Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center

The Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center is a concert hall located in the Arts District of downtown. Ranked one of the world's greatest orchestra halls, it was designed by architect I.M. Pei and acoustician Russell Johnson's Artec Consultants, Inc. The structural engineers for this project was Leslie E. Robertson Associates, and opened in September 1989. The centerpiece of the Meyerson is the McDermott Concert Hall, a European "shoebox" style music chamber, designed to establish intimacy between performer and audience. The salient features of the McDermott Hall include reverberation space around the top of the hall concealed behind 74 thick concrete doors weighing 2.5 tons each. These chamber doors can be opened and closed to increase or reduce reverberance. In addition, 56 acoustical curtains within the concert hall and reverberation chamber help diminish sound vibrations dependent upon use of the hall. A system of canopies weighing more than 42 tons is suspended above the stage and can be raised, lowered, or tilted to reflect the sound throughout the audience chamber. The canopies also assist the musicians in hearing one another and in accurately assessing the nuances of their own playing. The Center is named for Morton H Meyerson, arts patron and business partner of Ross Perot, who provided $10 million in funds for its construction. It is the permanent home of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the Dallas Symphony Chorus, as well as the primary performing venue of the Dallas Wind Symphony as well as several other Dallas based musical organizations. The Meyerson Symphony Center is owned and managed by the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs.

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