Robert and Judi Newman Center for Performing Arts

The Robert and Judi Newman Center for the Performing Arts is located on the University of Denver campus in Denver, Colorado at the southwest corner of E. Iliff Ave. and S. University Blvd. Robert and Judi Newman were asked by then Chancellor Daniel L. Ritchie to spearhead the fundraising effort for the Center. They also made a substantial donation to the Center's fundraising efforts. The Newman Center officially opened in the fall of 2002 with the commencement of classes, and the three main performance venues officially opened in spring 2003.

Aerial View of Newman Center for the Performing Arts

While the Newman Center appears from the outside to be one large building, it actually consists of six distinct buildings, each with its own foundation, separated one from another by two inch gaps for acoustical isolation. The Center is divided into many academic and rehearsal spaces as well as multiple performance venues, including Virginia E. Trevorrow Hall on the north end of the building, which houses the Lamont School of Music, and includes other academic and rehearsal facilities. The three main performance venues are located on the main floor of the Center and include June Swaner Gates Concert Hall, an opera house with nearly 1,000 seats, Frederic C. Hamilton Family Recital Hall, an intimate recital space of 222 seats, and Elizabeth Eriksen Byron Theatre, a black box theater seating up to 350. The Galen and Ada Belle Spencer Foundation Meet-the-Artist Room serves as a reception room for many events.

The Newman Center hosts nearly 500 performances each season, including theatre, dance, jazz, world and classical music. Up to 150,000 people each season attend events in the Newman Center for the Performing Arts. Performers include international touring artists, local performing arts organizations, as well as the award-winning musicians, singers and thespians of the University of Denver. The University's own "Newman Center Presents" series is a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural offering of renowned touring artists. It was inaugurated in the fall of 2003. Newman Center Presents mixes well-known performers with rising stars from around the world. Almost half of the artists presented by NCP have never appeared in Denver before. NCP regularly commissions new works and provides educational residency activities for students of the University and pre-college students. Most of the performances in the Newman Center are open to the general public as well as University faculty and students.

June Swaner Gates Concert Hall

This venue is the most widely used performance space in the Newman Center. It is known for its great acoustics, which were designed by Kirkegaard Associates. Gates Concert Hall has a large performing stage, an orchestra pit, a Wenger orchestra shell used for full symphony and chamber orchestras, and tiered seating for the audience. The HVAC system for the Hall is underground, thus isolating mechanical noise. Air conditioned and heated air is supplied through hundreds of vents in the floors of the Hall so that large volumes of air can be moved very slowly, thus reducing the "white noise" created by blown air. The walls of the Hall are hand-applied plaster, and the shaping of the walls along with this material helps create the outstanding acoustics. Acoustical banners can be raised and lowered via a winch system in the attic, thus increasing or decreasing natural reverberation, as appropriate depending on the nature of the event taking place. Gates Concert Hall is used for operatic, musical and dance shows as well as jazz, classical music, corporate presentations, memorial services, and other events. It seats from 849 to 971 people, depending on the configuration of the pits. Gates Concert Hall includes multiple 9-foot New York Steinway pianos, the newest one acquired in the fall of 2013 through the generous support of the University of Denver/Newman Center, the Newman Family Foundation, and the Denver Friends of Chamber Music.

Joy Burns Plaza

This is the main gathering space in the Newman Center and serves as a lounge and study area for staff and students during the day and as a lobby for performances that take place during the evenings. The Plaza is elegant with a high vaulted ceiling, large clerestory windows, tall columns, alabaster chandeliers, Italian travertine floors and custom-made furniture by Daniel Strawn. The M Allan Frank Family Box Office is located in the Plaza, which is where tickets for performances may be purchased. Tickets are also available online at www.newmantix.com.

Frederic C. Hamilton Family Recital Hall

This hall is used for recital performances by the students and faculty members of the Lamont School of Music, but is also available for public rental. Hamilton Hall includes a 9-foot Hamburg Steinway concert grand piano and the William K. Coors organ, a 2,850-pipe tracker action organ designed and built by Karl Schuke Berliner Orgelbauwerkstatt in Berlin, Germany. It seats 222 people. As with Gates Concert Hall, acoustical banners can be raised and lowered via a winch system in the attic, thus increasing or decreasing natural reverberation, as appropriate depending on the nature of the event taking place.

Elizabeth Eriksen Byron Theatre

Also known as the "Byron Flexible Theatre," or just "the Flex," this space is used for theatre students to learn the practice of theatre production. The theatre is capable of making more than 40 different seating and staging arrangements and has an adjacent rehearsal room. There are some professional performances shown in this theatre, especially during the University of Denver's winter and summer breaks. It seats up to 350 people.

Virginia E. Trevorrow Hall

This is the north wing of the Newman Center and its facilities are mainly used by the Lamont School of Music faculty, staff and music majors. The Lamont School of Music has approximately three hundred music majors as well as non-music majors who use the facilities throughout the year. The following facilities are included in this hall.

Performing Arts Series and Seasons

Art in the Newman Center

Notes

External links

Newman Center Presents

Newman Center Rentals

University of Denver