What’s your (Eisenhower Auditorium) story?
In honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the Center for the Performing Arts home base, we prompted our social media followers: Give us a memory you have that involves Eisenhower Auditorium. These are their responses:
‘I still get chills’
On May 8, 1974, I was seated behind the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as a member of the Penn State Concert Choir. We would sit through the first three movements of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and part of the fourth before it was time for us to stand and sing.
The third movement is slow, melodic, and somewhat hypnotic. So much so that I fell asleep in my chair. I awoke some time later in a moment of absolute panic, until I convinced myself that we were still in the third movement and I had not missed anything. We performed the entire Ode to Joy in German from memory as we did with nearly all of our music. William Steinberg, conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony, commented that our choir was like a “single instrument” that he could use at his wishes. To this day, I still get chills when I hear Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
For so many of us, singing with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and other experiences, such as European Choir Tours, were not only highlights of our college years, but life-changing experiences as well. While singing might not seem important to the future career of an engineering student, I ended up spending most of my career working for two small European-based companies in the field of acoustic testing.” — Roger S. Gutzwiller, Class of 1975
Another to ‘still get chills’
Many of us had the privilege of singing Beethoven's Ninth [Symphony] with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at the opening of the then-University Auditorium … That spectacular event is deeply held in my memory bank. I still get chills whenever I hear the final movement of Beethoven's Ninth, remembering the incredible sound of 200 chorus members, soloists, and the full orchestra filling the packed house in the auditorium. — Mark McCarthy, Penn State University Choir alumnus
Remembering ‘Be Apart from the Start’
For me, this building is special because when I arrived on campus my freshman year in August 1985, one of the first memories I have is going to “Be Apart from the Start.” It was my introduction to being a Penn State student, and it was held in Eisenhower. It is a memory I cherish to this day. — Diane Williams Foley, Liberal Arts, Class of 1989
It’s best in center
When it was being built in 1973–74, our Architectural Engineering class got a tour. One of the reasons given for no center aisle was to maximize the number of “best” seats: in the middle. — Mark Biro
Memories of backstage
Besides attending performances at Eisenhower Auditorium, I remember working backstage as a professional stagehand for all the professional touring companies that performed on the Eisenhower stage. Mostly I worked as a costume assistant, but I also helped with lighting before performances and props during the performances. — Nanette Anslinger, Penn State grad, classes 1964 and 1965
‘That’s how important it was to me’
I grew up here, so trips to Eisenhower were always special. While in college, I went to MLK celebration performances there (in the late 1980s). I remember feeling empowered to even go by myself one year. That's how important it was to me. — Mary Hutchinson (class of '89)
‘The way the artist entered the auditorium’
I have enjoyed several hundred musical and theatrical events at Eisenhower Auditorium since the inaugural concerts by the Pittsburgh Symphony under William Steinberg in May of 1974. A great many of these performances were memorable, but only one remains with me because of the way the artist entered the auditorium. That event was one of Peter Schickele’s early appearances at University Park.
From inside the wall about two stories high, Schickele removed one of the metal grids that make up the side wall of the auditorium and climbed down to the aisle on a rope! From there, he proceeded to the stage and began his delightful parody, “P. D. Q. Bach.” Much applause greeted this entrance. — Thomas J. Russo, Penn State associate professor emeritus, chemistry
‘I shook his hand and almost fainted’
Loved that I had the chance to briefly chat with and have Tony Bennett sign my book. I was on campus walking from teaching a class and saw Mr. Bennett exiting the auditorium. Yes, I did run about 50 yards so not to miss this opportunity. He was so sweet, asked my name and if I was coming to the show that evening. I told him I had great seats and so excited to hear him perform. I shook his hand and almost fainted. — amyb10psu via Instagram
Glad for a unique opportunity
In 1976, the University, like everyone else, celebrated the national bicentennial. Penn State commissioned an opera, which turned out to be Be Glad Then America. Once it got out that Sarah Caldwell (who had just been on the cover of Time magazine) would be conducting and that the singer Odetta would perform, it became impossible to get a ticket. Among those who didn't have one was me. But then, Sarah Caldwell decided that the staging would include “illuminations,” pictures projected to the stage in sync with the music. That meant that someone who both understood staging and could read music was needed, and stage manager Jeff Quinn called me.
The result was that I attended all the performances, seated high in the ceiling of Eisenhower, calling cues into a headset! Nobody else ever got to do that! — Stu Chamberlain, via email
Singing to become ‘One organism of Being’
I grew up in State College and graduated from State High in 1974, so I remember going to events at Schwab. I remember how awestruck I was going into Eisenhower Auditorium for the first time — for its size, for its beauty, for the screened-in acoustic chambers in the walls. For its soaring ceiling that reached for the sky. For the no-center-aisles layout (which I see now has its pros and cons, but then it was just beyond my wildest imagination).
Then I went to Penn State as an undergrad and used to attend Catholic folk mass in Eisenhower.
My favorite memory from my undergrad years were the Handel’s Messiah sing-alongs with hundreds of people in the choir-audience, and the orchestra and soloists onstage. Even though it probably wasn’t the best musically, it was exhilarating --- I had never sang with so many people before. It felt like we were all part of one huge organism of Being.
To me, the building is still gorgeous. It's hard to believe that it's fifty years old. — Shih-In Ma
A nontraditional music student’s ‘four fond memories’
I was not your traditional music student at Penn State, but music kept me sane. I was a meteorology student and went all four years to main campus graduating in 1983. I had been to campus numerous times before becoming a student for different 4-H events, and we had some of our statewide gatherings in Eisenhower Auditorium, but I really don’t remember the auditorium from those times, and you would think it would have made an impression coming from a small town in northwestern Pennsylvania (Meadville).
But once I started college in 1979, I have four fond memories:
I played violin and was in the University Orchestra. I remember our first rehearsal on stage for my first concert as a freshman. I could not believe were actually having our concert in Eisenhower. I assumed we would be in Schwab Auditorium. I remember that first moment of walking on stage from backstage and looking out into the auditorium and thing how vast it was. I probably did not do very good that first rehearsal, because I kept looking around and realizing how different the sound was. I played in the symphony for all four years except for one term.
The next memory came later in my freshman year. I had loved the Blue Band and marching band in general. But I did not make the cut that year, as they were heading toward a much larger brass section and the saxophones were being reduced. Heartbroken, my stand partner in the symphony was a vocal performance major, and she said I should audition for the University Choir under Raymond Brown. I told her I had never really sung in a choir and could barely read bass clef. She told me they would teach me. Lo and behold, I made the choir, and later in year, we performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Andre Previn Berlioz’s Requiem in Pittsburgh. But then we did at least one performance in Eisenhower Auditorium. Multiples times in the piece, four brass choirs played out from I think behind the mesh walls in the balconies. The packed house was stunned.
Some time I think in my junior year, the University Symphony had a one-on-one practice with the Pittsburgh Symphony on the Eisenhower stage. Micheal Tilson Thomas with the conductor.
Finally, my senior year I did make it to the Blue Band, but not on saxophone. (I think at that point, there were only twelve saxophones total and no clarinets.) I was in the Blue Band Silks, so I was able to perform in Eisenhower in the Blue Bandorama on the apron.
Through my college years, I saw a number of Broadway shows, dance companies, and more. So many fond memories for such a versatile space. — Mark Mesarch