# Does Carnegie Hall Have Different Levels of Performance Halls?



## Festus

https://www.breitbart.com/health/20...perform-carnegie-hall-she-really-exceptional/

I just can't imagine that a 3 year old will perform on the same stage as Horowitz, et al.


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## Krummhorn

Why not? Surely Horowitz, as a beginner, was probably given the same opportunity to perform on a stage that hosted professional pianists of his day? 

We need to give the younger kids the same opportunities ... think of how special it will be for her, and at that age.


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## Festus

Horowitz was 25 years old when he first appeared at Carnegie Hall. I don't believe that a 3 year old could perform as well as a 25 year old - that is my point.


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## amfortas

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?


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## Haydn70

amfortas said:


> How do you get to Carnegie Hall?


Practice, practice!


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## Josquin13

Festus said:


> https://www.breitbart.com/health/20...perform-carnegie-hall-she-really-exceptional/
> 
> I just can't imagine that a 3 year old will perform on the same stage as Horowitz, et al.


Yes, Carnegie Hall has three different performance halls, and they do each cater to performance artists that are at different stages of their careers, plus, various sized ensembles & different types of music--but all professional musicians; that is, unless you have enough money or clout to rent out the main hall, as some lesser pianists and ensembles & groups have done over the years (I won't name any names).

So, there's the main auditorium, or the big hall, which was named after violinist Isaac Stern, who was instrumental in its restoration years ago--a restoration that many felt destroyed the previously excellent acoustics in parts of the hall. From my experience, I'd say that the restored hall does indeed have some dead spots now, but they're not everywhere. The main floor is still excellent, if you can afford it. However, I'd personally rather stay at home than sit in the back rows of the top balcony, where the sound is quite poor. (I actually prefer to listen to music on my stereo.) But you have to give credit where credit is due--despite the questionable restoration, because Isaac Stern was instrumental in preventing the hall from being demolished & torn down. Therefore, without Stern, the entire building might not even exist today.

Then, there's the smaller Weill Recital hall, which is next door to the Stern auditorium. It was named after a former CEO of Citibank, Sandy Weill, who worked assiduously to erase Andrew Carnegie's original vision for the building, which included over 100 studios & residences: many fine art studios with coveted large sized north light windows & high ceilings (which are virtually impossible for artists to find in cities today, since they've all become high end real estate & were never that plentiful to begin with), dance studios--where the likes of George Balanchine and Martha Graham once choreographed and created modern dance, and a variety of other spaces catering to other art forms, such as photography studios, acting classes, etc., above the music halls--in other words, an extraordinary, visionary all-purpose arts building: which sadly is all gone, due to Weill's lack of vision, in order to mostly make room for common office space; plus, the new Weill Music Institute for children, and a lavish rooftop terrace for events and parties that infuriated preservation architects who saw it as a gross violation of the landmarks law.

There was of course loads of opposition to what Weill did to the building, but to no avail, as Weill had the upper hand, having been unwisely made chairman of the board of Carnegie Hall. He even managed to award his son-in-law's architecture firm with the lucrative contract to change and disfigure Carnegie's visionary building forever. Not surprisingly, the hall has declined to disclose the firm's fee, since under nonprofit law, if the fee were unreasonably high, Weill's act of nepotism would be illegal.

Whatever Weill has done for classical music in New York & elsewhere pales in comparison to the damage that he has caused to the arts by destroying the original purpose and vision of Carnegie's building. Weill's lack of understanding and short sightedness blackens his name and legacy to the arts. But perhaps the now prohibitively over priced city--for artists & musicians, not financiers--was finished being a major cultural center anyway, as a true creative center, rather than just a place that mostly showcases artistic talent from elsewhere. (Sadly, all of the once thriving art studio buildings in the Carnegie Hall area and lower Upper West Side--as well as the rest of the city--have now been misappropriated for either office space or high end residential real estate for the extreme rich. It is a disgusting misuse of landmark historic buildings that were built for a specific, enlightened purpose. Carnegie Hall was simply the last one to go.)

Which is not to negate Weill's extraordinary generosity and philanthropy in other areas, such as medicine and education, where he's done a great deal of good. And there's the small performance hall named after him, so that part of his legacy at Carnegie Hall remains intact. I wonder if the 3 year old comes from the Weill Institute for Music?

Then, there is the third and newest music hall, the Zankel Hall, which is below street level and used to be the Carnegie Hall Cinema, also once known as the "Little Carnegie Theater"; which at one time was one of the premiere movie theaters in the city that showed art films. I miss it, as I used to live a block away & saw a lot of good films there. Granted, in later years, the "Little Carnegie" became a haven for mice & rats (as happens eventually to most movie theaters in NYC, even those above street level). But now, it is the Zankel Hall and the vermin don't seem to have found their way back in.

I don't know where the 3 year old is planning to play her recital, but the idea of a 3 year old giving a music recital in any of the three Carnegie Hall venues instead of a more deserving professional pianist doesn't seem right. Maybe if the child were 6 or 7 years old, and her playing much more mature? To me, it sounds like just another dumb publicity stunt. Next year, we'll see her on "America's got talent". The poor kid.


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## pianozach

Festus said:


> https://www.breitbart.com/health/20...perform-carnegie-hall-she-really-exceptional/
> 
> I just can't imagine that a 3 year old will perform on the same stage as Horowitz, et al.


"The child recently became the youngest first-place winner of the Elite International Music Competition", which earned her a spot in the concert. She's not performing an entire 90 minutes of material. She's going to play some Mozart.

Evidently she's very good . . . for a 3 year old.


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## Parley

Haydn70 said:


> Practice, practice!


Someone has said that to make it you need:

Lots of talent

Lots of dedication, practice, etc

Lots of luck

I quote from 'Slipped Disc'

' Just to be clear, Carnegie Hall is not booking this 3-year-old. It would be closer to the truth to say that this 3-year-old is booking Carnegie Hall.
The truth is that whoever runs the "Elite International Music Competition" and/or the "American Protégé International Music Talent Competition" is renting Carnegie Hall and presenting a concert at which this 3-year-old will be one of the soloists performing.
The "elite" competition is one of several that prey on naive parents and competition-mad teachers who think listing their students as "winners" is good for marketing.
As well as paying to enter, a "winner" then pays for the "privilege" of performing on the "winner concert". If a player decides not to pay the second round of fees, their name is forever removed from the "winners' list".
No one mentions that parents or teachers can rent the hall on their own and claim the same dubious honor of "Debut in Carnegie Hall".'


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## Festus

Time Manifests the Truth.


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## Josquin13

Parley writes, "No one mentions that parents or teachers can rent the hall on their own and claim the same dubious honor of “Debut in Carnegie Hall”.’"

I did. I mentioned it in my post above. I can think of at least one well known pianist today that got her start in the business that way. But apparently it's best to get your "debut" Carnegie Hall concert professionally recorded, and then convince a well known record label to release the CD and commercially pump it like crazy, as if the evening was the concert event of the year. That way no one ever suspects that Carnegie Hall didn't actually select you to play there, and you get a instant career, whether you deserve it or not.


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## Parley

Josquin13 said:


> Parley writes, "No one mentions that parents or teachers can rent the hall on their own and claim the same dubious honor of "Debut in Carnegie Hall".'"
> 
> I did. I mentioned it in my post above. I can think of at least one well known pianist today that got her start in the business that way. But apparently it's best to get your "debut" Carnegie Hall concert professionally recorded, and then convince a well known record label to release the CD and commercially pump it like crazy, as if the evening was the concert event of the year. That way no one ever suspects that Carnegie Hall didn't actually select you to play there, and you get a instant career, whether you deserve it or not.


Glenn Gould's sensational New York debut was financed by his family


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## Festus

Well, I'll Be!
https://www.carnegiehall.org/About/Rentals/Performance-Halls/Weill-Recital-Hall


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## Josquin13

That's interesting, I didn't know that about Gould. 

Yes, the Weill recital hall can be rented for a base rate of $1750. Here is the pre-COVID-19 rental information, courtesy of the NYC classical radio station Wqxr,

"A Tradition of Rentals

Although it’s not widely known among much of the general public, rentals by outside parties constitute a significant portion of Carnegie Hall’s activities. Of the approximately 700 events taking place on all three stages at Carnegie last season, only 170 are presentations of the hall itself. Rental prices vary by the day of the week, but to book a Friday night in the large Isaac Stern Auditorium, one will spend a base rate of $14,000. In the medium-size Zankel Hall the rate is $4,500, while in the 268-seat Weill Recital Hall it’s $1,750. (Other expenses, like ushers, stagehands, security, insurance and overtime, can double these numbers, depending on the event.)"


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