In-Depth

Joshua Cushner is a principal at Arup, an organization of architects, engineers and specialists in the construction industry. Cushner was the lead acoustician for the renovation of Northrop, which re-opened in 2014. He led a team of theater, acoustic, and technology designers from offices in New York and San Francisco. Ahead of the Minnesota Orchestra Celebrating Northrop’s Restored Pipe Organ events Oct 12-13, we asked Cushner specifically about his work with the historic instrument as part of the remodel. He explains:

From 2008 to completion of construction in 2014, I was part of a team that transformed Northrop by honoring its past and creating its new future. We began with a single page of ambitions, as envisioned by Steven Rosenstone and team, and were given wide leeway to create a new jewel within the envelope of the old Northrop building. From the start, it was clear that the new building had to still ‘feel like Northrop’ but perform at a world-class level. 

After studying a range of possible forms and shapes, our team agreed on a three-balcony horseshoe arrangement for the theater that would suit the project best. This brought more than 80 percent of the seats within 100 feet of the stage, giving patrons the ability to see gestures and facial expressions of performers but maintaining proper room volume for great concert acoustics. This careful balance of visual and acoustic intimacy is accomplished in very few venues of this size.

Once the basic form was set, we were tasked to determine how the famed Northrop Pipe Organ would be re-inserted into the venue. For this work, we called upon Jack Bethards from Schoenstein & Co., a renowned organ builder located only a few towns from our San Francisco office. Jack is a master at his craft, and he helped us integrate the great instrument into the new venue with confidence. We kept the primary voicing pipes in their historic location above the stage, and were able to move the largest ranks to the sides of the proscenium where they can fill the new Northrop with a great roar. 

Many variations of the room and pipe organ designs were auditioned in the Arup SoundLabs in New York and San Francisco, which allowed our team to render full 3-D soundscapes from our detailed computer model. This provided our team with an augmented reality experience of Northrop prior to construction – giving us the tools necessary to shape and craft the final sound. 

As you experience this great inaugural concert of the Northrop Pipe Organ with the Minnesota Orchestra, I invite you to listen to the clarity of the ranks, be amazed by the envelopment of the room, and feel the raw power of this great instrument.

How far would you travel to see great Latin dance? To Cuba? To Mexico? To Spain? How about to Iowa? This spring, my co-workers and I traveled to Des Moines, Iowa, to experience the varied and cross-cultural works of Ballet Hispánico. The company had several events, an evening performance and a matinee at the Des Moines Performing Arts center. It was a chance for us to see the company’s work before they open Northrop’s 2018-19 Dance Season on Thu, Oct 4. 

Minnesota audiences are in for a treat as Ballet Hispánico makes its debut on Northrop’s stage with a program curated specifically around Latina choreographers. While the company is more than four decades old and presents works that explore many Spanish-speaking cultures, Northrop’s performance will have a decidedly feminine flair. The performance we attended in Des Moines included four excerpted pieces, two by male choreographers (including Ballet Hispanico’s Artistic Director and CEO Eduardo Vilaro) and two by female choreographers who will be featured at Northrop: Mexican-American choreographer Michelle Manzanales’ Con Brazos Abiertos (With Open Arms) and Belgian-Colombian choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Línea Recta (Straight Line)

Mexican-American choreographer Michelle Manzanales grew up in Texas and explores her “identity struggle” feeling trapped between two cultures—in Con Brazos Abiertos (With Open Arms). The contemporary piece incorporates humor, multimedia clips and pop cultural references to visually move dancers between Mexican and American lifestyles. Audiences will enjoy the playful nature of this piece as well as the complexity of the different cultures. We heard a Selena clip: “We got to know about Oprah and Christina … We got to prove to the Mexicans how Mexican we are, and we have to prove to the Americans how American we are … It’s exhausting.” A later excerpt of a solo dancer with a sombrero captures how these two worlds combine as a poem titled Mira Me (Look at Me) is read in voiceover.

Ochoa’s 2013 piece, Sombrerísimo, is part of Ballet Hispánico’s Oct 4 performance and allows the company’s male dancers to show off their technical skills and have some fun with this sexy, surrealist work that references painter René Magritte, famous for his paintings of men in bowler hats.

Ochoa’s Linea Recta, which I also observed in Iowa,will be part of the matinee program at Northrop on Oct 5. Flamenco dance from Spain, which Ochoa studied as a child, and fado traditional folk dance from Portugal help inform Línea Recta, with its emphasis on a female leading a troop of male dancers and striking red costumes that pop against the stage. A long, red, feathery train on the female dancer’s dress acts as yet another dancer on stage as the dancers spin, swirl and step over the flowing prop in graceful movements. In a different movement, dancers interact with folding fans that hide their faces but help put the focus on the choreography. Overall, the long, lean lines of the fans, the fingers, and the formations fit the title for Linea Recta perfectly.  

The final piece of the Oct 4 performance is Tania Perez-Salas’3. Catorce Dieciséis, which reflects on the circularity of life and movement reflected in the number Pi. I’m looking forward to seeing what cultures and lands we may visit with that performance as well.