Four Seasons Centre

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The Four Seasons Centre From University Avenue and Queen Streets.

The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts is a 2,000-seat theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada which had its grand opening Wednesday, June 14, 2006.

The venue is the new home of the Canadian Opera Company and The National Ballet of Canada, replacing the Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts.

The inaugural production in the new opera house was Richard Wagner’s epic tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), attended by Governor General Michaëlle Jean, as well as numerous other Canadian luminaries. Three complete Ring Cycles were performed in September 2006.

A substantial donation from the Four Seasons hotel chain gave them naming rights to the complex.

[edit] Location

The new theatre is at the southeast corner of University Avenue and Queen Street West, across from Osgoode Hall. The land on which it is located was a gift from the Government of Ontario. It was a former location of the Ontario Supreme Court offices and is valued at $31 million.

The Osgoode subway station and a streetcar route serve this location. This new arts venue is likely to provide a boost to restaurants and hotels along Queen Street West.

[edit] Design and construction

R. Fraser Elliott Hall

The Canadian Opera Company organized a competition to select an architect for the new theatre. Ten firms of architects submitted their proposals from which the winning firm was the Canadian Diamond and Schmitt Architects.

The auditorium is modeled after European opera houses with its tiered horseshoe-shaped auditorium. The Canadian Opera Company and its design team attempted to create the best natural acoustics possible, guided by acoustician Bob Essert of Sound Space Design and a team that included Aercoustics Engineering, Wilson Ihrig & Associates and Engineering Harmonics.

The costs of the project are estimated at $181 million.