Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

Coordinates: 40°06′28″N 88°13′22″W / 40.10778°N 88.22278°W / 40.10778; -88.22278

The west facade of the Krannert Center; the amphitheatre is on the left

The Krannert Center for the Performing Arts is an educational and performing arts complex located at 500 South Goodwin Street in Urbana, Illinois, on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Herman C. Krannert, an industrialist who was the founder of Inland Container Corporation and an alumnus of the University, and his wife Ellnora Krannert made a gift of $16 million which made creation of the Center possible. Max Abramovitz, the architect of the Center, was also a UI alumnus.

The total combined seating capacity of the four venues at the Center is approximately 4,000. The main lobby features a floor made of teak from Thailand, which cost $1 million, and marble walls from Carrara, Italy. The building opened in 1969.

Performance facilities

An interior view of Foellinger Great Hall
Dr. Cyril Harris, a noted acoustician and Emeritus Professor of Architecture at Columbia University designed the interior of the Foellinger Great Hall. His past projects include the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City and Powell Symphony Hall in St. Louis. Later projects include the mid-1970s renovation of Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center and the late-1990s design of Benaroya Hall in Seattle.[1] The design of the hall is almost perfectly symmetrical. There are no parallel surfaces in the room, instead all the surfaces are angled to ensure that the sound reflects back to the audience. This accounts for much of the hall's acoustic superiority. No amplification is necessary for instrumental music.

Other Public facilities

Non-public Facilities

The production level (floor 2) of the facility offers a full scenery construction shop, costume shop, and dedicated rehearsal spaces for choral, orchestra, and dance performers, plus a drama rehearsal room which is the same size as the stages in the Playhouse and Festival theaters. There are over 40,000 costume pieces, and tens of thousands of props in various storerooms. The Great Hall, Festival and Playhouse each have dedicated dressing and makeup rooms for performers adjacent to the stage entrances.[2]

Design and Construction Considerations

The Festival, Playhouse, and Great Hall are physically separate structures from the main structure, with rubber acoustic gaskets filling the gaps between them. This prevents sound from vibrating through the floors and walls. To further reduce vibration noise, the air conditioning plant is located across the street at the Illinois Street Residence Halls.

The main hallway on the production level has an extra wide and high ceiling for the entire length which matches the size of the scenery shop and stage doors on the Playhouse and Festival theaters. This allows completed scenery to be moved directly from the scenery shop to the stages without the need to break apart and reassemble on the stage.

All three large stages have hydraulic lifts that can be used to create a recessed orchestra pit, hold additional seating, or extend the stage depending on the need of a particular performance. The Great Hall also has retractable rear wall in the balcony which holds an additional two rows of seating behind the stage. This space is said to have been originally intended to house a pipe organ.

Notable performances

Artists

Ensembles

Festivals
The Krannert Center hosts the Ellnora Guitar Festival (formerly Wall to Wall Guitar Festival) every two years in September, beginning in 2005, which has featured artists such as Pat Metheny, Elliot Fisk, Andy Summers, Taj Mahal, Vernon Reid, Toubab Krewe, Campbell Brothers, The Romeros, Alex DeGrassi, Los Lobos, John McLaughlin, Jorma Kaukonen, and Buddy Guy.
Additionally, Krannert has sponsored the Pygmalion Music Festival every September since 2006, which has brought indie rock artists such as Iron & Wine, The Books, David Bazan, Danielson, Andrew Bird, Yo La Tengo, and High Places to the traditionally jazz and classical-oriented venue.

See also

References

Notes

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