Newark Symphony Hall will soon play a new tune thanks to a historic $75 million capital improvement program to restore and revitalize the theater by 2025 coinciding with the venue’s 100th anniversary. President and CEO of Newark Symphony Hall, Talia Young, is leading the five-phase transformation with the first phase completed last summer. The newly designed Terrace Ballroom is now a 15,000 square-foot venue with state-of-the-art equipment. The ballroom features a sunken dance floor and an elevated stage with two terraces on each side, all of which have been modernized with new hardwood and bold geometric carpet flooring, color-changing LED lighting and a vibrant vinyl tiled and gold-accented bar. The venue is hoping to bring back symphonic performances, ballet, opera, theater groups and music headliners.
“Newark Symphony Hall is on its way to being restored to its former glory, and we are excited to continue welcoming the community here as we remain open during the renovations,” Young told the Patch.
The next four phases will focus on the arts and education lab, which is on the third and fourth floors. The last two rehabilitation projects will be a 300-seat black box theater, where productions, movies and small series can take place, and the master project will be a $15 million restoration of the concert hall.
Reported in the Patch, Mayor Ras Baraka said, “for nearly a century, Newark Symphony Hall has been one of our city’s most glorious cultural institutions.”
“The roster of performers who have graced its stage defines the range of music, from opera stars like Roberta Peters and Robert Merrill to singing titans like Judy Garland, Count Basie, Patti LaBelle, The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton,” he continued. “It is truly appropriate that we provide present and future generations of music stars and audiences with the finest theater in the nation.”
Newark Symphony Hall is located at 1020 Broad Street, Newark, NJ. For more information, visit www.newarksymphonyhall.org
—fayemi shakur
