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Francis Winspear Centre for Music

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Type
  
Performing arts centre

Opened
  
September 1997

Province
  
Alberta

Years active
  
1997-present

Capacity
  
1,716

Phone
  
+1 780-428-1414

Francis Winspear Centre for Music

Location
  
4 Sir Winston Churchill Square NW Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5J 4X8

Address
  
4 Sir Winston Churchill Square NW, Edmonton, AB T5J 4X8, Canada

Similar
  
Citadel Theatre, Northern Alberta Jubilee A, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton City Hall, Fort Edmonton Park

Profiles

Francis winspear centre for music customer service training


The Francis Winspear Centre for Music is a performing arts centre located in the downtown core of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Contents

Built in 1997, it is the home of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. The centre is named after Dr. Francis G. Winspear, who donated $6 million to the construction of the facility - the single largest private donation to a performing arts facility in Canadian history. The Canadian federal government contributed $15 million and the Alberta government contributed $15 million as well.

In 2002, the Davis Concert Organ was installed at the centre. Launched at a sold-out performance on September 14, 2002, the pipe organ was built by Orgues Létourneau Limitée of Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec. It has 96 stops, 122 ranks, and 6,551 pipes. It is named after Dr. Stuart Davis, to acknowledge his generosity and also in memory of his late wife Winona.

The concert hall has a seating capacity of 1,716 people and when seating is available in the choir loft above the main stage area the hall can hold up to 1,932, and is a tall, rectangular room with stepped, curved balconies and terraces. With its parallel side walls, the Winspear represents a modern adaptation of the classic "shoebox" shaped concert halls of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Serbian dancing at the edmonton winspear center


Acoustics

The acoustics of the Winspear are adjustable through the use of velour banners and curtains. These can be used to control the reverberant characteristics for musical events that require a less reverberant environment, or for orchestra rehearsals when the presence of a full audience needs to be approximated. An adjustable canopy system balances the clarity and reverberance of performances, helps control the loudness of the sound, and - in conjunction with the curved acoustic reflectors - assists in cross-stage communication among musicians.

References

Francis Winspear Centre for Music Wikipedia