Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts

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The Ziff Ballet Opera House on opening weekend, as seen from across the street at the Knight Concert Hall.

The Knight Concert Hall on opening weekend from the north

The Knight Concert Hall from the south

Interior of the Ziff Ballet Opera House

Interior of the Knight Concert Hall

Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, commonly called The Arsht Center, is Miami's largest performing arts center and is located on Biscayne Boulevard in Downtown Miami, Florida, USA. It is the second-largest performing arts center in the United States, after the Lincoln Center in New York City.^[1]

The Center was partly built on the grounds of the former Sears, Roebuck and Company department store, an Art Deco building which was constructed in 1929, predated the Art Deco hotels on Ocean Drive and was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on August 8, 1997. However, by 2001, the only surviving part of the original structure was a seven-story tower, as the rest had been demolished. It was decided to preserve the tower and incorporate it into the new performing arts center.

The Center's grand opening took place on October 5, 2006 with many famous performers, politicians and movie stars, including Gloria Estefan, Jeb Bush, Andy Garcia and Bernadette Peters attending.

1 Architecture
- 1.1 Performing arts and other venues
2 Name Change
3 Gallery
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Architecture

Designed by the distinguished architect, Cesar Pelli, the Center occupies 570,000 square feet (53,000 m²), straddling both sides of Biscayne Boulevard which are connected by a pedestrian bridge.

Acoustics were designed by Russell Johnson of Artec Consultants company. He is mostly known for the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.

[edit] Performing arts and other venues

While there is no resident orchestra which performs at the Center, the Cleveland Orchestra under its conductor Franz Welser-Most presents a three-week residency each year. The Center has four resident companies which present seasons throughought the year in the Center's halls. Resident companies include: The New World Symphony, Concert Association of Florida, Miami City Ballet and the Florida Grand Opera.

There are three main venues:

Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House which seats 2,400.

John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall

The concert hall seats 2,200. Its stage extends into the audience and there is seating behind the stage for 200 additional spectators or for a chorus. The orchestra level can be transformed into a "Grand Ballroom" with a festival floor configuration for dining and dancing for up to 850 people. The floor is installed over the seats.

Carnival Studio Theater

A flexible black-box space designed for up to 200 seats.

In addition, there are two smaller multi-purpose venues:

Peacock Rehearsal Studio holds 270 people.

Parker and Vann Thomson Plaza for the Arts, an outdoor social and performance space linking the two main houses across Biscayne Blvd.

[edit] Name Change

On January 10, 2008, it was announced that philanthropist and business leader Adrienne Arsht donated $30 million to the facility that would make it financially stable. In recognition for the gift, the former Carnival Center for the Performing Arts was renamed "The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County", or the Arsht Center for short.^[2]