EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts

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Jack Singer Concert Hall

The EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts is an arts venue in downtown Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

The oldest part of the Centre is the Burns Building, named after noted Calgarian Patrick Burns. Construction began in April 1912 at a cost of $350,000. In the late 1970s, the demolition of the Burns Building became a possibility, because it was on land needed for the construction of the Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts. Demolition proposals were defeated by the Calgary City Council by one vote, and, along with the Calgary Public Building (built in 1930/31 at a cost of almost $2 million), both buildings were incorporated into the plan for the Arts Centre. In 1979, the Public Building was bought by the City of Calgary for $3.8 million and its upper floors are still occupied by City of Calgary offices.

The newly-created Centre was officially opened on 14 September 1985 by the then Premier of Alberta Peter Lougheed. After a donation by Edmonton, Alberta-based EPCOR, the name was changed to the "EPCOR Centre" on 1 May 2001.

[edit] Performance and other facilities

Jack Singer Concert Hall, with between 1,700 and 2,000 seats, is the largest building in the Centre. It is said to be a synthesis of some of the world's finest concert halls (the Musikverein, Vienna, the Symphony Hall, Boston, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam). Suspended above the stage is a 185,000-pound laminated spruce-wood acoustical canopy, which can be raised or lowered to tune the hall according to the specific needs of each performer. Named for Jack Singer, the Concert Hall is the permanent home of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, which employs 64 full-time musicians, and also houses the 6,040-pipe Carthy Organ.