May 12, 1997

Now fine-tuned, the Music Center hosts concert series in May

By Barbara McKenna

The month of May is featuring an inaugural concert series in celebration of the campus's Music Center, which opened for classes and performances this past January. The $21 million center, already critically acclaimed by both architecture and music critics, is considered one of the best university music facilities in the country because of its acoustic and design features. And, like a giant musical instrument, the center has been fine-tuned over the past several months to be in top form for the springtime series. (Performance dates and times)

"We're all pleased with the new complex," said Arts Dean Edward Houghton, also a professor of music. "When we designed the center our primary goals were excellent programmatic function and exquisite musical sound, and these past months have shown us that we achieved our goals."

UCSC music student Susannah Murray agrees. "Being able to rehearse and perform in the new center brings everything we do to a new, more professional level," she said.

Music critic Paul Hertelendy heard a faculty-duo recital during the Recital Hall's unveiling and was impressed by the hall's acoustic qualities. "The only word that comes to mind for its acoustics is: glorious," Hertelendy wrote in the San Jose Mercury News. "There has not been an aurally better hall of this size in Northern California."

To find out more about performances in the Music Center's springtime series, call (408) 459-ARTS or go to the center's home page.

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