Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

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The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts is a large performing arts venue located on Broad Street, along the stretch known as the "Avenue of the Arts", in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is owned and operated by Kimmel Center, Inc., an organization which also managed the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. The center is named after philanthropist Sidney Kimmel.

The architect of the Center was Rafael Viñoly, and the acoustician was Artec Consultants. The Kimmel Center opened in an unfinished state on December 16, 2001. Numerous cost overruns and construction delays led to the filing of a lawsuit in 2005 by officials of the Kimmel Center against Viñoly.^[1] The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed sum.

The Center is the home of the Philadelphia Orchestra, one of America's "Big Five" symphony orchestras and regarded as one of the best in the world. Currently, the Principal Conductor is Maestro Christoph Eschenbach.

Other resident performing arts organizations at the Kimmel Center include the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Philadanco and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. It is also home to a performance series known as 'Kimmel Center Presents', which host a variety of jazz, classical, and world pop performers.

1 Performance and other facilities
2 Other noteworthy programs
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Performance and other facilities

Kimmel Center exterior, September 2005.

All are located under a distinctive vaulted glass ceiling. The Center itself is a popular attraction and it keeping its doors open to the public seven days a week. It hosts thousands of visitors annually who are able to take free tours of the facility.

Verizon Hall, with 2,500 seats, is the main performance auditorium and it contains a pipe organ by Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, which has been claimed to be the largest organ in an American concert hall, despite the existence since 1984 of a larger Ruffatti organ in San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall.

Perelman Theater, with 650 seats, is a recital theater.

Dorrance H. Hamilton Roof Garden built on top of the Perelman Theatre.
Smaller performance spaces and meeting rooms.

[edit] Other noteworthy programs

The Kimmel Center Offers a variety of other programs besides concerts, specifically in the field of education. The Kimmel Center is home to their very own Youth Jazz Orchestra called The Kimmel Center Youth Jazz Ensemble (KCYJE). This Ensemble includes many of the best youth jazz musicians in the Philadelphia/New Jersey Area. The Ensemble is recognized as a youth version of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.