MAY 10, 2010 Groundbreaking for the Bing Concert Hall
On May 11, 2010 two Stanford presidents led the celebration as ground was broken for the 844-seat Bing Concert Hall. The striking building, designed in the “vineyard style,” is home for Stanford Live and performance ensembles from the Music Department, and forms part of the new campus arts district.
The groundbreaking celebration featured performances by Stanford Taiko, the Stanford Wind Ensemble (performing Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man), the St. Lawrence String Quartet (performanc Beethoven’s String Quartet, Opus 18, No. 5, Mvt. 1), the Stanford Mobile Phone Orchestra (MoPhO), and a Stanford Jazz Program combo (for the reception). Remarks were made by John Hennessy, President; Leslie Hume, Chair, Board of Trustees; Gerhard Casper, President Emeritus; Richard Olcott, Architect; and Peter Bing.
The 842-seat Bing Concert Hall is an acoustically exceptional venue well suited to a wide range of music performances, from small chamber ensembles to full-sized orchestra, jazz, and multimedia events.
Named in honor of major supporters Helen and Peter Bing ’55, the Concert Hall is located at the gateway to the Stanford campus, adjacent to the existing Frost Amphitheater, at the east end of Museum Way, with its main entry plaza facing the existing Cantor Arts Center on the other side of Palm Drive. Construction of the Concert Hall was completed in summer 2012, with the first public performances taking place in January 2013.
In the words of John Hennessy, President, Stanford University:
“The Bing Concert Hall at Stanford – with its state-of-the-art design and exceptional acoustics – will be a world-class performing venue that will serve both the greater community and the university’s academic mission beautifully. Through the extraordinary generosity of Helen and Peter Bing, Stanford is able to extend its commitment to the arts and to realize a dream that has long been deferred.”
At the ceremony Peter Bing spoke the following moving words:
“We’ve come together to break ground for a place of concert in every sense of the word. A place for people to gather in harmony, in the union of their shared sensitivities and mutual interests. A place for the feelings and emotions that solitude permits, lost in a performance within, or in the open spaces and the verdure outside. A place where friendships can flourish. A place for coming together. A place of concert.”