Toronto Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts | ?m | 5s | COC | Diamond Schmitt

Wow great photo 42, far more attractive at night.

The horshoe lit up at night has a nice halo effect.
 
Thanks 42 - that looks absolutely HOT (there isn't a better word to describe it).

And totally agree with beaconer re: halo effect of the lit up horseshoe.

AoD
 
Wasn't the horshoe supposed to have horizontal strips of some metallic material? The current status looks incomplete.
 
Mozart, whose 250th birthday we are celebrating this year, would no doubt have been thrilled that so much time and effort has been put into creating a performance space where the beauty of his music will be heard as he intended. And that people are still arguing about opera - even if only about the house!

However, while adma says that this discussion is "more about architecture and urbanism than it is about opera", actually it is intended to be about the sound test.

Re: "tweaking" the design: Diamond and his team tweaked the design plenty during the design process and this is what we got - great sightlines, fine acoustics ( from early reports ) and a design that reflects the function of the different parts of the building. And, as ganjavih points out, all was achieved on a very low budget when compared to such new buildings as the Copenhagen Opera House and Walt Disney Concert Hall.

I agree that the horseshoe could look better - look closely and you'll see that more than a few of the panels are, for want of a better word, dented.

The scaffolding has now been moved deeper into the City Room as they concentrate on finishing the glass staircase. The Grand Staircase, which is straight ahead as you look into the City Room from the north, looks mighty grand to me.
 
More drama on the Opera House, from the Star:

Battle over a logo at new opera house
Naming rights cost hotel boss $20M
Insists on tree-shaped corporate brand
May 11, 2006. 01:00 AM
MARTIN KNELMAN
ENTERTAINMENT COLUMNIST

Behind the scenes of Toronto's long-awaited opera house — nearing completion at Queen and University — you might hear the strains of a Rossini-like comic aria concerning a tree.

The building happens to be named the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. And Isadore Sharp, chairman and CEO of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, which gave $20 million for naming rights in perpetuity, insists the sign on the University Ave. side has to include the company's branding tree logo.

Some beneficiaries of the Four Seasons gift have been whispering disgruntled comments about making the opera house look like a convention centre with huge trees plastered on all sides.

"Jack has voiced negative views about the tree," Sharp said in a phone interview yesterday, referring to architect Jack Diamond. "He asked us to reconsider. We agreed to talk about it."

According to the veteran hotel tycoon, his company has made major modifications. "We've told the opera company we don't need to have the huge sign on the Queen St. side as originally planned."

Indeed, Sharp is willing to settle for the small tree logo on one side of the building instead of signs on three sides of the building as earlier planned. And the single remaining tree logo will not be nearly as large as originally envisioned.

But Sharp is adamant that whatever its size, the logo tree on the University Ave. side of the opera house is a necessity. Without that trademark tree, he explains, "Four Seasons" is just a generic phrase that could refer to Vivaldi or any number of things that have nothing to do with his luxury hotel chain.

"Frankly, I don't see what the fuss is about. What really matters is that Toronto is getting one of the world's great opera houses, for which Richard Bradshaw deserves a lot of credit. And June 14 is going to be a great night for the city."

Bradshaw, general director of the opera company, and Diamond both declined to comment on the tree logo tussle.

As far as Sharp is concerned, his company's $20 million donation has to work both as a commitment to the community and as an investment that can be justified in business terms.

That tree logo is what seals the deal and establishes instant public awareness of a link between the hotel company and the opera house.

"It's quite a light, subtle sign," says Sharp, "but I can't help it if some people consider it crass. I'm not looking for credit, but we came along at a time when the opera company urgently needed a lead donor, and we gave them what they asked for. In the four years since the deal was made, we have reduced the size of what originally looked like a huge sign on Queen St., and we're not asking for much. In fact, I think we're really settling for second billing."

By that he means that the Canadian Opera Company will also have its name on the building, although exactly where and how is not yet clear.

"The matter of signage is very complicated," says Wendy McDowall, director of the capital campaign for the opera house, "and we have had a lot of discussions with all the parties involved, including the Four Seasons, trying to decide what works best and serves everyone's interests."

Sharp said he looks forward to attending the June 14 gala. At the post-concert $2,000-a-plate onstage dinner, the Four Seasons will have several tables for its top executives.

June 14 is also the date the opera company is due to receive a hefty cheque from the Four Seasons — which has been paying its $20 million in instalments.

By then, in the tradition of classic comic operas, this much ado about a tree image may have found its happy ending.

AoD
 
Is that Handel's 'Ombra mai fu' I hear in the background?
 
Izzy shoulda made his requirements clear before he made his commitment. Too bad, so sad.
 
This is the problem with selling naming rights. The risk is that the whole building gets turned into an advertising poster.
 
During my last two or three visits to hear the COC at the Hummingbird, I found my self a bit distracted at times by imagining how much better the excellent orchestra will sound in the new hall.

Last night I listened to the National Ballet orchestra there and thought the same thing.

They performed Stravinsky's 'Petrouchka', the Vaughan-Williams 'Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis', and some Bach, beautifully. The programme was put together with a series of very different pieces. Guillaume Cote did his bravura alpha male thing in a couple of great solos with Greta Hodgkinson that were almost campy in comparison to the contemporary works.

With ballet I prefer to be closer to the stage because I enjoy the physicality and athleticism as much as the artistry. With opera I like to be a bit furter back. At the Symphony I'm happy to be way up in the balcony with my eyes closed.
 
Izzy shoulda made his requirements clear before he made his commitment. Too bad, so sad.
Click to expand...

Actually, the COC should've made their requirements/restrictions clear to Sharpe before they accepted his donation.

It's only common sense that you'd get your logo somewhere on the building you're sponsoring.
 
The OCAD tabletop doesn't have the Sharp name plastered all over it.
 
It's only common sense that you'd get your logo somewhere on the building you're sponsoring.
Click to expand...

Actually, that's not how negotiation works. If you want something, you have to ask for it, not hope that someone else will guess what you want.

Getting upset because someone didn't give you what you didn't ask for is passive agressive behaviour, not negotiation.
 
Actually, that's not how negotiation works. If you want something, you have to ask for it, not hope that someone else will guess what you want.
Click to expand...

True.

But I seriously doubt that Sharp just forgot to ask about that in negotiations for a $20 million naming-rights donation. Based on the article, it would seem that having the logo on the building was part of the deal:


"According to the veteran hotel tycoon, his company has made major modifications. "We've told the opera company we don't need to have the huge sign on the Queen St. side as originally planned."


"Indeed, Sharp is willing to settle for the small tree logo on one side of the building instead of signs on three sides of the building as earlier planned."


"In the four years since the deal was made, we have reduced the size of what originally looked like a huge sign on Queen St., and we're not asking for much. In fact, I think we're really settling for second billing."
 
I see your point, though I read the story as saying he has only begun to insist that they put the tree up there in recent days.
 
It sounds like Sharp is willing to compromise which is gracious, as gracious as the donation was to begin with. To continue to haggle this minor issue seems churlish indeed!
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top