In Monday’s (3/21) Los Angeles Times, Mark Swed writes that on Saturday, “Chapman University opened what might have been a modest, multi-purpose 1,044-seat facility. Instead, thanks to [acoustician Yasuhisa] Toyota, the city of Orange now houses an ideal opera house, potentially the best in the West and maybe even something more…. Unlike Toyota’s trademark vineyard-style venues—where, as with Disney [Concert Hall], the audience surrounds the stage and feels at one with the musicians—the Musco is a proscenium hall meant for concerts, opera, Broadway and spoken theater…. Saturday’s opening gala, presented with much help from Los Angeles Opera, revealed only how the hall functions with an orchestra in the pit and singers on stage. A 55-ton acoustical shell has been designed for an alternative configuration, and that remains to be heard…. That the Musco worked as well as it did Saturday and sounded as compelling as it did only enhances the probability of this theater’s potential for greatness.” The $82 million hall was designed by Pfeiffer Partners Architects Inc. Nagata Acoustics, Yasuhisa Toyota’s firm, provided acoustics for spaces including the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s home, Disney Concert Hall, and Paris’ Philharmonie, which opened in 2015.
Posted March 24, 2016
