I made it tonight for the opening night at Alice Tully Hall for an incredible performance: Diaspora Sefardi, From Medieval Spain to Eastern Mediterranean. an exceptional concert of revived medieval songs and ballads in what I imagine can be considered old Castilian.
The show itself was just the excuse to make it to the building of course, and right from the approach, the building is truly fantastic: the huge lobby, with a gigantic glass paned curtain wall on one side and the warm wood behind the bar give it the right contrast between scale and warmth. The super long bar of course works wonderfully in crowded evenings like tonight. Heading towards the auditorium itself, the ceiling height is much lower and the scale becomes much more intimate. You walk below the ‘watch-me-im-uber-rich’ balcony then turn right and down towards the auditorium. Upon walking into the orchestra level there is a shift which is pretty surprising: the height from the floor to the balconies is quite low but it soon opens up. The scale of the space is just perfect and the wood/resin paneling looks incredible. It is quite remarkable how close everything looks to the original images. Truly a fantastic building, and can’t wait to go there in the summer.
A couple more images after the jump.
Frank, Amanda and Mara @ the bar.
Tags: architecture, cool, music, nyc