DTD | Arts District: AT&T Performing Arts Center| V2.0

[tamtagon]

Committed to building the finest performing arts center in the world. (http://www.dallasperformingarts.org/)

Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House --- Designed by Foster + Partners under Pritzker Prize-winning architect Norman Foster and Senior Design Partner Spencer de Grey, the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House will be engineered specifically for performances of opera and musical theatre, with stages equipped for performances of ballet and other forms of dance.

Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre --- Design of the Wyly Theatre is by REX/OMA, Joshua Prince-Ramus (Partner in Charge) and Rem Koolhaas. The 12-level building will feature a groundbreaking design with an unprecedented “stacked,” vertically organized facility ... to host a wide range of performances, including classical and experimental drama, dance and musical productions, world-renowned vocalists, as well as lectures and films.

City Performance Hall --- Designed by the Skidmore Owings and Merrill and constructed by the City of Dallas, the City Performance Hall will be a 750-seat, acoustically sound space that will provide main stage production space for Dallas’ smaller performing arts organizations.

Annette Strauss Artist Square -- is the new home for the city’s premier outdoor performing arts venue. It is being designed by internationally renowned architectural firm Foster + Partners ... will host a variety of outdoor events ranging from concerts to theatrical and dance performances to multi-day festivals and will accommodate audiences of up to 5,000 in a serene open-air setting.

Performance Park --- an urban park that will embrace and unify the venues of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts ... Performance Park will be a lush urban oasis, a dynamic cultural destination in downtown Dallas. The first public park in the Dallas Arts District, Performance Park will include canopies of mature trees, large expanses of grass and a series of gardens, fountains, reflecting pools, promenades and walkways.

[TexasStar]

Dallas Center for the Performing Arts

http://urbandallas.us/images/performance_park_01.jpg

http://urbandallas.us/images/performance_park_02.jpg

http://urbandallas.us/images/performance_park_03.jpg

http://urbandallas.us/images/performance_park_04.jpg

http://urbandallas.us/images/performance_park_05.jpg

[TexasStar]

Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House

http://urbandallas.us/images/winspear-exterior.jpg

http://urbandallas.us/images/winspear-performhall2.jpg


Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre

http://urbandallas.us/images/wyly-performhallext.jpg

http://urbandallas.us/images/wyly-elevation.jpg

http://urbandallas.us/images/wyly-concert.jpg

[maconahey]

Today:

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/7358/img5946tl6.th.jpg (http://img514.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img5946tl6.jpg) http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/3630/img5947pp1.th.jpg (http://img229.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img5947pp1.jpg) http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/229/img5950yz0.th.jpg (http://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img5950yz0.jpg) http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/6083/img5924iu6.th.jpg (http://img296.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img5924iu6.jpg) http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/1885/img5925dg2.th.jpg (http://img296.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img5925dg2.jpg) http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/4884/img5929mz0.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img5929mz0.jpg) http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/6434/img5939ik3.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img5939ik3.jpg) http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/3375/img5941mw4.th.jpg (http://img186.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img5941mw4.jpg) http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/7655/img5944ni3.th.jpg (http://img517.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img5944ni3.jpg)

[Lionel Hutz]

excellent work

these structures will help redefine Dallas as a cultural center in the Southwest. Both the physical buildings (as great architecture) and the performances they house.

[SDORN]

Tamtagon these were taken last year.

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/9765/wylieandonearts1ee6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[SDORN]

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/2788/wylie1re8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[freewaytincan]

http://urbandallas.us/images/winspear-performhall2.jpg

I still think that chandelier has to be one of the best things ever.

[cowboyeagle05]

http://urbandallas.us/images/winspear-performhall2.jpg

I still think that chandelier has to be one of the best things ever.
Thats why they said they are not sure if they will be able to afford it apparently that fiber optic chandelier is mucho expensive.

[grantboston]

^That was my big concern. For me, the chandelier is what makes that building. I'm sure they can get someone(s) to pony up the $$ to make it happen. Who needs a diamond necklace when you can have something like THAT with your name on it?

[maconahey]

http://www.dallasnews.com/video/dallasnews/hp/index.html?nvid=207388

[dfwcre8tive]

Thursday, January 10, 2008
The Dallas Center for the Performing Arts holds topping out ceremony for the Winspear Opera House
By Laura Seewoester
http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2008/jan/10/dallas-center-performing-arts-holds-topping-out-ce/

The Dallas Center for Performing Arts hosted a celebration Thursday for the official "topping out" of the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House. The final beam of the Winspear Opera House dons signatures of those involved in the construction of the building, as well as Texas and US flags. A healthy crowd gathered on the 15th floor of the One Arts Plaza building to sip mimosas and enjoy a fantastic view of the Dallas Arts District. After the mingling and meet and greets, the audience listened to speeches about the Winspear Opera House from notables such as Mayor Tom Leppert and key players with the Dallas Center for Performing Arts. Finally, after a few kind words about the Winspear's and how lucky Dallas is to be gaining such a great artistic and architectural gift, the beam was set into place. The Winspear Opera House is scheduled to open in 2009.

[tamtagon]

Guidelive.com: Winspear will premiere new opera (http://www.guidelive.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-opera_0115gl.State.Edition1.1b96ba7.html)

OPERA: First season in new home includes 'Moby Dick' with star tenor Ben Heppner

07:03 PM CST on Monday, January 14, 2008

By SCOTT CANTRELL / The Dallas Morning News
scantrell@dallasnews.com

The Dallas Opera's first season in the new Winspear Opera House will include the world premiere of a new opera, Moby Dick, by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer. Based on the famous Herman Melville novel, the opera will feature superstar tenor Ben Heppner as Captain Ahab.

The opera house, named for lead donors Margot and the late Bill Winspear, will open Oct. 23, 2009, with Verdi's Otello, starring tenor Clifton Forbis. The Winspears donated $42 million toward the building, which will also be used for ballet and larger-scale theatrical productions.

"Oct. 23 would have been Bill Winspear's 77th birthday," says Jonathan Pell, the Dallas Opera's director of artistic administration. "And Otello was his favorite opera, or so he said."

The five-production season will continue in January 2010 with Mozart's Così fan tutte, with veteran baritone Sir Thomas Allen as Don Alfonso and Nuccia Focile as Despina.

Rounding out the season, in addition to Moby Dick, will be Donizetti's Don Pasquale and Puccini's Madame Butterfly. Romanian soprano Adina Nitescu will portray Puccini's Japanese geisha, with tenor Brandon Jovanovich as Lieutenant Pinkerton.

"We wanted to represent the range of the operatic repertory in this first season," Mr. Pell said. "So we will have operas from the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries."

Unlike Fair Park Music Hall, the Dallas Opera's home since its 1957 inauguration, the new house will allow two operas to alternate in overlapping time periods. Otello will be the only production for the opening festivities, but Così fan tutte and Don Pasquale will run in repertory and later Moby Dick and Madame Butterfly.

"There are two weeks in each run," Mr. Pell says, "where guests from out of town can see both productions in one weekend."

With a smaller seat count – 2,200 to the Music Hall's 3,400 – the Winspear should provide much better sightlines and acoustics. But it will also require more performances: six of each opera, as opposed to four at the Music Hall.

"It was also important to us that there be a commissioned work in the opening season of the new opera house," says Mr. Pell. "And Jake Heggie was an obvious choice, because of the extraordinary success of his Dead Man Walking."
...
Moby Dick is being co-commissioned by the Dallas Opera, San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera and Canada's Calgary Opera. The other companies will present subsequent performances.

Patrick Summers, music director of Houston Grand Opera, will conduct the Dallas premiere. He previously conducted the premieres of both Dead Man Walking and The End of the Affair.

Additional performance dates for the season will be announced in January 2009.

[msutton]

Sounds cool.

[rogramjet]

Very cool, indeed. Way to go, Dallas!

[SkyLife]

Very cool, indeed. Way to go, Dallas!

Very, very cool. The Dallas Arts District will be recognized by the World soon.

[elmstreetdallas]

I had to send Scott Cantrell an email correcting his article.

This paragraph is from his full article:

"Mr. Scheer collaborated with composer Tobias Picker on the Dallas Opera's one previous world premiere, the 2001 Thérèse Raquin , based on the Émile Zola novel. Mr. Scheer and Mr. Picker also collaborated on An American Tragedy, based on the Theodore Dreiser novel and premiered by the Metropolitan Opera in 2005."

The Dallas Opera presented the world premier of Dominick Argento's The Aspern Papers in 1988, and it was broadcast nationwide on PBS' Great Performances.

Thérèse Raquin was the Dallas Opera's second world premier. So much for accuracy.

[elmstreetdallas]

But bravo Dallas Opera!

[msutton]

As cool as it sounds, I must say, we shouldn't be praising the Dallas Opera on doing its 3rd world premiere in, what, 50 years? For NY City Opera's 50th anniversary season, they premiered 3 operas over the course of a month!

It's great to see when Dallas institutions start to do some truly groundbreaking work, but we should demand that as the norm, not as some kind of lollipop-earning exception to the rule. For Dallas to take a place of true renown in the world, its Art scene must become much more influential.

Companies are trying more now than they have in a while. And some of the local playwrights right now are remarkable. Steve Walters, who I had the pleasure of working with as an actor last summer, writes some really great stuff. And there are dozens of other writers around town, putting stuff up on a small scale: the biggest problem is not a lack of new art, its a lack of Dallas-support for those local artists. These plays shouldn't only be put up by the more adventurous smaller companies, but they should be workshopped into full, mainstage productions at the Theater Center, Theater Three, or Watertower. Somehow, we need to cultivate an atmosphere where audiences would rather see a smoking new play (or at least an unconventional take on the classics) instead of just yet another production of Glengarry Glenn Ross. Audiences should demand to be sitting at the front lines of artistic innovation.

I hope the DCftPA will help raise the scene to this higher level, instead of just giving Dallas donors more comfortable seats from which to watch last decade's no-longer-edgy shows performed yet again.

[sasquatch69]

I agree with you msutton, but the problem all local arts groups face is economic reality. I think they'd love to debut new works on a much more frequent basis, but then they run up against fickle Dallas audiences who will turn out in droves for A Christmas Carol at the DTC or The Barber of Seville at the DO, but stay away in large part whenever it's something new or unfamiliar. As soon as theater-, opera- and symphony-goers in North Texas will show they support a wider variety of fare, I think the local groups will respond.

[mjblazin]

The support for arts in Dallas is concentrated in a very tiny sliver of the overall population. The younger sub-segment has ideas, but little cash. The older sub-segment speaks with its cash and is not interested in being told what they should do. Consequently we have La Traviata again this year. The idea is that if you can just get more people to make a habit of attending arts, any kind of arts, then their tastes will change and support grows. Even with the new center, I think it's an open question as to whether support is increasing in numbers of people.

[msutton]

I agree with you msutton, but the problem all local arts groups face is economic reality. I think they'd love to debut new works on a much more frequent basis, but then they run up against fickle Dallas audiences who will turn out in droves for A Christmas Carol at the DTC or The Barber of Seville at the DO, but stay away in large part whenever it's something new or unfamiliar. As soon as theater-, opera- and symphony-goers in North Texas will show they support a wider variety of fare, I think the local groups will respond.
Completely agreed. There's incredible work being done by artists in Dallas, but too often the most vital and groundbreaking work lacks the necessary support.

[aceplace]

As cool as it sounds, I must say, we shouldn't be praising the Dallas Opera on doing its 3rd world premiere in, what, 50 years? For NY City Opera's 50th anniversary season, they premiered 3 operas over the course of a month!I don't think we need to compare Dallas to New York... any more than we compare Manchester to London.

The marvelous thing will be that we will have an opera being performed 6 nights per week for 5 weeks... that is an expansion of opera's physical presence in our city.

[mjblazin]

I don't think we need to compare Dallas to New York... any more than we compare Manchester to London.

The marvelous thing will be that we will have an opera being performed 6 nights per week for 5 weeks... that is an expansion of opera's physical presence in our city.

Is that good info? Normal sked is Friday night, Sun afternoon, Weds night and Saturday night. I always thought the performers needed a break between performances. To do consectutive nights requires multiple operas in same week or different headliners.

[elmstreetdallas]

mj,

The Dallas Opera WILL be doing multiple operas in the same week. In February of 2010, they will simultaneously be doing Cosi Fan Tutte and Don Pasquale. In May 2010, they will alternate Madama Butterfly and Moby Dick.

[msutton]

I don't think we need to compare Dallas to New York... any more than we compare Manchester to London.

The marvelous thing will be that we will have an opera being performed 6 nights per week for 5 weeks... that is an expansion of opera's physical presence in our city.
Yes, well, if we want to have an international reputation on par with New York or London, then it might do us well to compare. We don't have to do the same art, in fact our Opera should, like Dallas, be new and vital and fresh. But our competition is New York and London and all the other great cities of the world, and simply saying "it doesn't matter what they do, we're the best" isn't going to cut it at the end of the day.

[elmstreetdallas]

The Dallas Opera's competition is the Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera, San Diego Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Florida Grand Opera and other regional opera companies.

The Dallas Opera is NOT in competition with the Metropolitan Opera.

[pwright1]

This imo is one of North America's most exciting developments. This will change the life around dt Dallas forever.

[Hannibal Lecter]

This imo is one of North America's most exciting developments. This will change the life around dt Dallas forever.Why? How does it affect the average person? Only a tiny percentage of the area population will ever see the inside of that building.

[gshelton91]

Completely agreed. There's incredible work being done by artists in Dallas, but too often the most vital and groundbreaking work lacks the necessary support.

That might indicate that many people don't go for the art but because it is a classic and feel they should experience it. Perhaps the Dallas Opera should create a program to market to new customers and also explain the art in modern opera. Just a thought.

I have only been to one Opera and that was not in Dallas. But it seems to me that Opera has a number of hurdles to overcome in general to break through to a bit wider audience. Though I think it is very doable.

[elmstreetdallas]

The "average" person will benefit greatly from the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts -- there will be performances over 300 days of the year. Everything from opera to jazz, ballet to touring Broadway shows, along with theatre, lectures and films, not to mention a host of free events at Annette Strauss Artist Square. The addition of a 10-acre park full of trees, grass, fountains and gardens will help make downtown much more palatable for all Dallas-area residents.

Also, thousands of Dallas-area school children get to see a performance of the Dallas Opera every year, free of charge, courtesy of the Dallas Opera's school program.

Are you aware that the city of Dallas' (Dallas taxpayers) contribution of $18 million, which is 7% of the construction costs, is the LOWEST municipal contribution to a major performing arts facility in the history of the United States?

84 private families/individuals and 30 businesses/organizations (114 at the last tally) have given a minimum of $1 million each toward the building of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts. Over 60 other families and individuals have given a minimum of $25,000 -- 25 of which were in the $100,000 to $249,000 range, 10 donating $250,000-499,000 and six giving over $500,000.

Considering that the "average" person's contribution toward the building of the center was basically NOTHING -- I'd say the average joe is getting an incredible gift.

[mjblazin]

The fundraising for the center was/is an awesome feat that was really under the radar for almost all the citizens of Dallas. It really expertly leveraged both the proximity of the wealth here and how these people interact with each other. I feel the city of Dallas will get a lot more for its $18MM in this center than it will get for the $50MM we dumnped into the Cotton Bowl.

[Hannibal Lecter]

The "average" person will benefit greatly from the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts -- there will be performances over 300 days of the year. Everything from opera to jazz, ballet to touring Broadway shows, along with theatre, lectures and films, not to mention a host of free events at Annette Strauss Artist Square.Which most residents will never attend. And if there's so much demand for it, why is the city involved at all? We don't expect the city to pay for movie theaters or night clubs.


The addition of a 10-acre park full of trees, grass, fountains and gardens will help make downtown much more palatable for all Dallas-area residents.Which most people will never even know about, moreover ever visit.


Are you aware that the city of Dallas' (Dallas taxpayers) contribution of $18 million, which is 7% of the construction costs, is the LOWEST municipal contribution to a major performing arts facility in the history of the United States?Total BS. You ever hear of a place called Carnegie Hall? NYC bought it many years later, but it was privately constructed and operated.


Considering that the "average" person's contribution toward the building of the center was basically NOTHING -- I'd say the average joe is getting an incredible gift.Not relevant to my statement -- the average person will never step foot in it. So how is it a gift if they'll never use it?

[tamtagon]

Not relevant to my statement -- the average person will never step foot in it. So how is it a gift if they'll never use it?

For starters, the city's reputation is better because of it.

[DallasCVB Guy]

Hannibal Lecter would you please pull that stick outta your a-hole! God, I can't stand negative people. If you don't want to support the arts then by all means please don't, but don't come on here and spout off a bunch of crap. Some, in fact, A LOT OF US IN DALLAS LOVE THE ARTS!

[elmstreetdallas]

For all performing arts facilities where a municipal government helped fund the facility, a 7% contribution is the LOWEST in the history of the United States. That's a fact.

I wasn't referring to facilities that were 100% privately funded. An overwhelming majority of arts facilities in this country were partially funded by taxpayers. Carnegie Hall was an extraordinary exception.

[elmstreetdallas]

"And if there's so much demand for it, why is the city involved at all? We don't expect the city to pay for movie theaters or night clubs."

Hannibal, if Dallas' paltry, embarrassingly low $18 million "contribution" to the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts bothers you, Arlington's contribution of $325 million toward a billionaire businessman's stadium must just about make your head explode.

[Mballar]

"And if there's so much demand for it, why is the city involved at all? We don't expect the city to pay for movie theaters or night clubs."

Hannibal, if Dallas' paltry, embarrassingly low $18 million "contribution" to the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts bothers you, Arlington's contribution of $325 million toward a billionaire businessman's stadium must just about make your head explode.
:2lol:

[DallasCVB Guy]

"And if there's so much demand for it, why is the city involved at all? We don't expect the city to pay for movie theaters or night clubs."

Hannibal, if Dallas' paltry, embarrassingly low $18 million "contribution" to the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts bothers you, Arlington's contribution of $325 million toward a billionaire businessman's stadium must just about make your head explode.


OH SNAP!

[hamiltonpl]

Which most residents will never attend. And if there's so much demand for it, why is the city involved at all? We don't expect the city to pay for movie theaters or night clubs.

Which most people will never even know about, moreover ever visit.

Total BS. You ever hear of a place called Carnegie Hall? NYC bought it many years later, but it was privately constructed and operated.

Not relevant to my statement -- the average person will never step foot in it. So how is it a gift if they'll never use it?

Why do I have to pay for the roads to your house? I'm never going to use them. Why do I have to pay for the Interstate in Alaska? I'm never going to use it. Why do I have to pay for 13 diplomats to Turkministan? I'm never going to need them.

Government pays for all sorts of things only a small minority of us actually need. Hopefully, it makes this country a better place to live in the long run.

[DallasMan]

^And makes Dallas more attractive to potential corporate headquarters/operations, etc.

[pwright1]

Why? How does it affect the average person? Only a tiny percentage of the area population will ever see the inside of that building.

Why is that? I will definately be one who will see the inside.

[MarkL2023]

Why is that? I will definately be one who's see the inside.


1/6,300,000 = tiny percentage

[berryhill]

1/6,300,000 = tiny percentage

I believe that's inaccurate. It's not the tax dollars of six million people being used, just the 1.2 + million in Dallas. Regardless, the facility could have more than just opera performances. Look at the Meyerson. They draw all sorts of people to events that wouldn't otherwise go to an orchestra performance. More world-class facilities means more diverse events. More diverse events means more people will have an opportunity to experience it.

Also, it's unfair to compare this to the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington because as we are seeing already, the types of events they will have there will pay for the thing and boost the whole region's economy. Again, a great city has more than just sports or arts. It has everything.

[Lionel Hutz]

In Hannibal's world, the Kroger grocery store built at the corner of Mockingbird and Greenville is a much more important building for the city of Dallas than the Performing Arts Center because more average people will see the inside of it.

Thank you Kroger for your gift to Dallas.

[gshelton91]

Well i think to just assume that most citizens will never use any of these facilities and the park surrounding it is to underestimate the people of Dallas. It also depends on how well the thing is marketed it could be great and a centerpiece of Dallas with people of all incomes visiting it for shows and festivals year round.... it all depends on how it is run once it is built.

[Hannibal Lecter]

Hannibal Lecter would you please pull that stick outta your a-hole! God, I can't stand negative people. If you don't want to support the arts then by all means please don't, but don't come on here and spout off a bunch of crap. Some, in fact, A LOT OF US IN DALLAS LOVE THE ARTS!My, a little thin-skinned, are we?

Anyway, I like art, too. I just don't ask the taxpayers to subsidize my hobbies.

[Hannibal Lecter]

For all performing arts facilities where a municipal government helped fund the facility, a 7% contribution is the LOWEST in the history of the United States. That's a fact.

I wasn't referring to facilities that were 100% privately funded. An overwhelming majority of arts facilities in this country were partially funded by taxpayers. Carnegie Hall was an extraordinary exception.So it's the lowest percentage where the percentage isn't zero. Doesn't that strike you as a little arbitrary? It's kind of like a bank robber using the excuse "I only robbed one bank, which is the lowest number of those who robbed banks."

[Hannibal Lecter]

"And if there's so much demand for it, why is the city involved at all? We don't expect the city to pay for movie theaters or night clubs."

Hannibal, if Dallas' paltry, embarrassingly low $18 million "contribution" to the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts bothers you, Arlington's contribution of $325 million toward a billionaire businessman's stadium must just about make your head explode.Oh, I am VERY appreciative that the fools in Arlington are making that donation -- it kept us in Dallas from doing it.

[Lakewooder]

Don't discount the annual Dallas Opera performance for school children - I can still remember my first, "Aida," in the pre-renovated Music Hall. We also went to the symphony every year. And we would study what we were going to see/hear for a week or two prior.

This introduces thousands of kids to a world some of them have never imagined.