Construction begins on music school’s ‘state-of-the-art’ concert venue

The UW-Madison School of Music will be moving into its new home as soon as late 2018 with a grand opening scheduled for Spring 2019.

Construction on the long-anticipated Hamel Music Center, the university’s new concert hall and rehearsal venue, has begun on the corner of Lake Street and University Avenue.

The center, named in honor of main donors Pamela and George Hamel, will allow the university’s music school to move out of its current performance venue in the Humanities building. Susan Cook, the Director of the School of Music, said she is excited to get into the new location.

“This addition to campus space allows our students, faculty and staff to carry out their musical work in the best spaces possible,” she said. “Spaces that allow for acoustic flexibility.”

The $55.8 million dollar project experienced difficulties getting started. Once opened, it will contain a 680-seat concert hall and a 315-seat rehearsal hall that will be accessible for students and members of the community.

“Our expectation is that this new state-of-the-art Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall space will allow us to continue to provide the performance we do but in a way that is better for our students and faculty performers and more pleasing for the audience members,” Cook said.

She said she hopes the smaller Collins Recital Hall will be where most students present their capstone recitals and where chamber ensembles will perform.

The venue will be next to the Chazen Museum of Art. Cook said this will create an arts center on UW-Madison’s campus, where it will benefit the community and grow the university.