Facilities
The combined performance facilities of the Jenson Hall of Music, the Center for Faith and Life, and the Center for the Arts give Luther an outstanding music complex.
Jenson-Noble Hall of Music
Jenson-Noble Hall of Music is an impressive place to study, rehearse, and perform. The building is home to the department office, the Weston H. Noble Recital Hall, three rehearsal halls, an organ studio, a piano lab, a percussion studio, faculty studios, 36 private practice rooms, and the Presser Music Laboratory. The decor of the main floor is intended to recall the old wharves of Bergen, Norway, the home of the composer Edvard Grieg and Norway’s “city of music”.
The Presser Music Laboratory includes 10 Macintosh PowerPCs with complete MIDI capabilities, notation software, and ear-training drills. The state-of-the-art studio contains direct-to-disk computer recording and editing facilities, CD-mastering hardware and software, and an extensive array of MIDI-sequencing of software and hardware, including a Kurzweil K2000 synthesizer with sampling capability.
The new Weston H. Noble Recital Hall was completed in 2002. The 325-seat state-of- the-art facility is used for faculty and student recitals.
The Center for Faith and Life
The Center for Faith and Life includes a 1,600-seat auditorium and a 200-seat recital hall. Both are used regularly as rehearsal and performance halls. Because of the many ways in which the auditorium space is utilized, it's imperative to have a versatile stage. The Center for Faith and Life's thrust stage consists of a stationary platform and a hydraulic lift. The platform and lift together are large enough for an orchestra of 85 and a seated choir of 200. The lift can be positioned at the stationary platform level for maximum stage area, at the auditorium floor level for additional seating, or lower than the stationary platform as an orchestra pit. The three canopies with transparent acrylic panels suspended above the stage are a part of the acoustical design of the hall and can be raised or lowered as preferred by various performance groups. The CFL also has a recital hall, which is used as a performance space for soloists and small ensembles. This area seats 160 with provision for 40 overflow seats.
The CFL auditorium houses the Rost Memorial Organ, a beautiful 62-rank, mechanical-action pipe organ. The organ was designed, built, and installed by Robert Sipe of Dallas in collaboration with William B. Kuhlman, college organist, and Paul Veneklasen, acoustical consultant for the main auditorium and recital hall. A 42-stop tracker-action instrument reflecting classical organ-building techniques in combination with current computer technology, the Rost organ contains 3,142 speaking pipes in 62 ranks, or sets of pipes, distributed over four keyboards, three played by the hands and one by the feet. The instrument is elegantly encased in the tradition of the Golden Age of Organ Building, the 17th century, although the architecture of the case is frankly contemporary in keeping with the basic architectural scheme of the Center for Faith and Life.
Center for the Arts
The 60,000-square-foot Center for the Arts provides classrooms, studios, performance facilities, offices and other education spaces for the college's visual arts and theatre/dance departments. Features include:
- the Jewel Theatre, a 225-seat black-box theatre;
- a fully equipped scene shop;
- a large costume construction area;
- a spacious dressing/make-up room;
- two studio spaces;
- the Sunnyside Cafe; and,
- numerous comfortable lounge areas for students to study and gather.
In addition, there are several classroom and rehearsal spaces for theatre/dance, music, and the visual arts; a shared arts media laboratory; and offices and studios for faculty members in art and theatre/dance. The department’s special classrooms such as pottery, computer art, drawing/painting, photography and fiber arts add to the energy of the Center.