On November 17, 2007, a gala celebration concert by the Spokane Symphony Orchestra with special guest Frederica von Stade officially opened the newly restored Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox, Spokane, Wa.

Saved from demolition in 2000 and by a $31 million capital campaign to restore the building to the brilliance of its glory days, the Woldson is a 1630-seat art deco theater dating from 1931.

For JaffeHolden and acoustic design consultant, Brian Corry, the major challenge of making the Woldson Theater perform as a first-rate concert hall was the fact that the walls and ceiling of this historic venue could not be significantly altered. "Basically we concentrated our efforts on moving the orchestra out into the hall via a moveable stage extension to gain more volume and reverberation time," says Corry. The use of adjustable draperies along the walls and acoustical panels on the rear wall for sound absorption for use with the sound system were allowable within the preservationist architectural requirements. (JaffeHolden was also responsible for mechanical noise and vibration control for the theater.)

The Woldson sound system is based around a Yamaha PM5D front-of-house console and extremely well-concealed left/right McCauley Sound M.LINE compact arrays, supported by EAW front fill boxes.