Building a Cultural Legacy
In 2011, the curtain will rise on a major performing arts
facility at UC Davis—the UC Davis Music Performance and Recital Hall. A
400-seat state-of-the-art building designed for vocal and ensemble
performance, the new hall will be one of the most active venues in the
Sacramento metropolitan area, hosting more than 100 concerts annually.
The
Recital Hall will be home to events presented by both the Department of
Music and the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. The department
will present music festivals, artists-in-residence events, the popular
free noon concerts, and performances bystudent and professional
resident ensembles and choruses, as well master classes, rehearsals,
and courses, such as the large musicappreciation course known as Music
10. Mondavi Center will take advantage of the hall's superior acoustics
and mid-size seating capacity for performances that now occur in the
smaller Studio Theater—performances that will be more acoustically rich
and, from a production standpoint, more fitting in the Recital Hall. In
all, the hall will enable far more collaborations among the Department
of Music, Mondavi Center, and other programs, opening up fresh
possibilities for chamber festivals and other new programming.
The
Recital Hall is the realization of a long-held campus dream; it has
been the vision of Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef since he announced his
plan for campus performing arts facilities in his 1994 inaugural
address. That plan, which included the Mondavi Center, called also for
an intimate concert hall to provide a much-needed venue for chamber,
vocal, and solo music recitals and to address the expansive growth and
strength of the Department of Music, now one of the most active and
vigorous academic programs at
UC Davis.
Since the
construction of the current Music Building in 1966, the number of
undergraduate majors in the music department has increased from 11 to
150, and the number of faculty members from 6 to 39. To meet the needs
of this burgeoning population of students and scholars, the hall will
feature four new practice rooms, recording controls, a music studio,
artist and audience amenities, production and teaching offices, and the
Artists Courtyard, an outdoor site for lectures, informal performances,
and artist receptions.
The Recital Hall’s location, adjacent
to the present Music Building at the edge of the downtown core area,
will be strategically convenient, with parking and bike access located
at the corner of Third and A Streets. In addition, the music department
is coordinating with the campus Arboretum Gateways Project, a program
to upgrade the Arboretum and develop educational sectors within, with
the new Recital Hall anchoring the planned Arts Sector of the Arboretum.
Private
gifts are needed to ensure that the Recital Hall will be an
unparalleled performance venue for the campus and the community.
Subject to voter approval, state bond funding is scheduled to provide
approximately 75% of the $21.6 million needed for construction. The
campus has set a fundraising goal to raise additional monies from
private support: $5.5 million for critical enhancements and at least $1
million for endowments and current funds to support production costs,
performance recordings, visiting artists, outreach, patron services,
marketing, and operations. For more information about gift
opportunities, please contact the Department of Music.
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