lobby cafe that was open to the public. I don't know why more theaters don't have a cafe in the lobby, it gives people a place to be before the performance, and also guarantees that the space will always have people, even if the show is not full.

The historic preservation controversies are interesting, as with many cultural institutions. I am still a child of my times, and believe that sustainable historic preservation practices need to allow for bold contemporary design, specially when given a landmark building opportunity. So it follows that I am delighted with the Alice Tully building, and I can't wait to see how the rest of Lincoln Center will shape up. Keeping my nerdy fingers crossed that I will still be in the city when they finish working on the main plaza.

The actual performance hall was incredibly underwhelming though. They didn't allow me to take my camera past the ticket check point, I had to drop off my baby at the coat check. I understand why they do that, but there was no way to convince them that I had no interest in taping the NY Opera perform, I wanted pictures of the wall panels. (They probably thought I was mental, going around taking pictures of spider brackets and silicon mullions. Heck, I think I'm mental for even writing that last sentence.) The problem is that in comparison to lobby's modern grandeur, the performance hall felt oddly small and unfinished. I'm sure it's got amaaaaazing acoustics, but I couldn't shake the feeling that we were aboard a minimalist wooden Swedish space ship.

Here are some pictures.