McCaw Hall
Encyclopedia
Opera house
An opera house is a theatre building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building...
, located in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. Inaugurated in June 2003, it was constructed within the basic steel support structure of the earlier Seattle Opera House, originally created for the World's Fair in 1962 and gutted for this reconstruction. It is owned by the city of Seattle. Its two major tenants are the Seattle Opera
Seattle Opera
The Seattle Opera is an opera company located in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1963 by Glynn Ross, who served as the company's first general director through 1983, Seattle Opera's season runs from August to late May, with five or six operas offered and with eight to ten performances each, often...
and the Pacific Northwest Ballet
Pacific Northwest Ballet
Pacific Northwest Ballet is a ballet company based in Seattle, Washington in the United States. Founded in 1972 as part of the Seattle Opera and named the Pacific Northwest Dance Association, it broke away from the Opera in 1977 and took its current name in 1978. It is said to have the highest per...
.
The adjacent Kreielsheimer Promenade, designed by Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, is a dramatic and unique meeting place, for patrons and visitors, that also creates a welcoming public passage into the heart of the Seattle Center Campus. An extraordinary collaboration between disciplines can be seen in the landscape’s elegant integration of architecture, landscape, lighting and theater. Though it is not apparent, from looking at the finished landscape, a portion of the Promenade is a rooftop plaza, built over mechanical rooms below.
Within the Promenade, a series of glowing, transparent scrims float overhead and appear to continue into the interior Lobby. This art installation, created by New York light artist Leni Schwendingerhttp://www.lightprojectsltd.com/, is entitled Dreaming in Color. Three large, thin sheets of water shimmer over sloped paving in the center portion of the Promenade. Gustafson Guthrie Nichol designed the water feature to reflect the sky, the metal scrims and lighting effects at night. The building architects were LMN Architects
LMN Architects
LMN is an architecture firm based in Seattle in the United States. The company was founded in 1979, and provides planning and design services to create convention centers, cultural arts venues, higher education facilities, commercial and mixed-use developments....
.
The hall played host to the very first show of politically-motivated Vote for Change
Vote for Change
The Vote for Change tour was a politically-motivated American popular music concert tour that took place in October 2004. The tour was presented by MoveOn.org to benefit America Coming Together. The tour was held in swing states and was designed to encourage people to register and vote...
Tour on September 27, 2004, featuring performances by Keb' Mo'
Keb' Mo'
Keb' Mo is an American blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter, currently living in Nashville, Tennessee, United States.-Early life:From early on he had an appreciation for the blues and gospel music...
, Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
and Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
.