Our newest jewel

Earlier in the Symphony season, I treated you to some interior views of the wonderful new Tobin Center, renovated from our old Municipal Auditorium into a first-class performance space.

Now, as the season's coming to a close, the days are long enough for me to get some good exterior shots prior to a performance, which I did before last week's concert.

This is the river-side of the building. They've done a great job of connecting it with our city's wonderful eponymous river, and until last Saturday I didn't even know this great vantage point was here!

That's because I've always entered from the opposite side, which is pretty impressive in its own right:

This front facade is all that remains of the old Auditorium, but most folks agree that it was its best feature. (To see how thoroughly the older building has given way to the new, check out these photos I took from early in the demolition/construction.) By the way, yes, those are cars up on the front "porch," which I've always found a little weird. But I guess it must be some sort of sponsorship/big donor thing.

But aren't those semi-Moorish towers gorgeous!? I couldn't help but take more photos of them (including the one from inside that I featured last Wordless Wednesday).

Probably the most imposing facet of the Center is that metallic edifice that encloses the space all the way up to my balcony seats. It's quite a lot of shiny stuff, particularly from the river side and in the late, late afternoon sunshine...

I love the shadows the palm trees cast when the sun is this low. There's a performance space here, too, as well as a very nice park area with some great features that I tell you about over on Bridges to London.

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Going inside for just a minute, I have to remark upon the Symphony program I heard. Not only did they play one of my favorite Beethoven symphonies (#7) but there was something totally new under my musical sun: a percussion concerto! It was astonishing! The guest artist was Evelyn Glennie, who I'm learning more about...what an amazing person!

In case you can't quite wrap your head around what a percussion concerto would be like, here's a photo that might help...although without hearing the astounding variety of sounds that come from these instruments, you won't really be able to appreciate it:

It had three parts, and Ms. Glennie moved seamlessly from the wood-based to metal-based instruments, before ending up with the drums. Very, very cool!

Wordless Wednesday: Just a peek

New venue

Our wonderful symphony (celebrating its 75th anniversary this year) has a new home and it. is. fabulous.

I've been to 3 of the 7 concerts in my symphony package so far this year, and I think I've got enough pictures of the Tobin Center to give you some idea of how gorgeous and interesting a place it is. (As you can tell from the link, it actually offers multiple venues for all kinds of entertainments, but all I've seen is the main concert hall. So far.)

Above is a shot from the end of my first concert, with the soloists, orchestra, and Mastersingers taking a bow after performing Mahler's 2nd Symphony.

Of course, my photos can't capture the sounds of the performances, but take my word for it, the kids sound wonderful. As cool and funky as their previous home base is (the Majestic Theatre, a few blocks away), the acoustics at the Tobin are on a whole different level.

before a performance

It's not just my perception, either. My beautiful and super-talented English horn Principal niece tells me that the musicians also sing the new hall's praises.

The building, the extensively remodeled old Municipal Auditorium (where our kids had their high school graduations!), is very interesting as well as sounding good. (You can see a couple of pictures of it during construction here.)

Here's a look down at the mezzanine snack bar from the stairs to the balcony...

Lots of curves and crannies and odd little touches. Which are interesting, for sure, but which also make finding your way about, especially upstairs where my seat is, a bit challenging. Just allow yourself a little extra time to find your seat, though, and you'll enjoy the journey.

Other amenities are first-rate, too, from the much more comfortable seats, the increased aisle room, and the ladies loo...

...quite lovely and large. Very welcome during busy intermission times. My only complaint is that (like the doors in the convention center facility) it's impossible to tell if a stall is occupied or not! Nice, clean lines and flush fits [so to speak] are visually appealing, but I'd rather have the doors hanging a bit ajar when not in use.

However, this is a miniscule design quibble. I love the place! This shot of the seating area, from my lower balcony level (I opted for a one-level upgrade in my tickets this year and really like my seat) gives some idea of the gorgeousness of the place:

This was taken during an intermission. Here's a detail when the lights are down of the striking banners (is this the right word for this design feature?) demarcating the seating levels...

Unfortunately my camera doesn't do low light very well, so I don't have good shots of the buildings exterior. Perhaps I can get Henry to go to a concert later in the season and if he takes some pictures with his super-camera, I'll be able to show it off better for you.

Unlike the developers of London's new Wembley Stadium, San Antonio retained the Auditorium's "twin towers" and the whole front facade. As you can see in the photos in my earlier post, everything behind that was demolished, but I think the old facade and the 21st-century addition make a nice statement about how our city likes to do historic preservation.

In this shot from further away, at the end of Veterans Memorial Park (that's our Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the foreground; the attractive building on the left is the old SW Bell Building; both it and the Auditorium were built in the 1920's). 

I'm looking forward to many, many more great concert experiences in this beautiful building. As I get more and better photos for you, I'll tell you more about it.

Not just a facelift

I knew that the Municipal Auditorium—a venue downtown that's staged shows (we saw Phantom of the Opera there years ago), high school graduations (both of our kids', plus countless others), Fiesta royalty coronations, etc.—is undergoing a renovation. (Controversial to some degree, but, then what isn't when a historical building is involved?)

But I had no idea how extensive the project is...the information was there, but I just hadn't followed the story that closely. 

So imagine my surprise, when I walked from the bus stop to a nearby restaurant for some Texas Public Radio volunteering this weekend, and got a gander at what's happening to the Auditorium's guts! I took this picture from just across the River.

there's just nothing left!

Wow! No wonder the project's not scheduled to be completed until the end of next year. I had wondered why it would take so long. Where are all those kids going to graduate in the meantime?

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By the way, I saw some other interesting sights on the short stroll from bus stop to event venue. (While being so glad I hadn't needed to find a place to park; with the Auditorium construction it's even worse than usual.)

a Texas Mountain Laurel in FULL bloom...these wonderful trees all have
 different blooming schedules most of the others I've noticed are just budding

our wonderful enchilada-red central library across the way (I can't believe I haven't blogged about this amazing structure before...I'll have to pay it a visit and take some pictures for you soon)