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San Juan Hill was the immigrant neighborhood of Manhattan, it was demolished and Lincoln Center was built. With history in mind, the completely renovated Philharmonic is now opening.
Deborah Borda is a busy woman these days and her time is short. The New York Philharmonic leader’s cell phone continues to ring, with classical music as the ringtone, as she guides reporters through the orchestra’s fully renovated and refurbished concert hall, which she is expected to reopen this Saturday (October 8). She vigorously dismisses calls, or simply answers and gives a few brief instructions. Meanwhile, she continues to try to clarify the basic idea of the building, which has been completely renovated for about 550 million dollars: “Everything should invite you”.
The concert hall is located in Lincoln Center on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, in close proximity to the Metropolitan Opera and the performance hall of the New York Ballet, a center of high culture in the city. Opened in 1962, the concert hall is home to the New York Philharmonic, the oldest Philharmonic orchestra in the United States and ranked among the best in the world. Stars of the classical world such as Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Leonard Bernstein and Gustav Mahler conducted the New York Philharmonic. Their concert hall was first called Philharmonic Hall, then after large donations first Avery Fisher Hall, and now bears the name of entertainment tycoon David Geffen.
But since its opening, the concert hall has been “notoriously bewitched”, as the “New York Times” says: the criticisms have been above all to the acoustics and design. Previous conversion plans had repeatedly failed due to complicated logistics and lack of money, among other things, until Borda returned to her previous New York job in 2017 from the Los Angeles Philharmonikers. “What do we have to do to get you?” the conductor Jaap van Zweden asked her at dinner at that moment. “If there is anyone in the world who knows how to conduct an orchestra, it’s her,” says the Dutchman.
acoustics and design
Borda took care of the conversion project, while his Philharmonic sometimes performed in other venues and sometimes not at all due to the corona pandemic – and now the works have been completed about two years ahead of schedule. Everything should be inviting and open, says Borda. While the building was only accessible from one side, it now has a second entrance as well as a new restaurant and bar. The concerts can be followed live and for free on a large screen in the entrance area.
In another corner, visible from the street, boxes and used office items were piled up, now there is a second performance hall with a colorful design. He could imagine children’s concerts or even yoga classes there, says Borda.
In the heart of the concert hall, the main focus of the conversion was acoustics and design. There are now 500 fewer seats, but these are arranged around the orchestra. The ceiling has been raised and the auditorium floor now rises slightly at the rear. “In the past, if you sat in the back, you could only see the back of the spectator’s head in front of you and the purple socks,” says Borda. In general the seats. They would test her with any kind of person. “Tall, small, fat, thin, so please sit down and see if you find them comfortable too.” The upholstery and some walls are covered with a fabric whose motif is reminiscent of falling rose petals.
Scenario for “West Side Story”
The concert hall will open with a song that deals with the history of Lincoln Center, and for which you could choose the price of tickets: “San Juan Hall: A New York Story” by Trinidadian jazz trumpeter Etienne Charles. In the 1940s and 1950s, this was the San Juan Hill neighborhood of New York, an immigrant neighborhood where notorious gangs fought. Eventually, San Juan Hill was brutally demolished – but first, among the evacuated houses, the story of San Juan Hill for the film: “West Side Story”, later awarded with ten Oscars, quickly served as the backdrop.
Principal conductor van Zweden and his orchestra will also be present at “San Juan Hall: A New York Story”, after which they have a busy season ahead. Van Zweden has already announced that he plans to step down after the 2023/24 season. It is not yet clear who will follow him, one of the many tasks that Chief Borda still has to perform despite the successful completion of the renovations. And so, after about half an hour of touring the concert hall, he becomes restless again. “I have to go, I run the New York Philharmonic.”
By Christina Horsten, dpa
