After a $7.5 million renovation, Ardrey Memorial Auditorium will be reopening its doors on Sept. 15 for a free Grand Re-Opening Gala Concert, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Doors will open to the public at 7 p.m.
Festivities will include a ribbon cutting as well as performances fromt he Elden Brass Quintet, the NAU Symphony Orchestra, NAU Opera, the NAU Shrine of the Ages Choir, the NAU Choral Union and Orchestra, the NAU Wind Symphony and pianists Juhee Park and Francisco Naranjo.
Ardrey Memorial Auditorium houses the largest Austin Organ in the state and annually hosts the Curry Summer Music Camp, the Flagstaff Festival of Science keynote speaker and Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra performances. It is the largest performance venue of its kind in northern Arizona with 1,340 seats and hosting nearly 45,000 patrons each year.
Other big name performers who have performed at the auditorium include Billy Joel, Jerry Seinfeld, Willie Nelson, Ron White, Itzhak Perlman, Pilobolus Dance, Lulu Washington Dance Co., Lord of the Dance, Arizona Opera performing Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Vienna Boys Choir, the Flagstaff Spectrum Series, Paul Rusesabagina of Hotel Rwanda fame, Art Spiegelman, Spike Lee and David Sedaris.