David Geffen Hall
David Geffen Hall is a concert hall in New York City's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The 2,200-seat auditorium opened in 1962, and is the home of the New York Philharmonic.
Former names
Philharmonic Hall (1962–1973)
Avery Fisher Hall (1973–2015)
10 Lincoln Center Plaza
New York City Government
2,200
1962
The facility, designed by Max Abramovitz, was originally named Philharmonic Hall and was renamed Avery Fisher Hall in honor of philanthropist Avery Fisher, who donated $10.5 million ($72 million today) to the orchestra in 1973. In November 2014, Lincoln Center officials announced Fisher's name would be removed from the Hall so that naming rights could be sold to the highest bidder as part of a $500 million fund-raising campaign to refurbish the Hall.[1] In 2015, the Hall acquired its present name after David Geffen donated $100 million to the Lincoln Center.[2][3]
Notable events[edit]
David Geffen Hall is used today for many events, both musical and non-musical. As part of its Great Performers series, Lincoln Center presents visiting orchestras in David Geffen Hall, such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Kirov Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre. The PBS series Live from Lincoln Center also features performances from the Hall.
Composer Samuel Barber was commissioned to write his Piano Concerto for the opening of the venue, and the work was premiered at the inaugural concert on September 24, 1962 with pianist John Browning.[37] An early television concert from Philharmonic Hall featured Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic in one of their Young People's Concerts. It was the first of many concerts televised from Philharmonic Hall, which had been previously televised from Carnegie Hall beginning in 1958. The 1962 program concentrated on concert hall acoustics, and, like the opening night concert, was shown over the CBS television network. It was entitled "The Sound of a Hall".
It was the main venue for the first New York Film Festival in 1963[38] and is still a festival venue.[39]
A February 12, 1964 performance by Miles Davis at Philharmonic Hall to benefit the Mississippi Freedom Summer was released on two albums, My Funny Valentine and Four & More.[40]
Bob Dylan performed at Philharmonic Hall on October 31, 1964. The concert was released as The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall in 2004.[41]
The Supremes performed there on October 15, 1965. The iconic poster for the show was designed by Joe Eula.
Simon & Garfunkel recorded their live album Live from New York City, 1967 here on January 22, 1967.[42]
In 1995, the star-studded charity show The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True was staged. The show, which starred Jewel, Jackson Browne, Roger Daltrey, and Nathan Lane as the principal characters from the 1939 film, benefited the Children's Defense Fund, and aired subsequently on TNT, TBS, PBS, and VH-1.
The hall hosted the world premiere of Steven Spielberg's film War Horse on December 4, 2011 and the North American premiere of Bradley Cooper's Maestro, a Leonard Bernstein biopic.[43]
Notes
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