Interlochen Opens $24 million Music Center

November 8, 2019, 5:30 PM · Interlochen Center for the Arts, the summer camp and fine arts boarding school in northern Michigan, has opened a new $24 million Music Center that brings all its buildings and programs into one complex, adding new technology as well as recording studio and rehearsal hall spaces.

Interlochen's new Music Center. Photo by gregceostudio.com.

"Music has a new home at Interlochen," said Trey Devey, President of Interlochen Center for the Arts. "With its world-class spaces for music instruction, collaboration, and recording, the Music Center will nurture and empower any musician that seeks artistic and personal enlightenment at Interlochen. For students from the third grade through high school, there’s nothing else like it."

Founded in 1928, Interlochen operates a 2,500-student summer camp program and a 500-student fine arts boarding high school. It also offers artistic and creative programs for hundreds of adults, as well as two 24-hour listener-supported public radio services, including classical music and news.

Planning began in 1990 for the new facility, which integrated top-notch acoustical engineering in the creation of its new rehearsal, studio, and practice rooms. There are also new lounge areas to encourage student and faculty collaboration. The Music Center now houses Interlochen's classical, contemporary, jazz, and music production and engineering programs, and it will also allow Interlochen Arts Academy students to major in Music Production and Engineering, beginning next fall.

Features of the three-level, 62,000 square-foot facility include:

Professional-level equipment in the two recording studios. That equipment connects to every room in the Music Center and to the stage of Corson Auditorium.
Two 3,200 square-foot rehearsal halls with cutting-edge acoustic technology, including a double-layered floating roof system to minimize rain noise.
Observation balconies that allow guests to watch ensembles rehearse.
A stage and theatrical lighting system in the Mallory Ensemble Room.
Facilities that protect students’ instruments with humidity controls and air conditioning.

Interlochen’s Music Division previously used various buildings across its 1,200-acre campus. The Music Center now links Corson Auditorium with the Edward P. and Jessie Frohlich Piano and Percussion Building, creating one complex with 25 teaching studios, two large rehearsal halls, nine ensemble rooms, ten practice rooms, two professional recording studios, musical instrument repair rooms, student lounge areas, and administrative offices.

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David Burgess

November 11, 2019 at 03:15 PM · One of the major advantages of Interlochen has always been that it's so "out in the boonies", that there is little to distract from or compete with musicianship and practicing.

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Interlochen Opens $24 million Music Center

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