Cullen Performance Hall is a
concert hall located on the campus of the
University of Houston
The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...
in
Houston, Texas. The hall, comprising the eastern half of the
E. Cullen Building, was named in honor of
Ezekiel W. Cullen, a former
congressman for the
Republic of Texas. The facility seats 1,544, and hosts music, opera, dance, theatrical events, and public lectures. Opening in 1950, the facility was designed by
Alfred C. Finn
Alfred Charles Finn (July 2, 1883 – June 26, 1964) was an American architect. He started in the profession with no formal training in 1904 as an apprentice for Sanguinet & Staats. He worked in their offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston. H ...
.
History
On March 21, 1945, the
Ezekiel W. Cullen Building along with Cullen Performance Hall was announced. Construction of Cullen Performance Hall was part of a large expansion to the University of Houston's permanent buildings on campus that took place starting on May 10, 1948. The hall originally sat 1,680, and was intended to host similar events as the
Houston Music Hall
Houston Music Hall was a 2,200-seat music venue located in Houston, Texas. The Music Hall opened in November 1937, at the same time as the Sam Houston Coliseum, which were built conjointly as the brainchild of Jesse H. Jones, and designed by Alfr ...
which was the main music venue for the city at the time. The hall was named in honor of Ezekiel W. Cullen, a
congressman for the
Republic of Texas, and the grandfather of then University of Houston Regent
Hugh Roy Cullen
Hugh Roy Cullen (July 3, 1881 – July 4, 1957) was an American industrialist and philanthropist. Cullen was heavily involved in the petroleum industry having struck oil near Texas in 1928. He was a large supporter of multiple educational institu ...
who was the principal donor to the project.
The university hired native Houston architect Alfred C. Finn to design the building. In order to give the building a classical look, Finn designed the building with long wings and regularly spaced
pilaster
In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...
s.
The dedication of the Cullen Performance Hall was held in conjunction with the Ezekiel W. Cullen Building on
Halloween of 1950. For the dedication, conductor
Efrem Kurtz Efrem Kurtz (russian: Ефрем Курц; November 7, 1900June 27, 1995) was a Russian conductor.
Life and career
Kurtz was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He studied at the Saint Petersburg conservatory with Alexander Glazunov and Nikolai Tch ...
directed the
Houston Symphony Orchestra
The Houston Symphony is an American orchestra based in Houston, Texas. The orchestra is resident at the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts.
History
The first concert of what was to become the Houston Symphony took place on June 21, 1 ...
, and H.R. Cullen gave a speech.
In 1988, the facility received complete renovations.
Past events
Music
Artists who have appeared at Cullen Performance Hall include
Depeche Mode,
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to eme ...
,
Los Lobos,
Tori Amos
Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...
,
Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance are an Australian music duo first established in Melbourne. Currently composed of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, the group formed in 1981. They relocated to London the following year. Australian music historian Ian McFarlane des ...
,
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. Chapman is best known for her hit singles "Fast Car" and "Give Me One Reason".
Chapman was signed to Elektra Records by Bob Krasnow in 1987. The following year she released ...
,
Kronos Quartet
The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classic ...
,
Djavan,
Rick Braun
Rick Braun (born July 6, 1955) is a smooth jazz trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone and keyboards player, vocalist, composer, and record producer.
Career
Braun was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and attended Dieruff High School. His mother was a se ...
,
Jonathan Butler
Jonathan Kenneth Butler (born 10 October 1961) is a South African singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music is often classified as R&B, jazz fusion or worship music.
Biography
Born and raised in Athlone, Cape Town, South Africa, during Apa ...
,
Richard Elliot
Richard Elliot (born January 16, 1960) is a Scottish-born American saxophonist. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards for '' Summer Horns''.
Career
Elliot started out as a member ...
,
Peter White,
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...
,
The Clash
The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...
, and the
Ramones.
Lectures
Rapper and political activist
Chuck D spoke at a public lecture at Cullen Performance Hall in 2006. Filmmaker
Charles Burnett discussed his 1978 film ''
Killer of Sheep
''Killer of Sheep'' is a 1978 American drama film edited, filmed, written, produced, and directed by Charles Burnett. Shot primarily in 1972 and 1973, it was originally submitted by Burnett to the UCLA School of Film in 1977 as his Master of Fi ...
'' there in 2008, while
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...
spoke there in 2004. Nobel laureates
James D. Watson
James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he co-authored with Francis Crick the academic paper proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. Watson, Crick and ...
and
Eric Kandel
Eric Richard Kandel (; born Erich Richard Kandel, November 7, 1929) is an Austrian-born American medical doctor who specialized in psychiatry, a neuroscientist and a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the College of Physicians and Surge ...
lectured at the hall in 2007, and were moderated by
Ferid Murad
Ferid Murad (born September 14, 1936) is an American physician and pharmacologist, and a co-winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Early life
Murad was born in Whiting, Indiana. His parents were Henrietta Josephine Bowm ...
. Also in 2007, inventor and futurist
Raymond Kurzweil
Raymond Kurzweil ( ; born February 12, 1948) is an American computer scientist, author, inventor, and futurist. He is involved in fields such as optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and e ...
presented UH's 2007 Farfel Distinguished Lecture at the location. Academic scholar
Cornel West
Cornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953) is an American philosopher, political activist, social critic, actor, and public intellectual. The grandson of a Baptist minister, West focuses on the role of race, gender, and class in American society an ...
lectured on race relations as a guest of the university's
Graduate College of Social Work in 2005.
Other
ESPN's ''
College GameDay'' broadcast from outside of the Cullen Performance Hall when they came to the University of Houston campus to cover the #8 Houston team compete against
SMU from November 18–19, 2011.
References
External links
Cullen Performance HallUniversity of Houston
{{University of Houston
University of Houston campus
Music venues in Houston
Concert halls in Texas
Music venues completed in 1950
Art Deco architecture in Texas
1950 establishments in Texas