LINCOLN Center’s newly revitalized Alice Tully Hall opened its doors Sunday with something old (15th-century Sephardic Romances), something newish (Osvald Golijov’s 1999 “Mariel”) and something that wasn’t on the program: a standing ovation for its chief architect.
Elizabeth Diller of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the team behind the 22-month, $159 million renovation, received an armful of roses from a beaming David Robertson, who’d just conducted the Juilliard Orchestra in a sparkling burst of Stravinsky, the “Pulcinella” suite.
“We musicians bring our own instruments, but the most important instrument we play is something we can’t bring – the hall we play in,” he said, before thanking her for “this magnificent instrument.”
In fact, the hall never looked or sounded better. The stage juts out into the audience, giving the place a more intimate, in-your-face feel, while the ceiling above the stage – an undulating wave of caramel-colored zebra wood – looks like a billowing sail.
Other facets of the renovation include a wider, glass-encased lobby; easier access to a portrait of Alice herself (whose long legs famously influenced the spacing of the seats, something the renovators wisely retained); and the second-floor Hauser Patrons Lounge, with its padded bar tables and eagle’s nest view over Broadway.
And while there were a few quibbles about the ladies’ restroom (“You think they’d have put in more stalls!”), the general consensus was, “Wow, that’s some nice-sounding hall.”
That sound was showcased in a program of groupings large and small: the student/teacher Juilliard Orchestra; 80-year-old pianist Leon Fleisher’s haunting performance of Bach’s “Chromatic fantasia and fugue in D minor”; and a late, great appearance by the Brentano String Quartet, which found out only Friday that it would be subbing for the Emerson String Quartet, whose cellist, David Finckel, was sidelined by a back injury. And so, instead of Bartok, we had Beethoven – a breathtaking, furious account of the “Grosse Fugue.”
Meanwhile, cellist Maya Beiser ably filled in for Finckel on Golijov’s “Mariel,” a soaring cello romance with marimba.
The Alice Tully Hall Opening Nights Festival runs through March 8, including a March 6 performance by Stew. Tickets are $25 or less; for more information, see lincolncenter.org.