The new Shalin Liu Performance Center will open in June in Rockport, Massachusetts, coinciding with the start of Rockport Music, an annual festival that takes place from June 10 to July 18. (Rockport Music was formerly known as the Rockport Chamber Music Festival.) The concert hall, designed by Alan Joslin of Epstein Joslin Architects (Cambridge, Mass.), and acoustician R. Lawrence Kirkegaard (Chicago), is situated between the Atlantic Ocean and Main Street and will feature a two-story window at the rear of the stage, with direct ocean views. It will seat 325 people and replaces the 1870s Haskins building at the same site. Previously the venue for Rockport Music was the Rockport Art Association, a smaller space also on Main Street. For its opening-night performance on June 10, Rockport Music will present the world premiere of Granite Coast, a trio for piano, violin, and cello by Massachusetts composer Scott Wheeler. Rockport Chamber Music Festival will celebrate its 29th season this summer; it is currently under the artistic direction of pianist David Deveau. Artists scheduled to perform in 2010 include Boston Musica Viva, baritone Stephen Salters, violinist Midori, pianists Alpin Hong and Marc-André Hamelin, and the male vocal ensemble Cantus.
Posted January 14, 2010
