Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a 15 acre (61,000 m²) complex of buildings in New York City which serves as home for 12 arts companies. It was built during Robert Moses's program of urban renewal in the 1960s. It was the first gathering of major cultural institutions into a centralized location in a United States city, and is located between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues and between West 62nd and 66th Streets on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Lincoln Center cultural institutions also make use of facilities located away from the main campus. In 2004 Lincoln Center was expanded through the addition of Jazz at Lincoln Center's newly built facilities (Frederick P. Rose Hall) at the new Time Warner Center, located a few blocks to the south.
Facilities
- Alice Tully Hall - 1,095-seat concert hall located within the Juilliard School building; home stage of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
- The Allen Room – 508-seat amphitheater with 50-foot glass wall overlooking Central Park; part of Jazz at Lincoln Center's facilities
- Avery Fisher Hall – 2,738-seat symphony hall; home stage of the New York Philharmonic; formerly Philharmonic Hall
- Church of St. Ignatius Loyola – Catholic Church located on Park Avenue between 83rd and 84th Streets on the Upper East Side; used by Lincoln Center for its great acoustics and its pipe organ (allowing expanded organ repertoire, since the Metropolitan Opera House is the only other venue with an organ)
- Clark Studio Theater – 120-seat dance theater; part of the facilities of the Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts in Education
- Damrosch Park – outdoor amphitheater with bowl-style stage
- Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Rehearsal Studio – rehearsal studio of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
- Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola – nightclub-style venue in the Jazz at Lincoln Center facility; allows jazz to be performed in its traditional venue
- Frederick P. Rose Hall – name for the Jazz at Lincoln Center venue at AOL/Time Warner Center; includes The Allen Room, Rose Theater, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, and the Irene Diamond Education Center
- Irene Diamond Education Center – rehearsal, recording, and classroom facility at Jazz at Lincoln Center
- The Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College – theater at John Jay College of Criminal Justice; used for the Lincoln Center Great Performers series
- Josie Robertson Plaza – central plaza of Lincoln Center; the three main halls (opera, philharmonic, and ballet) face onto this plaza; sometimes used as an outdoor venue
- Juilliard Drama Theater
- The Juilliard School – facility housing the school of the same name; building also incorporates Alice Tully Hall, Morse Recital Hall, Paul Recital Hall, the Juilliard Drama Theater, and the Juilliard Theater
- Juilliard Theater
- La Guardia Concert Hall – concert hall in the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, located across 10th Avenue from Lincoln Center
- La Guardia Drama Theater – drama theater in the same school
- The Metropolitan Opera House – 3,900-seat opera house; home stage of the Metropolitan Opera
- Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater – 334-seat theater suitable for Off-Broadway-style productions; formerly The Forum
- Morse Recital Hall – recital hall within the Juilliard School facility
- New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
- The New York State Theater – 2,713-seat ballet theater; originally constructed to be the home stage of the New York City Ballet, now also serves as home to the New York City Opera
- Paul Recital Hall – recital hall within the Juilliard School facility
- Paul Milstein Plaza – plaza that acts as a sky-bridge over 65th Street connecting Lincoln Center to the Juilliard School facility
- Rose Theater – 1,094-seat concert hall designed for jazz performances
- Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse – nightclub-style venue; used for intimate concerts, “meet the artist” events, lectures, and other events where a small, intimate space is preferred; was also used for jazz performances prior to the construction of the new Jazz at Lincoln Center facilities; now used for
- Vivian Beaumont Theater – 1,047-seat Broadway-style theater
- The Walter Reade Theatre – 268-seat movie theater; used by The Film Society of Lincoln Center
Resident companies
Lincoln Center houses several cultural companies and institutions, including:
- The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
- The Film Society of Lincoln Center (sponsor of the New York Film Festival)
- Jazz at Lincoln Center
- The Juilliard School
- Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc., also called "Lincoln Center Presents"
- Lincoln Center Theater
- Metropolitan Opera
- New York City Ballet
- New York City Opera
- New York Philharmonic
- The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
- School of American Ballet
Architects
Architects who designed buildings at Lincoln Center include:
- Max Abramovitz - Avery Fisher Hall
- Pietro Belluschi - The Juilliard School
- Gordon Bunshaft - The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
- Wallace Harrison - Master plan & Metropolitan Opera House
- Philip Johnson - New York State Theater
- Eero Saarinen - Vivian Beaumont Theater
Historical events
- April 21, 1955 - Lincoln Square designated for urban renewal.
- May 14, 1959 - Ground breaking ceremony.
- September 23, 1962 - Philharmonic Hall opened.
- September 2, 1986 - Former Jewish Defense League National Chairman Chaim Ben Pesach throws a tear gas grenade during a performance of Soviet ballet in the Metropolitan Opera House as a protest against the Soviet practice of not letting its Jews immigrate to Israel.