Bradley Symphony Center

https://www.newsbreakapp.com/n/0P4olLc3?s=a99&pd=03KtvuNZ

The orchestra floor will have two aisles that divide the seating in thirds to avoid long distances to the aisles. Marcus Corporation, which owned the theatre until 2017, is being lauded for caring for the historic fixtures and maintaining and heating the theatre over the 20-plus years that it stood empty. While scrupulously restoring the Warner Grand Theatre, catering kitchens, party rooms, HVAC equipment, loading docks, and new lavatories are being added. On the balcony level, the original lavatories will be restored with their green, black and lavender tile … actually mandatory to earn historic-preservation tax credits to support the $90 million project. (The symphony doesn’t pay taxes but it can sell the tax credits to other developers.) Conrad Schmitt artisans are redoing the original paint, plaster, metal and other decorative surfaces and an acoustical firm comes in at least once a month to check progress. The auditorium’s very rear space below the balcony will become a bar and a control booth, because acoustic engineers discovered it to be a “bass trap” with the worst sound in the house.

The 86-by-100-foot rear stage wall was shifted to the east by 35 feet into Second Street to accommodate a larger stage. That was expected to take five hours, but the construction schedule allows for up to three days, said Cory Henschel, project executive. International Chimney Corp. and Expert House Movers were subcontracted for the wall move. Construction is on schedule, with completion expected in summer 2020. The relocation of the 650-ton wall with its decorative terracotta exterior was required by the National Parks Service for the project to receive historic tax credits. Four linked hydraulic rams were used. C.D. Smith Construction Inc. is the general contractor; Kahler Slater is the architect. International Chimney Corp. and Expert House Movers were subcontracted for the wall move. Work is on schedule, with completion expected for September 2020. Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra raised $116 million to date toward its $139 million goal including building up its endowment.

This week the Rotary Club of Milwaukee gifted a $50,000 grant to the Warner Grand Theater. Work continues to progress on schedule, with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra aiming to complete transforming the theatre into the “Milwaukee Symphony Center” along with the building’s 12-story office tower. Initially, a $120 million fundraising target was set, but last year that was increased to $139 million in mid-2018 to accommodate the tower renovation as well as building up the orchestra’s endowment. The Rotary Club grant will name two built-in wall fountains in the theatre. Its president said “Rotary Club of Milwaukee is delighted to support MSO’s Grand Theater project. The project provides a beautiful home and community platform for the symphony, affirms Milwaukee’s commitment to the arts, and brings a grand old building back to life revitalizing downtown.”

The MSO plans to host its first concert there in September 2020, but the Rotary Club is hoping to make the theatre available for the July 13-16 Democratic National Convention activities.

It’s official. Today the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra revealed it has acquired the Warner Grand theatre building for its new performance center to open in fall of 2020, saying it’ll allow “better long-term financial, operational and creative success.” The MSO has raised $93.5 million of a $120 million campaign to buy, design and renovate the theatre and fund an endowment for the orchestra. Steve and Greg Marcus and The Marcus Corporation donated their ownership of the Warner Grand Theatre to the campaign, the State of Wisconsin granted over $8 million in historic tax credits, and it just received conditional approval for federal historic tax credits.

Citing improving attendance and thanking donors, president/executive director of the MSO Mark Niehaus said “Closing on the acquisition of the Warner Grand Theater is a significant step in both our artistic and financial future.” Owning its venue and being able to rent space within is expected to increase annual revenue by as much as 60 percent and allow easier bookings of guest performers and conductors who usually require lengthy advance notice.

Besides restoration, there’ll be community education spaces, parking options, curbside dropoff/pickup options and onsite catering.

Restoring and adapting the Warner Grand Theatre was said to be 50 to 66 percent less expensive than comparable new construction venue projects across the country.

Nice and good news for symphony goers. Still doesn’t bring movies back to downtown Milwaukee. Not even an art theatre.

Long term the symphony intends to renovate the office tower and move their offices there. Again thought that is more down the road.

Visitors must sign a waiver acknowledging that the theatre has been vacant for two decades. There’s a scar on the edge of the balcony, an effort to duplex the auditorium to produce more income in the 1990s, but the Warner is up for rebirth as the home of the Milwaukee Symphony. The stagehouse will have to be extended beyond the current rear wall so it’s large enough to fit the whole orchestra, and its management is leading a bid to renovate the Warner Grand to become the symphony’s new home. The task is to raise $120 million to make the move a reality. So far, the MSO has raised $76 million and says over 50 donors have given substantial gifts to help it move into the Warner Grand to help save an historic gem that likely would be lost otherwise.

The Milwaukee Symphony does about 135 performances per 40-week season and now offers themed performances of music from popular movies like “Harry Potter” and “La La Land” in order to attract new audiences, and its vision with the Warner Grand Theatre is to make going to the symphony an experience from the moment someone walks in the door, the original intent behind going to a movie palace.

The MSO is far from the first orchestra to move into a refurbished movie palace downtown. They’re regularly retrofitted to be symphony halls and the idea of the MSO moving to the Warner Grand had existed for some time. In 2001 the MSO conducted a highly successful acoustical test in the Warner Grand. Being much deeper than it is wide, the “shoebox” shape is better for orchestra acoustics, and the very high balcony is good because the sound doesn’t get trapped under the balcony. The decorations deflect sounds in good ways, though Rapp and Rapp didn’t build any of it for acoustical reasons. But in 2001 there wasn’t an appetite for a move because an addition was being built at the Milwaukee Art Museum, there was too much traffic to expand on North Second Street because it was a major artery, and the MSO’s need wasn’t as great because there were no Broadway shows at its then-home during its season.

Now, with the architecture firm Kahler Slater, the MSO plans to bump the back wall of the L-shaped theater into North Second Street to create a larger stage that can be seen from all areas of the theatre, to extend the east end with an addition replacing replace the building next door, and to enlarge the lobby to hold 1,700 people before and after performances. There’ll be new seating for a 1,750-person capacity, first-floor lavatories and elevators, and a second-floor gathering space for revenue-generating private events.

The City has donated a $750,000 grant and street-reconstruction assistance for moving the rear wall while retaining its historic and structural integrity. Initial approvals are in from the State of Wisconsin and the National Parks Service for historic preservation tax credits which will cover 40 percent of the cost of the historic restoration of the Warner Grand. The project is expected to cost the MSO about $75 million. If fundraising goes as planned, construction will begin in Autumn of 2017 and the MSO will be doing concerts in the born-again Warner Grand Theatre by Autumn of 2019.

The time has possibly come for the resurrection of this theater. http://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/arts/2016/12/12/milwaukee-symphony-pursuing-former-warner-grand-theatre-new-concert-hall/95341612/

You can see 40+ pictures of the theatre and tower thanks to Urban Milwaukee. http://urbanmilwaukee.com/2013/06/12/we-want-to-save-the-warner/

sdowns: Ever think of transferring your copy of Paul Wesley’s last organ concert recorded at the Warner/Grand (“Midnight At The Center”) to a digital file to share with the masses? I’d love to hear it in all its grandeur!

A Kimball Theater Pipe Organ Opus KPO 6944, 6945, 6946, 3/28, manual/rank, keyboards/sets of pipes was installed in the Warner in 1931. It had thousands of pipes in three chambers, two on the left side and one on the right. The console was on the left in the orchestra pit and was on a worm screw lift that could rise to stage level by a push button. In 1973 when the theatre was twined the organ was to be removed. Paul Wesley gave one last concert. A LP recording was made “Midnight At The Center”. The organ was donated to the Milwaukee Trade and Technical High School for installation in the school’s auditorium, but it was decided that it would be impossible to fit such a large instrument into the available space. The Kimball Theatre Organ Society (KTOS) was formed in 1979 for the purpose of saving the organ from eventual sale. After many years of rebuilding and restoration and greatly enlarged, the Kimball again started playing again at the Oriental Theatre in Milwaukee in 1991.

W.W. KIMBALL COMPANY, THE WORLD’S LARGEST PIANO AND ORGAN MANUFACTURER AT CERTAIN TIMES IN THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES.

(1828-1904), Maine, William Wallace Kimball born. 1857, Chicago, W.W. Kimball Company was founded. Offices were at 239-253 Wabash Avenue Southwest corner of Jackson Boulevard, Chicago. The factory was at South Rockwell Street and 26th Street, Chicago. 1877, they began assembling Kimball Reed Organs. 1882, they were producing 15,000 organs a year, the world’s largest organ maker! 1900, had 1,500 employees. 1910’s, made 13,000 pianos a year. 1922, stopped making reed organs, they had produced 403,390 reed organs! Late 1800’s to 1930’s, world’s largest piano manufacturer. 1942, pipe organ division closed down 7,326 pipe organs had been built, they had also made portable pipe organs. World War II, William Wallace Kimball Jr. was in charge. They manufactured needed war items for Boeing Aircraft, Douglas Aircraft and Lockheed Aircraft. 1961, they started making the first electronic or rather electric organs. 1960’s & 1970’s, they made 100,000 pianos and organs annually. 1983, stopped making organs. February 1996, the last Kimball grand piano was signed by every worker and company executive, and remains on display at Kimball’s showroom in Jasper, Indiana. Now Kimball International and Kimball Electronics. Makes furniture and electronics gizmos.