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The EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts is an arts venue in Calgary, Alberta. It was officially opened on 14th September 1985 by the then Alberta premier, Peter Lougheed. Through funding from Edmonton, Alberta based EPCOR, the name was changed from The Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts on 1st May 2001.
The oldest part of the Centre is the Burns Building, named after noted Calgarian Patrick Burns. Construction on it began in April 1912, and originally cost $350,000. In around 1980 the demolition of the Burns Building became a possibility, because it was on land needed for the construction of the Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts. The proposal for demolition of it and the Calgary Public Building was defeated by one City Council vote, and the two buildings were incorporated into the plan of the Centre.
The Calgary Public Building was built between 1930 and 1931; its original cost is estimated between 1.5 and 2 million dollars. This building was officially opened on 24th August 1931 by Prime Minister R.B. Bennett in a low-key ceremony. In 1979 the building was bought by the City of Calgary for $3.8 million. The upper floors of the Calgary Public Building are still occupied by City of Calgary offices.
The Jack Singer Concert Hall is the largest building in the Centre. It can seat 1,700 to 2,000 people, and is said to be a synthesis of some of the world's finest concert halls (the Musikverein, Vienna, the Symphony Hall, Boston, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam). Suspended above the stage is a 185,000-pound laminated spruce-wood acoustical canopy, which can be raised or lowered to tune the hall according to the specific needs of each performer. The Jack Singer Concert Hall is the permanent home of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, which employs 64 full-time musicians, and also houses the 6,040-pipe Carthy Organ.
There are four other performing arts theatres within the Centre: the Max Bell is home to Theatre Calgary, the Martha Cohen Theatre is home to Alberta Theatre Projects (ATP), the Big Secret Theatre is home to One Yellow Rabbit, and The Engineered Air Theatre is used for plays, weddings, receptions, and galas.
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