“The Milwaukee Symphony hopes to convert the former Warner Grand Theatre on Wisconsin Avenue into its new concert hall,” writes Jim Higgins in Monday’s (12/12) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “The symphony has raised more than half of the $120 million it believes necessary to convert the building into a venue seating 1,750 concertgoers. If all goes according to plan, the orchestra would begin playing in the new hall in fall of 2019, said MSO president Mark Niehaus.… At present, [the MSO] shares the Marcus Center’s Uihlein Hall with the Milwaukee Ballet, the Florentine Opera and the Marcus’ Broadway series. The symphony plays 23 to 25 weeks annually in Uihlein Hall. In the new hall, it could play about 32 weeks a year…. Kahler Slater would lead the architectural project of transforming the building … built in 1930 as a home for movies and vaudeville performances. It closed in 1995…. Tony Janowiec, one of the Grand Avenue’s new owners, said … the Grand Avenue’s redevelopment plans, including the prospects for new restaurants, taverns and entertainment uses, would be complemented by a new symphony hall.”
Posted December 13, 2016
