April 8, 1957: Concertgoers help test Jubilee Auditorium acoustics
The $4.5-million Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium underwent its first acoustical test and the 2,000 concertgoers who attended agreed that it passed with honours.
The invitation-only audience heard a 100-piece orchestra, a 180-voice choir and a solo violin test the hall for its response to all types of music.
The orchestra was conducted by Lee Hepner, conductor of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.
Fifteen music and sound experts from across North America also attended.
Professor Vern O. Knudson, dean of physics at the University of California, said while the hall might not be perfect for any one type of music acoustically, it achieved a very good compromise. He said the hall’s reverberation qualities were “a little better than the Royal Festival Hall,” in London.
Leo Beranek of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said: “Concertgoers could have no complaints against this hall.”
Beranek said a little more reverberation would be desirable for musical performances, but this would make it unsatisfactory for other purposes.
“It’s an all-purpose hall and for that, it is extremely good.”
The original site for the Jube, as it is commonly known, was McDougall Hill, east of 101st Street, according to the auditorium’s website. The final site, at 114th Street and 87th Avenue, was chosen Aug. 10, 1954.
“The building materials originally chosen were not tested for Alberta’s extreme climate,” the website notes. “As a result, construction slowed down considerably when materials not durable enough needed to be replaced!”
The building and its Calgary counterpart, the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, were built in 1955 to celebrate the province’s 50th anniversary. Fifty years later, both were extensively renovated as part of Alberta’s centennial.
In January 2010, Pollstar — which provides concert tour information — declared the Jube the busiest theatre in Canada. It sold 146,555 tickets in 2009, ahead of both the Calgary Jubilee and Toronto’s Massey Hall.