Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is on the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street and 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The site covers . Its lot is wide, covering the entire width of the block between 56th Street to the south and 57th Street to the north, and extends eastward from Seventh Avenue. Carnegie Hall shares the city block with the Carnegie Hall Tower, Russian Tea Room, and Metropolitan Tower to the east. It is cater-corner from the Osborne apartment building. It also faces the Rodin Studios and 888 Seventh Avenue to the west; Alwyn Court, The Briarcliffe, the Louis H. Chalif Normal School of Dancing, and One57 to the north; the Park Central Hotel to the southwest; and CitySpire and New York City Center to the southeast. Carnegie Hall is part of a former artistic hub around a two-block section of West 57th Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway. The hub had been developed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its opening in 1891 directly contributed to the development of the hub. The area contains several buildings constructed as residences for artists and musicians, such as 130 and 140 West 57th Street, the Osborne, and the Rodin Studios. In addition, the area contained the headquarters of organizations such as the American Fine Arts Society, the Lotos Club, and the American Society of Civil Engineers. By the 21st century, the artistic hub had largely been replaced with Billionaires' Row, a series of luxury skyscrapers around the southern end of Central Park. == Architecture and venues ==

Carnegie Hall was designed by William Tuthill, along with Richard Morris Hunt and Adler & Sullivan, While the 34-year-old Tuthill was relatively unknown as an architect, he was an amateur cellist and a singer, which may have led to him getting the commission. The walls measure thick in some places, while the floor slabs, thick, are made of cement and hollow tiles. Carnegie Hall is composed of three structures arranged in an "L" shape; each structure contains one of the hall's performance spaces. The original building, which houses the Isaac Stern Auditorium, is an eight-story rectangular building at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 57th Street, The 16-story eastern wing contains the Weill Recital Hall and is located along 57th Street. The 13-story southern wing, at Seventh Avenue and 56th Street, contains Zankel Hall. Except at the eighth floor, all three structures have floor levels at different heights. Facade Carnegie Hall was designed from the outset with a facade of Roman brick. An entablature, with the words "Music Hall Founded by Andrew Carnegie", runs across the loggia at the springing of the arches. The center three arches lead directly to the Stern Auditorium's lobby, while the two outer arches lead to staircases to upper floors. On either side of the main entrance are smaller doorways (one on the west and two on the east), topped by blank panels at the mezzanine. There are five similar doorways on Seventh Avenue. On the third and fourth floors, above the main entrance, is a two-and-a-half story arcade on 57th Street with five round-headed arches. A balcony with a balustrade is carried on console brackets in front of this arcade. Carnegie Hall was also extended to the corner of Seventh Avenue and 56th Street, where a 13-story addition was designed in a similar style as the original building. The top of this addition contains a main dome, as well as smaller domes at its four corners. on five levels. Originally known as the main auditorium, it was renamed after violinist Isaac Stern in 1997 to recognize his efforts to save the hall from demolition in the 1960s. The main auditorium was originally planned to fit 3,300 guests, including two tiers of boxes, two balconies, and a parquet seating 1,200. The main hall accommodated the performances of the New York Philharmonic from 1892 Its entrance is through the Box Office Lobby on 57th Street near Seventh Avenue. When planned in 1889, this entrance was designed with a marble and mosaic vestibule measuring high and long. The rebuilt lobby contains geometric decorations evocative by the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, as well as Corinthian-style capitals with lighting fixtures. The design also includes ticket windows on the south wall of the lobby. Past that, stairs on either side lead to the auditorium's parquet level; previously, stairs continued straight from the lobby to the parquet level. The lowest level is the parquet level, which has twenty-five full rows of thirty-eight seats and four partial rows at stage level, for a total of 1,021 seats. The first and second tiers consist of sixty-five boxes; the first tier has 264 seats, eight per box, and the second tier has 238 seats, six to eight per box. An elliptic arch rises from the Dress Circle level; along with a corresponding arch at the rear of the auditorium, it supports the ceiling. Originally called simply Recital Hall, this was the first auditorium to open to the public in April 1891. It had a balcony, elevated side galleries, a beamed ceiling, and removable seats. The space was an oratorio hall capable of accommodating over 1,000 people, and it could double as a banquet hall. The completely reconstructed Zankel Hall opened in September 2003. It is accessed from Seventh Avenue, Two escalators lead down to the balcony and orchestra levels. This is accomplished through the division of the floor into nine sections, each wide with a separate lift underneath. Due to the limited space available on the land lot, the construction of Zankel Hall required excavating of additional basement space, at some points only under the Stern Auditorium's parquet level. JaffeHolden Acoustics installed the soundproofing, which filters out noise from both the street and the subway. An elliptical concrete wall, measuring wide, surrounds Zankel Hall and supports the Stern Auditorium. The elliptical enclosure measures long and wide. The walls are sloped at a 7-degree angle and contain sycamore paneling. The lighting and sound equipment is mounted from twenty-one trusses. This auditorium, in use since the hall opened in 1891, was originally called Chamber Music Hall and was placed in the "lateral building" east of the main hall. reopening in January 1987. The Weill Recital Hall is the smallest of the three performance spaces, with a total of 268 seats. The modern-day recital hall contains off-white walls and blue seats. The storefronts, as well as a restaurant at the corner of 57th Street and Seventh Avenue, were removed in a 1980s renovation. or 150 studios, many of which doubled as living quarters. The spaces were designed for artistic work, with very high ceilings, skylights and large windows for natural light. Documents showed that Andrew Carnegie had always considered the spaces as a source of income to support the hall and its activities. The last resident, poet Elizabeth Sargent, moved out during 2010. The building also contains the Carnegie Hall Archives, established in 1986, and the Rose Museum, which opened in 1991. The Rose Museum is east of the first balcony of the Stern Auditorium and has dark makore and light anigre paneling with brass edges, as well as columns with brass capitals, supporting a coffered ceiling. The Rose Museum space is separated from two adjacent rooms by sliding panels. == History ==

The idea for what is now Carnegie Hall came from Leopold Damrosch, the conductor of Oratorio Society of New York and the New York Symphony Society. The Oratorio Society had been looking for a permanent performance venue ever since it was founded in 1873. Though Leopold died in 1885, his son Walter Johannes Damrosch pursued his father's vision for a new music hall. Carnegie was originally uninterested in funding a music hall in Manhattan, but he agreed to give $2 million after discussions with Damrosch. The area around 57th Street was still mostly residential. William Tuthill had been hired to design a "great music hall" on the site. The New York Times said "The location for the music hall is perhaps rather far uptown, but it is easily accessible from the 'living' part of the city." Originally, the Music Hall Company intended to limit its capital stock to $300,000, but this was increased before the end of 1889 to $600,000, of which Carnegie held five-sixths. The cost of the building was then projected to be $1.1 million, including the land. By July 1889, Carnegie's company had acquired additional land, with frontage of on 57th Street. The architectural drawings were nearly completed and excavations for the music hall had been completed. The Henry Elias Brewery owned the corner of Seventh Avenue and 56th Street and originally would not sell the land, as its proprietor believed the site had a good water source. Carnegie's wife Louise laid the cornerstone for the Music Hall on May 13, 1890. Andrew Carnegie said at the time that the venue was to not only be "a shrine of the goddess of music" but also a gathering hall. The Real Estate Record and Guide praised the building's design as "harmonious, animated without restlessness, and quiet without dullness." The Recital Hall opened in March 1891 for recitals of the New York Oratorio Society. It was around this time that tickets for the official opening of the Music Hall were being sold. The oratorio hall in the basement opened on April 1, 1891, The Music Hall officially opened on May 5, 1891, with a rendition of the Old 100th hymn, a speech by Episcopal bishop Henry C. Potter, and a concert conducted by Walter Damrosch and Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. During the performance, Tuthill looked at the crowds on the auditorium's top tiers and reportedly left the hall to consult his drawings. He was uncertain that the supporting columns would withstand the weight of the crowd in attendance, but the dimensions turned out to be sufficient to support the weight of the crowd. Tchaikovsky considered the auditorium "unusually impressive and grand" when "illuminated and filled with an audience". The New York Herald praised the auditorium's acoustical qualities, saying "each note was heard". The Music Hall had cost $1.25 million to construct and was the second major performance hall in New York City, after the Metropolitan Opera House. Late 19th to mid-20th century 1890s to 1910s The Philharmonic did not play at the Music Hall during the venue's initial operating season. Nonetheless, almost from the outset, scalpers resold tickets to the hall's shows at greatly inflated prices, and ushers began selling off tickets to unoccupied seats at the start of each concert. For an inflated fee, the ushers allowed latecomers to sit down during the middle of a show, to the consternation of existing ticket holders. By September 1892, the Music Hall's stockholders planned to enlarge the hall to accommodate operatic performances, following a fire that severely damaged the Metropolitan Opera House. At the time, Morris Reno said the stage could not be modified until at least early 1893. The Music Hall Company filed plans for alterations in December 1892. The plans called a tower of about at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 56th Street. In addition, the original building's mansard roof would become a flat roof, and the seventh story would be converted into a full story. During the early 20th century, Carnegie Hall accommodated many recitals and concerts because of its acoustic qualities. Until World War I, though, the venue hosted few events related to the predominating "artistic, intellectual and experiential strains" of society, as one writer put it. 1920s to 1940s Carnegie Hall officials renovated the building in 1920, replacing its porte-cochère, overhauling the Philharmonic Society's office, and removing staircases for about $70,000. By late 1924, the Carnegie Foundation was considering selling the hall to a private developer because of increasing financial deficits, which amounted to $15,000 a year. At the time, the site was valued at $2.5 million, and another performance venue in midtown, Aeolian Hall, had been sold for redevelopment. The sale agreement included a clause requiring that either Carnegie Hall would continue to operate as a performance venue for at least the next five years, or another performance venue would be erected on the site. Simon said the hall would continue to operate for as long as it was profitable, and he wished to restore the basement recital hall as well. Under Simon's ownership, a new organ was installed in Carnegie Hall and dedicated in December 1929. An art gallery was installed at street level in 1932. After Robert Simon died in 1935, Murray Weisman succeeded Simon as president of Carnegie Hall's board of directors, while the late owner's son Robert E. Simon Jr. became the vice president. A bust of the senior Simon was installed in the lobby in 1936. The main hall was modified around 1946 during filming for the movie Carnegie Hall. In 1947, Robert E. Simon Jr. renovated the hall to designs by Kahn and Jacobs. Preservation By the 1950s, changes in the music business prompted Simon to sell the hall. In April 1955, Simon negotiated with the New York Philharmonic, which booked a majority of the hall's concerts each year. The orchestra intended to move to Lincoln Center once it had been built (at the time, plans to build it were still at an early stage). Simon notified the Philharmonic that he would terminate the lease by 1959 if it did not purchase Carnegie Hall. In mid-1955, longtime employee John Totten organized a fundraising drive to prevent the demolition of Carnegie Hall. Meanwhile, the Academy of Dramatic Arts had moved out of the basement recital hall in 1954. The Academy's former space was rented for the time being to other tenants. With the Philharmonic ready to move to Lincoln Center, the building was slated to be replaced by a 44-story skyscraper designed by Pomerance and Breines. However, Glickman was unable to come up with the $22 million that the construction budget for the skyscraper called for. Meanwhile, soon after the sale, Simon started planning how to preserve the hall, and approached some of its resident artists-in-residence for help. Violinist Isaac Stern enlisted his friends Jacob M. and Alice Kaplan, as well as J. M. Kaplan Fund administrator Raymond S. Rubinow, for assistance in saving the hall. Stern, the Kaplans, and Rubinow ultimately decided that the best move would be for the city government to become involved. but Simon and his co-owners still filed eviction notices against some studio tenants. The same year, special legislation was passed allowing the city government to buy the site from Simon for $5 million, and Simon used the money to establish Reston, Virginia. The city leased the hall to the Carnegie Hall Corporation, a nonprofit organization formed to run the venue. The landmark status was certified in 1964, and a National Historic Landmark plaque was placed on the building. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission also designated Carnegie Hall as a city landmark in September 1967. Deterioration and renovation 1960s and 1970s A minor renovation of Carnegie Hall's interior, as well as a steam-cleaning of the facade, took place in mid-1960. The basement recital hall became a movie theater called the Carnegie Playhouse. A screen was installed at the front of the former stage, while the balconies and side galleries were sealed. Carnegie Hall received a concert organ from the Netherlands in 1965, although the stage had to be renovated before the organ could be installed. The installation of the organ was delayed several times, as opponents feared that the changes would damage the hall's acoustics. Meanwhile, Carnegie Hall was profitable by the late 1960s, having consistently hosted about 350 shows a year during that decade. The deficiencies with Carnegie Hall's facilities became more prominent after the latter's renovation. Carnegie Hall's equipment included a rundown air-conditioning system that did not work in the summer. In 1977, the Carnegie Hall Corporation decided to stop allowing new residents for its upper-story studios; existing residents were allowed to continue living there. The studios were instead offered mainly to commercial tenants, who could afford to pay higher rents. This prompted protests from the existing tenants. In 1981, the federal government gave Carnegie Hall $1.8 million for the renovation; the city and Astor Foundation had previously given $450,000. 1980s The first renovations started in February 1982 with the restoration and reconstruction of the recital hall and studio entrance. The lobby was lowered to street level, the box office was relocated behind the main auditorium, and two archways were added to the 57th Street facade. A new lobby and dedicated elevator for the recital hall were also created. The Carnegie Hall Corporation was also looking to develop a vacant lot immediately east of Carnegie Hall. The first phase of the renovation was completed in September 1983 for $20 million. next to Carnegie Hall As part of the third phase of renovations, a recording studio called the Alice and Jacob M. Kaplan Space was built within the old chapter room on the fifth floor, directly above the main hall. The corporation announced in May 1985 that the main hall and recital hall would be closed for several months. The corporation also started a fundraising drive to raise the $50 million needed to fund the renovation; more than half of the funding had already been raised at the time. A new structure designed by César Pelli, later to become the Carnegie Hall Tower, was planned for the lot immediately east of Carnegie Hall. Further upgrades, which required the main and recital halls' closure, included upgrades to both halls, the lobby, the facade, backstage areas, and offices. The lobby was lowered to street level and doubled in size. The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the proposed renovation in July 1985. Renovation work began afterward. The project was complicated by the need to schedule construction around performances, the lack of a freight elevator, and the requirement that materials be replaced with close or exact replacements. In April 1986, Carnegie officials announced their intent to sublease the vacant lot to Rockrose Development for the construction of Carnegie Hall Tower. The following month, the hall closed completely for a seven-month renovation. The hall's plaster decorations were restored, although the carpeting and seats were replaced. The Kaplan Rehearsal Space was also created in 1986, and the Weill Recital Hall opened in January 1987. A month after the main hall reopened, New York Times music critic Bernard Holland criticized its acoustics, saying: "The acoustics of this magnificent space are not the same." The Weill Recital Hall also received complaints about its acoustics, prompting Carnegie Hall officials to test out noise-absorbing panels in that space. Several noise-absorbing panels were installed in the main hall in 1988, but complaints continued for several years. Polshek Partners won the American Institute of Architects' Honor Award in 1988 for its renovation of the hall. The Rose Museum was founded in April 1991, with its own entrance at 154 West 57th Street. The East Room and Club Room (later renamed Rohatyn Room and Shorin Club Room, respectively) were created the same year. Though the East and Club rooms were in Carnegie Hall Tower, they were connected to the original Carnegie Hall. This represented the first new space added to Carnegie Hall since the studios were added in the late 1890s. At the parquet level, Cafe Carnegie was also renovated. The concrete was removed in mid-1995 while Carnegie Hall was closed for the summer; soon afterward, critics described a noticeable change in the acoustics, generally said to be improvement. In the basement, the Carnegie Hall Cinema operated separately from the rest of Carnegie Hall until 1997, when the hall's management closed the cinema, along with two shops on Seventh Avenue. In late 1998, Carnegie Hall announced that it would turn the basement recital hall into another performance venue, designed by Polshek Associates. The project was to cost $50 million; the high cost was attributed to the fact that the work would require excavations under the basement while concerts and other events were ongoing. In recognition of a $10 million grant from Arthur and Judy Zankel, the new space was renamed after the Zankels in January 1999; the auditorium proper was named after Judith Arron, who donated $5 million. 2000s to present In June 2003, tentative plans were made for the Philharmonic to return to Carnegie Hall beginning in 2006, and for the orchestra to merge its business operations with those of the venue. However, the two groups abandoned these plans later that year. Zankel Hall opened in September 2003. Music critic Anthony Tommasini praised Zankel Hall's flexibility, though he said "the builders did not quite succeed in insulating the auditorium from the sounds of passing trains". Architecturally, the space was described by critic Herbert Muschamp as "a luxury version of a black-box theater, the hall has the feel of a broadcasting studio, which it partly is". The Stern Auditorium's stage was renamed in March 2006 after Ronald Perelman, who had donated $20 million to Carnegie Hall. At the end of 2005, Carnegie Hall formed a partnership with the neighboring City Center. The agreement would have allowed the venues to host each other's dance, music, and theater programs; however, the partnership was canceled in early 2007. Carnegie Hall Corporation announced later in 2007 that it would evict all the remaining tenants of its upper-story studios so the corporation could convert the space into offices. By 2010, the last tenant had moved out. In 2014, Carnegie Hall opened its Judith and Burton Resnick Education Wing. The American Institute of Architects gave an architectural award to the project in 2017. Carnegie Hall closed temporarily in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. Carnegie Hall returned to hosting a full schedule of programming during the 2022–2023 season. A new cafe at Carnegie Hall, the Weill Cafe, opened in January 2024. Although Carnegie Hall was recording record-high box-office revenue by the 2023–2024 season, inflation and ongoing renovations had reduced the venue's operating surplus to $2 million, compared with $10 million in 2019. == Events and performances ==

Over the years, Carnegie Hall has hosted a wide variety of performances. One source called it "by all measures the most prestigious concert hall in the city throughout the twentieth century". Orchestral performances Symphony No. 9, opus 95, "From the New World" by Antonín Dvořák, performed on December 16, 1893, was the first world premiere at Carnegie Hall. On November 14, 1943, the 25-year-old Leonard Bernstein had his major conducting debut when he had to substitute for a suddenly ill Bruno Walter in a concert that was broadcast by CBS. In late 1950, the NBC Symphony Orchestra's weekly broadcast concerts were moved there, remaining until the orchestra disbanded following Toscanini's retirement in April 1954. Other concerts and recitals Carnegie Hall was desegregated from its opening, in contrast to other music venues like the National Theatre, which remained segregated well into the 20th century. Sissieretta Jones became the first African-American to sing at Carnegie Hall on June 15, 1892, less than a year after the hall opened. The hall was used for popular music as early as 1912, when James Reese Europe's Clef Club Orchestra performed a "proto-jazz" concert there. including Benny Goodman, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Norman Granz, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Nina Simone. Mary Lou Williams, Cecil Taylor, Paquito D'Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, and Chucho Valdés. The Benny Goodman Orchestra gave a sold-out swing and jazz concert on January 16, 1938, with guest performers such as Count Basie and members of Duke Ellington's orchestra. Judy Garland's multi-Grammy-winning live album Judy at Carnegie Hall was recorded at the venue on April 23, 1961. Rock and roll music first came to Carnegie Hall when Bill Haley & His Comets appeared in a variety benefit concert on May 6, 1955. Rock acts were not regularly booked at the Hall however, until February 12, 1964, when The Beatles performed two shows during their first trip to the United States. Promoter Sid Bernstein convinced Carnegie officials that allowing a Beatles concert at the venue "would further international understanding" between the United States and Great Britain. Two concerts by Led Zeppelin were performed on October 17, 1969. Since then many rock, blues, jazz and country performers have appeared at the hall every season. Some performers and bands had contracts that specified decibel limits for performances, an attempt to discourage rock performances at Carnegie Hall. Ike & Tina Turner performed a concert April 1, 1971, which resulted in their album What You Hear Is What You Get – Live at Carnegie Hall. Chicago recorded its four-LP box set Chicago at Carnegie Hall in 1971. European folk dance music first came to Carnegie Hall when Tanec performed a concert on January 27, 1956, becoming the first dance company from Yugoslavia to perform in America. In 2024, Puerto Rican singer Ivy Queen became the first reggaeton artist to headline a concert at the Carnegie Hall. Other events In its early years, Carnegie Hall hosted other events, including conferences and speeches. For example, Irish nationalists met there in 1899 for a protest, and Winston Churchill gave a speech there in 1900 as a young journalist. and the last public lecture by Mark Twain, both in 1906. In addition, the venue hosted a peace conference in 1907. Florence Foster Jenkins, a socialite infamous in the mid-20th century for her poor singing ability, gave a sold-out performance at Carnegie Hall on October 25, 1944. The hall was also used for commencement ceremonies, including those of the City College of New York, the New York Law School, as well as the Juilliard School. To celebrate the 125th anniversary of the hall, during the 2015–2016 season, Carnegie Hall officials commissioned 125 new works, with "Fifty for the Future" coming from Kronos (25 by female composers and 25 by male composers). For the United States Semiquincentennial in 2026, Carnegie Hall hosted several American-history and classic American works as part of its United in Sound: America at 250 program. == Management and operations ==

, the Executive and Artistic Director of Carnegie Hall is Sir Clive Gillinson, formerly managing director of the London Symphony Orchestra. Gillinson started serving in that position in 2005. Robert F. Smith has been the chairman of Carnegie Hall's board since 2016. Carnegie Hall Archives It emerged in 1986 that Carnegie Hall had never consistently maintained an archive. Without a central repository, a significant portion of Carnegie Hall's documented history had been dispersed. In preparation for the celebration of Carnegie Hall's centennial in 1991, the management established the Carnegie Hall Archives that year. The collections were renamed the Carnegie Hall Susan W. Rose Archives in 2021, after a longtime trustee and donor to the Archives and Rose Museum. == Folklore ==

Famous joke Rumor is that a pedestrian on Fifty-seventh Street, Manhattan, stopped Jascha Heifetz and inquired, "Could you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?" "Yes," said Heifetz. "Practice!" This joke has become part of the folklore of the hall, but its origins remain a mystery. Although described in 1961 as an "ancient wheeze", its earliest known appearances in print date from 1955. Attributions to Jack Benny are mistaken; it is uncertain if he ever used the joke. Carnegie Hall archivist Gino Francesconi favors a version told by the wife of violinist Mischa Elman, in which her husband makes the quip when approached by tourists while leaving the hall's backstage entrance after an unsatisfactory rehearsal. The joke is often reduced to a riddle with no framing story. Other lore Other stories have been attributed to the folklore of Carnegie Hall. After Heifetz had been playing for a while, fellow violinist Mischa Elman mopped his head and asked if it was hot in there. Pianist Leopold Godowsky, in the next seat, replied, "Not for pianists." While the Elman/Godowsky anecdote was confirmed to be true, other accounts about Carnegie Hall may have been apocryphal in nature. == See also ==