The Arts Open a New Chapter at Utah State University

The Manon Caine Russell Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall opened its doors to the public following a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday, Jan. 12. The multi-million-dollar structure was unveiled after a 30-minute ceremony in the Morgan Theatre hosted by Tom Peterson, director of the Caine School of the Arts, with speakers including Russell, Wanlass, Dean Gary Kiger of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and Utah State University President Stan L. Albrecht.

 

“What we celebrate here today, I believe, will assume a place among a relatively small handful of the most significant events in our 117 year history,” Albrecht said to the hundreds of students, faculty members, donors and members of the community in attendance at Thursday’s event. “If ever there was a new chapter in the history of Utah State University that deserves celebration, I think it is the opening of The Performance Hall.”

 

Following the ceremony, the public was given the opportunity to tour what Wanlass described as the university’s “first performance hall on campus dedicated totally to music and the spoken word.” A small number of students were chosen to perform during the open house, showcasing the state-of-the-art acoustics that make the world-class Performance Hall the “physical cornerstone” of the Caine School of the Arts, said Albrecht.

 

“How gratifying it is to be able to honor this long legacy with our support of a new performance hall,” said Russell.

 

The Performance Hall is the first building on campus designed specifically for chamber music, and seats 421 audience members and a maximum of 22 musicians on stage. 

 

The calendar of events is filling quickly for The Performance Hall. French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is appears in concert Saturday, Jan. 14, followed by a performance from The Emerson Quartet on Jan. 18, presented by the Chamber Music Society of Logan.

 

The Performance Hall will continue to host a number of world-recognized musicians in the future, Albrecht said, but it is the performances by current students “that will most touch the heart strings of Kathryn and Manon.”

 

The Manon Caine Russell Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall brings together the performance arts and other creative outlets and is now an outstanding monument to the Caine family’s devotion to Utah State University. Since the university’s establishment in 1888, the family has stressed the significance of making music and art important in the lives of students. Russell and Wanlass formed The Marie Eccles Caine Foundation in 1981 to support arts in northern Utah and it continues a strong support of the arts.