“Tuning the House”: 20 Years in Miami’s Arsht Center

With the start of a 10-year Miami Residency on the horizon, The Cleveland Orchestra was poised to give an electric preview performance at the brand-new James L. Knight Concert Hall on August 20, 2006. After several days of closed-door sessions with master acousticians fine-tuning the hall’s adjustable panels — but before the inauguration of the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts — it was time to welcome an audience for a test of Knight Concert Hall under true concert conditions. The subsequent “Tuning the House” event served as a fundraiser and exclusive sneak peek of Miami’s state-of-the-art performing arts complex.

Cleveland Orchestra Music Director Franz Welser-Möst led selections by Bruckner, Prokofiev, and Verdi in this open rehearsal, allowing world-renowned acoustic designer Russell Johnson and his team to continue making adjustments throughout the event. With $450 million spent on the new arts center and many local philanthropists in attendance, the air sizzled with nervous anticipation. But the collective tension was released after the final notes of Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony, which tumbled into enthusiastic applause.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel classical music critic Lawrence Johnson captured the magic of the event:

… tuning the halls precisely will be a long-term project, but the results are already impressive, at least in the Knight Concert Hall. The Cleveland Orchestra sounded like its gleaming, virtuosic self at the August rehearsal, with surprisingly clear, detailed, and well-defined sound from several vantage points in the hall.

From his own vantage point on stage, Welser-Möst agreed:

All the musicians I spoke to have been very happy with it. It’s a hall which actually rewards what you invest, which means that you can play really soft in there, which is not common with modern halls. The string sound is really beautiful and warm, and at the same time you get real detail. … It’s really, really a good hall, and it has all the potential to become a great hall.

Despite the finishing touches still to be completed before the official opening of the complex, the hall was abuzz with praise following the rehearsal: “I think the hall sounds excellent,” an audience member told a local reporter. “The sound was great — I enjoyed it tremendously,” another agreed.

Twenty years later, the buzz hasn’t died down. The John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County (so renamed in 2008) has become the beating heart of the city’s fine arts district, and The Cleveland Orchestra’s annual visits are a treasured fixture in the community. What began as a public soundcheck with the promise of a 10-year residency has blossomed into nearly two decades of musical investment and cultural exchange.

— Ellen Sauer Tanyeri

Ellen Sauer Tanyeri is The Cleveland Orchestra’s Archives & Editorial Assistant and is a PhD candidate in musicology at Case Western Reserve University.