3/17/97 Contact: Roger Stephens, School of Music, 614/593-4244

MEDIA ADVISORY: A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday (March 19) at the new rehearsal hall on the Music Building's lower level. President Robert Glidden, College of Fine Arts Interim Dean James Stewart, School of Music Director Roger Stephens and other officials will attend.

ATHENS, Ohio -- Ohio University School of Music faculty, staff and students will celebrate the opening of the music rehearsal hall during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 4 p.m. Wednesday (March 19) in the new building expansion on the Music Building's first-floor level.

The $1.1 million, 5,500-square-foot expansion adds a rehearsal room, storage space for instruments and uniforms, and a loading dock. The hall includes updated equipment, such as special musicians' chairs, choral risers, music stands and audio recording/playback equipment. Construction began 11 months ago.

School of Music Director Roger Stephens said instrumental and choral ensembles will begin using the rehearsal hall the first day of spring quarter. Though construction is complete, some acoustic details still must be finalized, he said. The asphalt access drive and exterior landscaping will be completed in April.

The new space marks the completion of the Phase I expansion of the Ohio University Music Building.

"Folks have been waiting for 25 years for this renovation," Stephens said. "This was in the original blueprints. We may be one of the only music schools in the country that has had to work without an adequate rehearsal space for so long."

The marching, varsity and university bands had used rehearsal, library and office space in Gordy Hall, the former music building, since the current Music Building was constructed in 1970. Gordy Hall now is undergoing renovation. Concert bands, the Symphony Orchestra and choral groups have been using Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium for rehearsals.

The Music Building expansion was designed by architects Bauer Stark + Lashbrook of Toledo. The architects also have done preliminary design work for a Phase II expansion, which would be an addition to the new rehearsal area. Phase II would include an 800- to 1,000-seat performing arts center, a recital hall, a recording studio, a percussion suite and a new lower-level main entrance to the building. The status of Phase II remains uncertain as the university looks at priorities for construction and renovation in the next 10 years.