The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, in downtown

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, hosts a variety of

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

, such as touring Broadway musicals, orchestra, opera, and cultural performers, and produces local musicals. It is home to several local arts organizations, including the

Minnesota Opera Minnesota Opera is a performance organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was founded as the Center Opera Company in 1963 by the Walker Art Center, and is known for premiering such diverse works as ''Where the Wild Things Are'' by Oliver ...

, The

Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) is a full-time professional chamber orchestra based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In collaboration with five Artistic Partners, the orchestra's musicians present more than 130 concerts and educational programs ea ...

, and The

Schubert Club The Schubert Club, established in 1882, is a non-profit arts organization in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, that promotes the art of music, particularly recital music. Schubert Club Museum of Musical Instruments The Club operates the Sc ...

. The president and CEO, Christopher Harrington, has served since November 2021, and Producing Artistic Director Rod Kaats has been with the Ordway since February 2018.

History

In 1980, Saint Paul resident Sally Ordway Irvine (a 3M heiress and arts patron) dreamed of a European-style concert hall offering "everything from opera to the Russian circus." She contributed $7.5 million—a sum matched by other members of the Ordway family—toward the cost of the facility. Fifteen

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...

corporations and foundations were the principal funders of the $46 million complex, the most expensive privately funded arts facility ever built in the state. Saint Paul native

Benjamin Thompson Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, FRS (german: Reichsgraf von Rumford; March 26, 1753August 21, 1814) was an American-born British physicist and inventor whose challenges to established physical theory were part of the 19th-century revolut ...

, whose other projects included the

Faneuil Hall Faneuil Hall ( or ; previously ) is a marketplace and meeting hall located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, in Boston, Massachusetts. Opened in 1742, it was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and others ...

renovation in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and

South Street Seaport The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, centered where Fulton Street meets the East River, and adjacent to the Financial District, in Lower Manhattan. The Seaport is a designated historic district ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, was selected to design a building that would project "a visible contemporary image" but would also fit harmoniously on a site facing

Rice Park Rice Park is a public park in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Features of the park include a fountain, a bandstand, sculptures of characters from the ''Peanuts'' cartoons and an ice-rink during the winter months. Rice Park is on ...

, a block-square park framed by historic buildings. As designed by Thompson, Ordway Center (originally named Ordway Music Theatre) contained a 1,900-seat Music Theater; an intimate McKnight Theatre (306 seats); two large rehearsal rooms; and the Marzitelli Foyer, a spacious two-story lobby with a glass curtain-wall through which theatergoers enjoy a sweeping panorama of Rice Park, its surrounding buildings, and, in the distance, the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. The McKnight Theatre was demolished in 2013 to make room for the new 1,093-seat Concert Hall, which opened on February 28, 2015. The Ordway Center opened to the public on January 1, 1985, as Ordway Music Theatre. The name was changed in 2000 to reflect the vast array of performing arts that take place under its roof. Ordway Center for the Performing Arts serves 400,000 people annually with nearly 500 performances in musical theater, children’s theater, world music and dance, orchestra, opera, and recitals.

About the building

Ordway Center contains the 1,910-seat Music Theater, the 1,100-seat Concert Hall, two large rehearsal halls, and lobbies on each floor, including the second-floor Marzitelli Foyer, a spacious, two-story lobby encircled by a glass facade.

Interior

Exterior

References

External links

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts
{{Authority control Arts organizations based in Saint Paul, Minnesota Minneapolis–Saint Paul Music venues in Minnesota Theatres in Minnesota Buildings and structures in Saint Paul, Minnesota Culture of Saint Paul, Minnesota Performing arts centers in Minnesota Theatres completed in 1985 1985 establishments in Minnesota