The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts opened to the public Thursday. People pushed vacuums, roaring over the new carpets as I entered the H-E-B Performance Hall. I spoke to San Antonio Symphony General Manager David Gross.
“All right, it’s come down to this, what do you think?” I said.
“We're very, very excited," Gross replied. "This is a game-changing moment for the arts in San Antonio.”
The McNay Museum’s William Chiego agreed.
“The colors and the shape and the amount of space is just beautiful,” Chiego said.
Suddenly, the San Antonio Symphony broke into music and I took my seat.
Before long the Tobin Endowment’s Bruce Bugg took the stage to acknowledge the people who turned the Municipal Auditorium into the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.
“Good Morning. Welcome to the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts!" Bugg said.
The stage was filled with not just musicians, but the movers and shakers in government and business who created the $203 million hall. About a quarter of that cost was raised privately, and the rest a city/county collaboration. Bugg elaborated on that union.
“What had never really been done was trying to pull the resources together from the county and the city, but (also) bringing the private sector into this,” Bugg said.
To rousing applause, an uncharacteristically serious Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff followed:
“Today, on the banks of the San Antonio River, we dedicate a building for the ages,” Wolff said.
And so they did in front of the several thousand enthusiastic arts lovers. The San Antonio Symphony, Ballet San Antonio and the Opera San Antonio finished the day off with a night performance.
Today Lynryd Skynyrd takes the stage and on Saturday it’s the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio. And so begins the run of the Tobin Center.
- For more on the Tobin Center visit: www.tobincenter.org
