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Designed by the New York office of Pfeiffer Partners Architects, the new Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts has significantly enhanced the performance, instructional, and rehearsal opportunities for students and faculty of the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music and Department of Theater. The acoustically beautiful 200-seat Don Buchwald Theater provides a gorgeous performance space for large ensemble concerts, including fully staged Opera Theatre productions, as well as chamber music and solo recitals. The Topfer Recital Hall, meanwhile, hosts more intimate concerts of smaller acoustic and electronic ensembles along with student recitals. The facility is fully equipped with new Steinway and Boston pianos. It is also the college’s first “green building” and has received LEED Silver Certification and awards as such.
Whitman Hall is due to reopen this semester after renovations. The beautiful Art Deco 2,400-seat auditorium has been rechristened the Claire Tow Theater, in honor of the late distinguished alumna, and is one of the premiere concert venues in the New York City area and Brooklyn, in particular. As in years past, the theater will be available for rental for concerts and shows featuring world-class performers in a variety of genres, including classical, pop, ethnic, and children’s productions as well as other outside events such as graduations.
Studio 312 (90 seats) continues to serve as a venue for events outside the Conservatory’s main ensembles, such as Preparatory Center student and faculty recitals and master classes. With video projection capabilities and an 8.2 sound diffusion system, the hall is equipped with hard disk recording and two nine-foot concert grand pianos: a Steinway and a Yamaha Artist Series.
Studio 312 also serves as a recording facility. It is hard-wired for live recording with a full 24-track hard disk recording system. The studio provides an excellent acoustic environment for recording voice, chamber, and jazz ensembles. The control room features a Soundcraft 24-channel Ghost mixer, a Tascam hard disc digital recorder, HHB and Panasonic CD and DAT recorders, and Mackie HR 824 monitors.
Each classroom is equipped with a well-maintained piano and state-of-the-art sound system. There are several dedicated teaching studios, including two piano studios; both contain two seven-foot grand pianos, a Steinway and Yamaha in each. The percussion studio contains marimba, xylophone, drumset, and four timpani. There is also a dedicated voice studio.
The conservatory has 18 dedicated practice rooms, each containing an upright or small grand piano. There are numerous student lockers available in the practice room area, including ones for larger instruments such as cello, bass, and guitar.
There are also three dedicated practice rooms for percussionists, equipped with a full set of timpani, drumset, and mallet instruments.
In addition to the dedicated practice rooms, all classrooms are available for practice and rehearsal. Each classroom has an upright or grand piano.
Whitman Hall houses three Steinway grand pianos. Studio 312 has one new Yamaha and a Steinway grand. The conservatory owns two celestes, two harpsichords, and woodwind, brass, and string instruments used primarily for music education classes. The percussion instrument collection is one of the best in the New York area.
The Conservatory Concert Office produces more than 150 concerts per year, including all student recitals, faculty recitals, ensemble concerts, and guest artist presentations. The office is responsible for all aspects of concert production, including the booking of halls, arranging of recordings, and coordinating guest artists. In addition, the Concert Office oversees many of the conservatory’s other functions as well including rehearsal space, instrument rentals, equipment requests, student locker assignments, and many other administrative duties pertinent to the conservatory.
The conservatory’s recording studio is a state-of-the-art facility, recently updated and renovated to include a ProTools HD system for recording, editing and pre-mastering. Other recent additions include a Soundcraft 32-channel Ghost mixer and Mackie HR 824 monitors with subwoofer. The studio houses both Baldwin and Steinway pianos. The studio is used for student theater productions, recitals, and professional engagements. More than 100 professional CDs have been produced utilizing conservatory recording facilities.
Studio 312 serves as both a performance venue and a recording facility for vocal, chamber, and jazz ensembles as well as student degree recitals. The hall is equipped with state-of-the-art recording equipment and professional-quality audio and video recordings are routinely made there.
Brooklyn College Library contains collections totaling one million print volumes and 669,000 electronic books and journals. The library adds approximately 15,000 new titles each year to its comprehensive humanities, social sciences, and sciences collections. The library serves 17,000 students and a full-time faculty of 600.
The library encompasses nearly 280,000 square feet of space. More than 2,300 seats and 6,700 shelf units (with an emphasis on advanced technology in library services) enhance the library’s role as the central information resource of the college.
The music library is located on the second floor of the Brooklyn College Library. Named in honor of its principal founder and first librarian, respected teacher and scholar Walter W. Gerboth, this library offers facilities for music study, research, and listening.
Established more than 30 years ago and augmented by substantial bequests, the collection comprises scores, collected works, phonograph recordings, tapes, compact discs, music and dance videos, CD-ROMs, playback equipment for on-site listening, and general and specialized books about music and dance as well as a fine selection of periodicals, yearbooks, and online reference works. Subject strengths lie in American music and performance scores. The collection is complimented by that of the H. Wiley Hitchcock Institute for Studies in American Music.
The Library Café is an around-the-clock study facility boasting 100 high-end Internet-connected PCs and Macs with a wide variety of popular applications. It is one of our students’ favorite meeting spots, with comfortable study and social areas, a knowledgeable staff, and a Starbucks coffee kiosk. The Library Café also offers free computer workshops every weekend to all Brooklyn College students, with subjects running the gamut from word processing to Internet exploration.
