Tanglewood Cuts Ribbon on New Multidisciplinary Facility
A total of four structures were built on the property that make up the center.
The newly constructed buildings will house the 6,000-square-foot Tanglewood Learning Institute and offer rehearsal and performance spaces, learning opportunities, and more. The spaces will also be available for lease and will host numerous events and programs.
The programs are not just music-based but will also feature talks, film screenings, classes on cinematography, painting, drawing, and photography.
"Whether it's through the Tanglewood Music Center, Tanglewood Learning Institute, Boston Symphony Orchestra events, or those offered by others, it is our hope that the Linde Center becomes a community resource to unite people through shared experiences and that it amplifies a core value of the Tanglewood experience — that is that Tanglewood is for everyone," said Joyce Linde, a Boston Symphony Orchestra trustee and chair of the Tanglewood Learning Institute Committee.
The complex, named in honor of Linde and her late husband, Edward H. Linde, former chairman of the BSO board, is part of the $64 million "Tanglewood Forever" initiative designed to expand programming and invest in the facility's buildings, grounds and infrastructure.
The Linde Center is the first year-round facility to open on the 90-year-old campus, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
"There are myriad reasons to love this place, of course, starting with music, nature, camaraderie, community, learning, enjoyment, family, and friends. The wonder about Tanglewood is that, no matter your reason or reasons to love this place, it has something all of us can enjoy, and it is open and welcoming to all. As you heard Joyce say, Tanglewood is for everyone," said Mark Volpe, president and CEO of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
"This new and transformative element of the Tanglewood experience opens yet another door to Tanglewood for even more people, not just for the summer, but for the whole year."
The four connected buildings that make up the complex are the first new construction in two decades. It is located near Ozawa Hall, which was constructed in 1994. The same architects who designed the hall, William Rawn Associates, returned for the new project. Also part of the construction team were landscape architectural firm Reed Hilderbrand, Consigli Construction and Skanska construction company.
"It is also an estate with two very important music venues: The Shed and Ozawa Hall and it reminds us all that the Berkshires welcome some of the finest musicians here every summer. Now the Linde Center brings a group of studios and a cafe, hopefully in the scale and qualities and sense of place that are the right for the Tanglewood landscape," said William Rawn, founding principal of William Rawn Associates.
"Thank you to [Tanglewood director] Tony [Fogg] and everyone for welcoming us back. Ozawa Hall opened 25 years ago, and his chronology was correct: It was July 7 when interviewed, and July 7 when Ozawa Hall opened, so it is almost 30 years ago to the day since we were first passionately connected to Tanglewood. We asked Doug Reed and Adrian Nial [of Reed Hilderbrand] to join in creating a soft rolling landscape for the Linde Center. It looks like its been here forever. There was a lot of moving of earth."
BSO Board of Trustees Chairwoman Susan Paine said the new facility strengthens the ties between the orchestra and the Berkshires.
"This beautiful new complex — the Linde Center for Music and Learning — is a spectacular new addition to the Tanglewood campus, providing much-needed additional space for the Tanglewood Music Center and a summer home for the new offerings of the Tanglewood Learning Institute program," Paine said.
"And while it is located here at Tanglewood, it stands as a symbol of much more than a new building for a music festival — it is the embodiment of the BSO's deepening of its connections to the Berkshires. The Linde Center will extend the BSO's public base of operations in the Berkshires year-round, expanding and adding to an already thriving relationship forged over the course of 80 years."
The ceremony and open house was well attended.
The center is already booked with programming throughout the summer but there are a series of open houses for the public to check out the new facility.
Barker, principal bass player for the BSO, said the new facility honors and continues the vision started by Serge Koussevitzky, the legendary BSO music director who founded Tanglewood.
"As I look around me, literally for the first time I've seen this building, I realize that the Linde Center for Music and Learning is an exciting natural extension of Serge Koussevitzky's dream. Along with Ozawa Hall, the Bernstein Campus, and the original Tanglewood campus, this new center is a place about connections," he said.
"I tend to think of it as not just a place populated with those of the here and now, but a cultural center embodying the ghosts of past great artists, musicians, and ideas still roaming this lush landscape. The traditions established here carry over from one generation to the next. Now, with this new Linde Center for Music and Learning, a significant facility is opening up with the intent of continuing the cultural mission envisioned and articulated by Serge Koussevitzky."
Tags: ribbon cutting, Tanglewood,
