Date: June 2, 2003
Contact: Betsy Vorce
212.875.5100
LINCOLN CENTER
for the Performing Arts
STATEMENT FROM BRUCE CRAWFORD, CHAIRMAN, AND REYNOLD LEVY, PRESIDENT, LINCOLN CENTER
Re: Looking Alteall for Avery Fisher Hall
Lincoln Center learned last Thursday afternoon, May 29, that the New York Philharmonic was engaged in serious discussions with the leadership of Carnegie Hall about the prospect of moving there permanently. We are proud to have been the home of the New York Philharmonic for over 40 years, during which time they performed before an audience of millions and reached tens of millions more through Live From Lincoln Center broadcasts.
Lincoln Center worked diligently to develop many alternatives that would satisfy the acoustic, programming and aesthetic needs of the New York Philharmonic, as well as of its own presentations, and was particularly flexible in offering to finance the costs of fundraising and the costs of capital planning, as well as take a leadership role in the fundraising required to realize these alternatives. Under such circumstances, and given this history, we are disappointed in the New York Philharmonic’s decision.
We also are extremely enthusiastic about using Avery Fisher Hall to bring to New Yorkers, Americans and foreign tourists the world’s best musicians and performers. We envision the opportunity to house this country’s and the world’s leading orchestras not only for three or four evenings of performance each year, but also in residence for longer periods of time.
We foresee expanding the thematic programming that has increasingly characterized our Great Performers and New Visions series. We look forward to commissioning new music, to utilizing the best of 21st century technology to enhance the audience experience and to engaging our performers with brand new audiences and with elementary, middle and high school students.
Lincoln Center’s trustees and staff, as well as its constituents, feel a profound responsibility to maintain the world-class standard of performing arts for which we have become known around the globe. The forthcoming change in the use of Avery Fisher Hall allows the fulfillment of this responsibility to take on many new forms. We relish the opportunity.
70 Lincoln Center Plaza
New York, NY 10023-6583
T 212.875.5000