Press Releases

Gallo Center for the Arts: Two New Venues Join the Best in the Country - 1-07-08
A decade ago, the city of Modesto, California dreamed of building an arts center. Existing theaters—high school auditoriums, the Modesto Junior College auditorium, and the art deco State Theater—were inadequate to accommodate the variety of performance events the community wanted to host.
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Kaufman Center's Merkin Hall: Architectural, Acoustic, and Systems Renovation - 1-07-08
A festive evening of performances at the Kaufmann Center's Merkin Concert Hall, January 8, 2008, celebrated the hall's reopening after completion of a $17 million renovation of the Center (the Goodman House at 129 W. 67th Street in New York City) begun in May 07.
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Concordia International School, Shanghai: Performing Arts Center - 1-07-08
Concordia International School (Shanghai, China) has grown since its inception in 1998 with 22 students to an enrollment of more than 1,000 pre-school through high school students. On December 4, 2007, the school dedicated its 24,000 square foot David F. Rittmann Fine Arts Center.
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Regional Center for the Arts, Trumbull, Conn - 1-07-08
Regional Center for the Arts is a performing arts magnet school serving 10 towns in and around the Trumbull area. RCA was developed and is supported by these school communities, but courses are also open to students from non-public, vocational-technical, and non-participating school districts.
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Woldson Theater at the Fox, Spokane - 1-07-08
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.
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TheTimesCenter Lecture/Performance Hall:
Acoustics for All - 07-10-07
The New York Times has a new 52-story home in midtown Manhattan. In the heart of this new home is a new, state-of-the-art cultural center and performance space, TheTimesCenter. Designed by FXFOWLE Architects, JaffeHolden, was the acoustical consultant for the auditorium, collaborating over an extended period with the architect, the theater consultant, and the building owners to optimize the acoustic performance of the multi-use space, which will host events ranging from simple lecture presentations to musical and theatrical performances.
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Acoustical and Sound Reinforcement Design with a Harbor View: Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston - 03-01-07
Hailed as the most important building to rise in Boston in a generation, the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is the first new art museum built in Boston in nearly one hundred years and the first building to be built in the United States by the international renowned architectural firm, Diller Scofidio + Renfro. JaffeHolden provided the base building architectural acoustics and designed the performance audio system for the theater.
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Kaufman Center and Merkin Hall Undergo Acoustic Renovation - 02-27-07
Renovation of the 457-seat Merkin Concert Hall (in the Kaufman Center in New York City) commences in May, with JaffeHolden set to handle acoustic restoration and technical upgrades of the performance sound systems.
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City on the Sound Creates Regional Gem: Edmonds Center for the Arts - 02-13-07
Three decades of planning by the arts, civic, and business leaders in Edmonds, WA culminated at last September with the completion of the Edmonds Center for the Arts. The $18.5 million renovation and remodeling project transformed a 1939 New Deal building into performing arts center with a 700-seat theater/concert hall. JaffeHolden provided the acoustic sound system design.
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Restored Theater Anchors Revitalized Downtown;
Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts - 11/02/06
For 80 years, Bloomington, Illinois' Scottish Rite Temple was the center of Bloomington-Normal's artistic and social life. Built originally to host "The American Passion Play," the Temple housed a 1320-seat theater with the largest stage west of New York and a ballroom that could seat 1000.
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Young People’s Theater Gets Grownup Attention: The Kennedy Center Family Theater - 08/16/06
Architects for the Kennedy Center Family Theater were Richter Cornbrooks Gribble, Inc. (RCG), Baltimore, MD. Acoustic design and systems design was by JaffeHolden, who also worked on the renovation of the Concert Hall and the Opera House, and will work on an upcoming major renovation of the Eisenhower Theater.
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All You Need is "Beatle Love" at the Mirage, and a Little Help from JaffeHolden - 07/26/06
There are a lot of "firsts" surrounding "Beatle Love" at the 2000-seat, totally rebuilt theater at the Mirage where Siegfried & Roy once ruled. It's the first Cirque du Soleil spectacular—five are currently playing in Las Vegas—built around an outside, pre-existing concept.
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Woodstock Rising:
The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts Opens - 06/13/06
The brainchild of cable television entrepreneur Alan Gerry and his Gerry Foundation, the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts (Sullivan County, N.Y.), held its grand opening on July 1st—10 years after the idea began to take shape with the purchase of the 1969 Woodstock Festival site.
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JaffeHolden President, Russ Cooper Discusses the Revitalization of Traditional Sanctuary Acoustics: First United Methodist Church of Birmingham - 05/10/06
The magnificent interior of FUMC (www.fumcbirmingham.org) is decorated with ornamented plaster walls, exquisite woodwork, and stunning stained glass. Unfortunately, the visual beauty of the sanctuary did not extend to its acoustic behavior.
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Acoustic Compromises Not an Option for Multi-Use Halls
By Russell Cooper, President,
JaffeHolden, Norwalk, CT - 04/07/06
Amarillo is a city of 230,000 and, until recently, was served by one multi-use performance hall: the Amarillo Civic Center Auditorium, in the city’s Convention Center. With all of its 2,324 seats on one level, the proscenium-style auditorium was not a very inviting space, nor did it have very good acoustics.
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ImaginOn, Charlotte, N.C.: Public Library and Two Children’s Theatres in One Innovative Space - 04/04/06
ImaginOn—formally known as "ImaginOn: The Joe & Joan Martin Center," after two of the city's most devoted philanthropists and activists—is the work of Holzman Moss Architecture, New York, N.Y. (with Gantt Huberman Architects, Charlotte, NC). Acoustic consultants, JaffeHolden ( www.jhacoustics.com) were responsible for the acoustic and audio systems design of both theaters.
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Tuning the Hall: New Globe-News Center (Amarillo, Texas) - 02/02/06
"A typical, demountable orchestral shell is basically a box with movable ceilings and walls," says Jaffe Holden Acoustics' architectural acoustic designer, Mark Reber. "The purpose of an orchestral shell is to blend and direct sound to the audience and to the musicians themselves, so they can hear each other."
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