ReNewed Music Hall

Saturday
We spent much of today in downtown Cincinnati, celebrating the reopening of Cincinnati Music Hall, following a sixteen-month long, $143 million renovation. Officially billed as "ReNewed Celebration for Music Hall and More", the day's events were hosted by ArtsWave, an organization that provides funding, workshops, and other resources to arts and community organizations across the Cincinnati region. The Ensemble Theatre were also open for tours, showing off their newly renovated space, and also the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. There were also various musical happenings across the road from Music Hall in Washington Park, both in the bandstand and the main stage.
It was a beautiful day, and we started our day with brunch at A Taste of Belgium in Over the Rhine, the area around Music Hall, which has experienced huge redevelopment in recent years. The neighbourhood's distinctive name comes from its builders and early residents, German immigrants of the mid-19th century. Many walked to work across bridges over the Miami and Erie Canal, which separated the area from downtown Cincinnati. They nicknamed the canal "the Rhine" in memory of their homeland, and the newly settled area north of the canal as "Over the Rhine". The Ensemble Theater is located next door to A Taste of Belgium, so we visited that next. Unfortunately we couldn't see the auditorium itself as they had a rehearsal going on, but we were able to see some of the behind the scenes areas like the set room and rehearsal area. From there it is just a couple of blocks to Music Hall, the last block, being through Washington Park.
Music Hall originally opened in 1878, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is home to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Ballet and the May Festival Chorus. It's last major renovation had been in 1969, and so the basics such as heating, air-conditioning, plumbing etc were in dire need of updating. It was also necessary to make it all accessible for the disabled. Other matters addressed were the number of restrooms, which was formerly woefully inadequate. The seating  was old and too narrow, with inadequate legroom for much of the population. They also increased the rake of the orchestra level, creating better line of sight. They extended the stage further forward into the auditorium, providing better viewing and hopefully further enhancing the acoustics. The magnificent chandelier shown in my collage was not  in the original design, but added during the 1969 renovation. However, public opinion was strongly in favour of keeping it, so it was lowered, dismantled, each of the 7,000 pieces of crystal cleaned and the bulbs replaced with flame-tipped LED bulbs. Another space receiving considerable attention was Corbett Tower, an event space located on the top floor of the hall, which can be used for dinners, weddings and other events. Here, the renovation work uncovered hidden beauty. In removing a drop ceiling that had been installed decades ago, they discovered an additional 14 feet of ceiling space,  and a beautifully stenciled coved ceiling. They also opened up three bricked-in windows, affording beautiful views over Washington Park. Roughly half of the $143 million came from private donations, the rest from the City of Cincinnati and the State of Ohio, along with state and federal tax credits. As we looked around, we were able to hear a Wind Quintet performing in the main auditorium, and three members of Cincinnati Opera singing operatic excerpts in Corbett Tower. We felt the overall result was wonderful, keeping faithful to the original design, yet  bringing it up to date and making it more comfortable and accessible. I can't wait to hear a full performance in there. The Symphony was performing this weekend, but I didn't particularly like the program, so decided to wait for something I really want to hear.
One year ago: Still waters