If you’re separated from the center, you tend to do your own thing and are not involved in problem solving.”. So the Company did a feasibility study to examine the possibility of “bumping out” the back of the Veterans Building to add more square footage, an idea that was eventually ruled out mainly due to the price tag: $50–60 million. The Wilsey Center will begin to come to life in December, when the first to move in are the costume studio, followed by staff in February. The dressing rooms themselves are bigger and brighter. Of course, the other critical step in a project of this magnitude is securing funding, which began as soon as the ink was dry on the agreement with the City of San Francisco. Once an agreement was struck, the task became finding an architect with the professional skills to transform the historically significant structure into a state-of-the-art performance space. Inside the War Memorial Veterans Building as it undergoes renovations. “And I was thrilled that we were selected.”. 301 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, CA 94102-4509 (415) 864-3330, San Francisco Opera is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. In addition to the aesthetic improvements, the building underwent significant seismic retrofitting. Construction on this piece of the project is expected to continue through October. Other important spaces within the center will include the John M. Bryan Education Studio, the Edward Paul Braby San Francisco Opera Archive and the Norby Anderson Costume Studio. Learn the fundamentals of architecture, build an iconic Milwaukee building with Legos, and enjoy a local crafted beer. Murray is equally enthusiastic from the city’s perspective. I was on several lists,” says architect Mark Cavagnero with a smile. Opera’s operations. It was always the Board’s goal to restore it for that. The august old space, site of the signing of the United Nations charter in 1945 and countless performance and literary events, temporarily closed for massive renovations in 2013 and reopens at the end of September. Opera General Director David Gockley recently led members of the press on a guided tour of the new center, noting that it was designed “to serve as an incubator for new ideas and to keep our audiences engaged while the (San Francisco) Ballet is in the Opera House.” The central feature of the Wilsey Center is the Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater. Protocols are in place for programs being held on site. Stay tuned! Contact Georgia Rowe at growe@pacbell.net. Opera Lab, the venue opens to the public on Feb. 28 with the first concert of the Schwabacher Debut Recital Series. Cavagnero, who also designed the SFJazz Center, was on hand at the press briefing and said the renovations brought modern touches to the 1932 Veterans Building while preserving much of its beaux-arts beauty. So this was combining their needs with our needs, and it will result in a benefit for many groups who will be able to use the facility.”, “And,” she laughs, “they came up with the money for it! View Event → Feb. 3. The genesis of what is now the War Memorial Complex lies in a 1918 proposal for a cultural center to include a symphony hall, Opera House and Art Museum and a 1919 veterans’ campaign for a Veterans Hall and War Memorial. For General Director David Gockley, the Wilsey Center for Opera is nothing short of a dream come true—if one born of absolute necessity. Subsequent programs include a multimedia performance of Schubert’s song cycle “Winterreise,” designed by visual artist William Kentridge and performed by eminent German baritone Matthias Goerne and pianist Markus Hinterhuser (March 11-13); “Svadba-Wedding,” a chamber opera by Serbian composer Ana Sokolovic (April 2-10); a showing of the French animated film “The Triplets of Belleville” with live musical accompaniment (April 14-23) and “Voigt Lessons,” a one-woman theater piece featuring soprano Deborah Voigt (May 6 and 8). “Now they don’t have to.”. “The Wilsey Center’s one directive is that each presentation needs to combine a theatrical as well as vocal performance aspect,” says Gockley. Taube Atrium Theater at the Wilsey Center War Memorial Veterans Building 401 Van Ness Avenue, SF (at McAllister; 4th floor) Did You Know. Care about what’s happening in Bay Area arts? “Constellation creates a totally dead room—like you’re surrounded by cotton—but then it amplifies it back to life with a hundred tiny microphones and speakers.”. “The interior is less monitored than the exterior. Because this will be a public archive, there will be desks with computers for students, scholars and other interested people to do research.”, Acoustics were also a major challenge in the raw space, and to solve the problems, project managers went for the gold standard: a Constellation Acoustic System by Meyer Sound. Next concert: Date to be announced. GET BREAKING NEWS IN YOUR BROWSER. The soon-to-be completed project was led by the San Francisco architectural firm of Mark Cavagnero Associates. Our federal tax ID is 94-0836240, Director Puts Her Stamp on New SF Opera Lab. Once awarded the job, Cavagnero said he “just waded in and started trying to solve problems. For Wilsey, hopes are high that the center named after her will “stimulate interest in the opera in young people, and make it easily accessible to all. Programming for the Wilsey Center’s first season in the Taube Atrium Theater is already set—all under the moniker SF Opera Lab—and its new curator, Elkhanah Pulitzer, has been hired. They also had to cover the antiquated glass ceiling, which was in need of extensive repair anyway, in order to create lighting and sound for the theater. In Chicago, war memorials are often built with practical uses. The dome rises 96’ over the floor of the rotunda. And now, when visitors in hard hats step off the elevator on the fourth floor, they experience the exhilaration of a space in the middle of a stunning transformation. Welcome to the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera, named for Diane “Dede” Wilsey, who generously gave the project’s lead donation, and which, when opened, will boast 12,000 square feet of shared community performance/rehearsal space and education studio, as well as 16,000 square feet of public archives, galleries, administrative offices and even a costume studio complete with dye vats. Most notably, there's the swanky new 5,000 square-foot "Backstage Suite." In 1920 it was proposed that the two efforts be combined into a single complex, to be designated the War Memorial. Happily for the Opera, arts angel “Dede” Wilsey stepped forward with the lead gift of $5 million, getting the $22 million campaign off on the right foot. Opera staff members. “It will be led by a newly appointed director of archive and associate archivist and supported by a highly knowledgeable volunteer corps. CLICK HERE TO TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS. You can sell out with 299 tickets and build the excitement. “Creating this beautiful space is the best gift we can give the next generation,” he says. The Imagination Playground is closed at this time. Stay informed with one email every other week—right to your inbox. For me, those are always really interesting projects.”. Jane Ganahl has been a journalist, author, editor, and producer in San Francisco for more than three decades. The heart of the new complex, the Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater, will be a high-tech, modular 299-seat venue—perfect for the Opera’s edgier and more family-friendly programming. “We’ll be keeping the ticket prices low, which will allow us to offer intimate programming to a younger audience,” he says. The Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera, scheduled to open in February in the adjacent War Memorial Veterans Building, includes a new, 299-seat venue suitable for … Fitted with a Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system and operating under the company’s newly formed producing division, dubbed S.F. The new space will mean a significant upgrade for the company’s archives, much of which Gockley said had been stored in boxes and long neglected — in the Opera House basement. Built in 1932, the War Memorial Veterans Building was designed initial-ly for veterans and arts organizations; it also provided administrative offices for the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center. Chief among the many challenges was the space that would become the Atrium Theater. And soon, music will ring through its hallways for the first time since it was built almost a century ago.