Indeed the ability to “tune” the hall is crucial to its excep- tional acoustics and flexibility. Acoustical reflectors in the ceil- ing can be raised and lowered, draperies along the sides ex- tended and retracted, a movable acoustical shell deployed— all to tailor the strength and reverberation for everything from lectures and small recitals to musical theater or full orchestra and chorus.
Just weeks before the Zankel’s inaugural concert, music fac- ulty took center stage to help the acoustics team make its final assessment. Pianist Pola Baytelman carefully selected pieces with varied sonorities—a staccato Scarlatti sonata, a soft and fast piece by American com- poser Amy Beach, a movement from Schumann’s powerfully Romantic Humoreske. The acousticians listened and made notes. When Baytelman was finished play- ing, she was plainly thrilled. “It is a marvelous hall; I loved the way the sound carried through it,” she said, adding that Skid- more’s musicians felt fortunate indeed to have this new space.
O
tures include bamboo veneer on the walls and natural lighting from the dramatic and well-insulated window that makes up the rear wall of the stage. Dear to West’s heart is the orchestra pit he lobbied to keep in the project. It’s an unusual feature for a hall this size, says Tom Denny, and one that along with the dancer-friendly sprung stage floor gives the hall a distinctive niche in the Saratoga region.
THE ACOUSTICIANS LISTENED AND MADE NOTES.
PLAINLY THRILLED.
B
f course they were also fond of their former space next door, the Filene Music Building, made possible in 1967 by Helen Fi- lene Ladd ’22. So when they moved into the Zankel Center, they brought their beloved benefactor’s name with them to christen its new concert hall.
The visually stunning facility manages to feel both spacious and intimate at once. With seating for 600—and the option to add about 100 chairs on the large stage apron—it nearly triples the capacity of Filene’s recital hall. But 150 seats are in a bal- cony that can be closed off during smaller events. Ewing Cole and Belson Design Architects designed the Arthur Zankel Music Center to maximize daylight and mini- mize distracting noises. Skidmore Vice President Mike West can’t stop smiling as he describes the building he has come to know intimately as he oversaw its two-year construction. He cites the “separate mechanical wing isolated from the performance hall so that the whin- ing of motors or air-handling noise isn’t transferred.” Larger ductwork for the geothermal heating and cool- ing system means quieter air move- ment, and acous - tically designed entry doors with sound-lock areas give the concert hall a pin-drop si- lence. Other fea-
20 SCOPE SPRING 2010
Decades of hoping and planning and years of design and construction culminated in the opening concert on February 5. West admits he was nervous: How would music sound with a full audience in the house? Afterward, West reports, acoustician Jerry Marshall and architects Charlie Belsen and Ryan McNutt were
thrilled. “What’s more important,” says West, “is that it sounded great to the musicians and to the audience.”
etter than great. Ensemble ACJW gave a “Carnegie Hall Premieres” performance of chamber works by Prokofiev, Shos - takovich, and contemporary composer David Bruce. From the start, violinist Owen Dalby says, the group was not only hon- ored to open the new facility but blown away by the Ladd’s acoustics: “‘Scary-good hall,’ we muttered to each other at in - termission.”
Just two weeks later, the Brazilian Guitar Quartet was work- ing with students in advance of its concert—and the hall’s first professional recording session. A student-organized “Harmony for Haiti” benefit concert filled the Ladd and overflowed into Elisabeth Luce Moore Hall, the Zankel’s recital space. The wildly popular Klezmatics drew a capacity crowd, and the Filene Con- cert Series performance by jazz greats Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau in April was expected to do likewise. Meanwhile, Skid- more ensembles took their turns on the big stage. Guest direc- tor Charles Schneider led the Skidmore Orchestra in Copland’s Lincoln Portrait (a tie-in with this year’s all-freshman readings on Abraham Lincoln), and Janet McGhee readied her Skid- more College Community Cho- rus, Vocal Cham- ber Ensemble, and the local Battenkill Chorale for a per- formance of Carl Orff’s monumental
Carmina Burana.
Flute student Rebecca Rawling ’10 nabbed the first senior recital in the hall, an honor that came with a little extra tinkering at her
STEFAN COHEN
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