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How well I remember the early phases, when the Kauffman Center board was interviewing arts leaders and city planners, and musicians, dancers, and other artists toward finding out their specific needs in a performing arts center. How much storage room does a contrabass require? How much fly space must a dancer have to exit gracefully—and safely—from a series of grand jetés? How much backstage area allows for the technologically complex sets of a modern Broadway musical? Richard Pilbrow, founder of Theatre Projects, had the answers, and developed a brief that fulfilled the needs of the companies and the community. Ready to move forward with master architect Moshe Safdie on board, the Kauffman Center could be assured of a design that would feature dazzling visuals but also respond on every level to the demands of the modern performer. At the same time, the Center was examining in meticulous detail the needs of a place whose goal was to be not just an architectural or community landmark but an optimum acoustic landmark as well. Enter Yasuhisa Toyota, whose acoustic design for Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall is acclaimed as having resulted in one of the best-sounding spaces in the world. I know this, in fact, to be true, because I’ve heard it with my own ears in performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The acoustics are indeed spectacular and consistent throughout the hall. And the enormously favorable responses to the building from the public and international critics alike had the effect of reflecting back on the Los Angeles Philharmonic itself, which began drawing renewed attention as one of America’s finest orchestras—a classic example of how a performance venue can help build the renown and prestige of its resident organizations. The same methods that went into honing the acoustic design of Disney Hall—triedand-true science perfected over the years by Nagata Acoustics—have found fruition in the Kauffman Center. One sunny afternoon in Los Angeles, sitting in the gardens surrounding the hall, I asked Toyota if this meant Kansas City was destined for acoustics on a level of those of Disney Hall. “With each project, we learn new things,” he replied, with a twinkle in his eye, suggesting that Kansas City has a treat in store. Artists are human, and they respond to physical space just as they respond to cold, humidity, and light. Musicians perform better when they feel comfortable and when they feel that a space lends warmth and intimacy. This is one of the reasons artists love Carnegie Hall: Standing on its stage, you have an odd, ineffable sensation you’re in someone’s living room and that the eager faces right in front of you are waiting to experience something wonderful. Both Helzberg Hall and the Muriel Kauffman Theatre have been designed with utmost intimacy in mind, and this will have an immeasurable impact on the level of performance we can expect. When orchestra members or singers can hear themselves and each other, and when they can see audience members reacting in the moment, they are inspired to give their all. I believe the Kauffman Center will have a transformative effect on Kansas City’s cultural life, through ways that we can barely imagine. Night after night, denizens of the arts will gather on the inviting lawn and in the glittering, glass-enclosed Brandmeyer Great Hall, snacking and socializing before moving into Muriel Kauffman Theatre or Helzberg Hall to partake of the best that the performing arts have to offer. Inside, we will hear every note, see every pirouette, experience every gesture in the most intense detail. We will be the envy of other cities, and we will watch our resident organizations—the Kansas City Ballet, the Kansas City Symphony, and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City—grow in steadily measurable ways. Fasten your seatbelts, Kansas City and America, you’re in for the ride of a lifetime.