performance hall envy

i don't think that i have ever been jealous of anything at the u of u. until now.

last night, randy and i went to see murray perahia perform a concert at the university of utah. the concert was held in the libby gardner hall, which i had never been in before, but randy has. after returning from the concert that he went to previously, he went on and on about how far superior the u's concert facilities were. i believed him, but didn't realize the extent of it until i had been in the libby gardner hall myself.

completely aside from any comparison with byu's facilities, the libby gardner hall is beautiful. it is bright, with gorgeous woodwork, and a great organ adorning the front of the hall. in addition to being visually pleasing, the accoustics are also fantastic. this is the best picture of the hall that i could find online:

it's small, but at least shows that the hall, on its own, is quite stunning. now, compare it to byu's de jong concert hall or the madsen recital hall and we're talking about the difference between a motel 6 and the ritz. this is the best picture i could find of the madsen:

no comment.

byu's web page describes the de jong as "a handsome, functional facility." i have to agree that the de jong, as well as the madsen, are quite functional. these facilities are constantly in use, and let's face it, byu is very practical in making sure that its facilities are well used. but perhaps we should leave out the handsome part.

byu needs some wealthy benefactor to come in and fund a complete overhaul of its concert and recital halls. in fact, while they're at it, completely razing the hfac and building a new fine arts building wouldn't be a bad idea. this is a call for anyone who loves byu, is one of those slightly crazies who can't handle that the u is better than byu at something, or someone who just loves the arts, with lots of extra money lying around to step forward. anyone?

as a side note to this rant, the concert was fantastic. we were late in buying tickets, so we were up in the choir seats, but besides it being slightly uncomfortable for me to sit on the benches without any seat back, it was fun to be so close. the music selection was great and randy and i both enjoyed his bach selection best, but madeleine really got going and was kicking throughout the chopin. so far, from concerts we've attended, we've determined that she really likes beethoven concertos, gets rather bored with holst, and has an affinity for chopin.