THE KIMMEL CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
TO OPEN DECEMBER 16 IN THE HEART OF PHILADELPHIA
Philadelphia's spectacular new Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts opens its doors to the public on Sunday, December 16. Grand opening celebrations will be followed by a two-week inaugural festival on Philadelphia's Avenue of the Arts. There will be free performances daily.
A new international landmark in three fields-performing arts, architecture and urbanism- the $265 million Kimmel Center occupies an entire block (2.3 acres) of Center City Philadelphia. The Kimmel Center achieves instant prominence in the performing arts as the new home of the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra.
The design, by architect Rafael Viñoly, creates a new type of performing arts center, treating the two major venues (Verizon Hall and the Perelman Theater) as if they were free-standing buildings encased beneath a shimmering, vaulted roof of glass.
The great indoor plaza, which flows between and around Verizon Hall and Perelman Theater; the dramatic views of the city from spaces such as a year-round roof garden; the glass arch of the roof, which soars up to 150 feet above Broad Street, establishing a new urban icon: these and other features make The Kimmel Center the centerpiece of Philadelphia's Avenue of the Arts, and a singular innovation in civic gathering places.
The Kimmel Center has been designed and built under the supervision of the Regional Performing Arts Center (RPAC), a not- for-profit organization created in 1996 through public and private support. RPAC will operate The Kimmel Center and its neighboring facility on the Avenue of the Arts, the beloved and historic Academy of Music (owned by The Philadelphia Orchestra Association). The Kimmel Center and the Academy of Music will be home to eight of Philadelphia's premier performing arts groups. RPAC will also host great performers from around the world.
The 2,500-seat Verizon Hall, acoustically designed by Russell Johnson of Artec Consultants, is custom made as the new home of The Philadelphia Orchestra. It will also house Peter Nero and the Philly Popsâ. The versatile, 650-seat Perelman Theater (also with an acoustic design by Johnson) will be home to PHILADANCO, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and American Theater Arts for Youth, as well as chamber concerts by The Philadelphia Orchestra. The Academy of Music will continue to be the home of The Pennsylvania Ballet and the Opera Company of Philadelphia. It is undergoing the finishing touches of a multi-year renovation project and in 2002 will be outfitted with a new rigging system and fly space to accommodate touring Broadway productions.
In addition to managing The Kimmel Center, RPAC will present a variety of performances in its venues. The Inaugural Season at The Kimmel Center will offer five subscription series-Jazz, Dance, Great Orchestras on Tour, Great Artists and Recital & Ensemble-as well as Signature Concerts with artists ranging from the Moiseyev Dance Company to Bobby McFerrin.
According to Willard G. Rouse III, chairman of RPAC, "The Kimmel Center represents the union of a great orchestra, a great architect, and a key location in a great city. We are enormously proud that RPAC has been able to bring these elements together, for our community and for the people who will come here from around the world."
For The Philadelphia Orchestra, the opening of The Kimmel Center fulfills a dream that dates back to 1908, when the Orchestra first made plans to leave the Academy of Music, a venue that had been designed for opera. For residents of Philadelphia and the region, The Kimmel Center promises to showcase the best local companies and to make the city far more hospitable to great touring artists. (Once 15th among American cities in its number of theater seats per capita, Philadelphia will now rank in the top 5.) For a city that has renewed its economic and civic strength by emphasizing its cultural attractions-most notably by developing the Avenue of the Arts-The Kimmel Center represents a goal achieved.
The inaugural festivities for The Kimmel Center begin with two gala benefit concerts. The event on Friday night, December 14, will offer performances by a host of acclaimed guest artists including Sir Elton John. On December 15, The Philadelphia Orchestra will perform its inaugural concert in Verizon Hall with Music Director Wolfgang Sawallisch, including the world premiere of a composition by Aaron Jay Kernis commissioned for the occasion and the new hall. On December 16, The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts officially opens to the public, welcoming everyone to a free, day-long event featuring performances by groups from throughout the region.
Building The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts The Kimmel Center began to take shape in 1996 when two projects came together: The Philadelphia Orchestra's ongoing plan to build a new home for itself, and a plan of then-Mayor Edward G. Rendell to provide a much-needed venue for some of Philadelphia's most prominent performing arts companies and for touring presentations. With the generous consent of the Orchestra, which had acquired a property at Broad and Spruce Streets, the two plans were merged under the supervision and management of a new organization, the Regional Performing Arts Center, led at first by Samuel A. McCullough (now Pennsylvania's Secretary of Commerce and Economic Development) and by RPAC's present chairman, the prominent developer Willard G. Rouse III.
To design its new facilities, RPAC in 1997 selected Rafael Viñoly Architects PC, a firm that gained worldwide attention for the design of the immense, multi-use Tokyo International Forum. Rafael Viñoly unveiled his preliminary design in spring 1998, winning such immediate and strong public support that RPAC proceeded with groundbreaking that fall.
"The accessibility we achieved in The Kimmel Center is different from anything I know of," says Rafael Viñoly. "The Kimmel Center forces an interaction between functions that are not necessarily part of the typical repertoire of what happens in a performing arts center. I'd like to think this possibility for openness and unpredictability was what made the project uplifting for the people in Philadelphia. When we made the public presentation, people embraced the idea. That's something that can't be faked, something that gives you the feeling you're hitting it right at some level."
Joining Viñoly in the project was Russell Johnson, founder of Artec Consultants, Inc., who had been retained by The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1986 as the acoustician for the planned concert hall. "The Kimmel Center poses a pair of contrasting challenges," Johnson states. "In Verizon Hall, the goal is singular: to custom design a concert hall for the rich, velvety sound of The Philadelphia Orchestra. In the Perelman Theater, the goal is multiple: to design acoustics for a space that will accommodate everything from jazz and chamber music to dance and theater. I can't think of any other performing arts center that has presented this combination of opportunities. If we have met them, it's due to the inspired work of everyone involved: RPAC, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Rafael Viñoly, and the many, many people who were determined to make this project succeed."
Leading the donors to the project were the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, under Governor Tom Ridge; the City of Philadelphia, under former Mayor Ed Rendell and present Mayor John Street; and The Philadelphia Orchestra Association, under Chairman Richard L. Smoot and President Joseph H. Kluger. Their contributions were soon joined by naming gifts from Sidney Kimmel, Verizon Foundation and Raymond and Ruth Perelman.
"The Kimmel Center is being built through a unique public-private partnership," states Rouse. "In large projects like this one, it is not unusual for 70 percent or more of the capital to come from public funds. At RPAC, the figure is less than 40 percent. The wonderful thing is that this support has come from literally every part of the community: individuals, corporations, foundations and government. And not only from traditional arts philanthropists-a large percentage has come from sources that never before supported the arts."
The Regional Performing Arts Center was founded in 1996 to build and operate first-rate facilities for local arts groups and to present great visiting performers from around the world. Among its missions, RPAC will invigorate the growth and development of performing arts in the region; foster a thriving education and community outreach program in the performing arts; stimulate the local economy; and join Avenue of the Arts, Inc. in creating a world-class cultural district in Philadelphia.
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