Northshore Magazine

144 "When we designed the acoustics in this amazing new building, we were faced with some special challenges," he says. "Given its unusual location and unique design, we had to make sure that concert- goers would not hear foghorns, helicop- ters, kids playing on the beach, or any of the sounds of the street." Introduced to national acclaim in 2010, the remarkable home of Rockport Music is an exuberant Victorian build- ing that looks perfectly at home amid the 19 th -century mercantile buildings that line this stretch of Main Street. Inside is a ravishing 330-seat concert hall—its east-facing window-wall overlooks the ocean, a nearby beach, and the rocky shoreline. Best of all, the acoustics are so finely tuned that The New York Times once had a music critic declare that they simply could not be improved upon. Audiences agree; four years into its new life, the building continues to act as a magnet for music lovers from all over eastern Massachusetts and far beyond. Whether the venue is classical music, jazz, folk, or world music, they rave about the concert hall's sound. They are equally enthusias- tic about the way it looks. Named after a generous and music- minded benefactress, the Shalin Liu Per- formance Center is an inspired collabora- tion between Kirkegaard and architects Alan Joslin and Deborah Epstein of Ep- stein Joslin Architects, Inc., in Cambridge. Rockport Music, which started life in 1981 as the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Internationally known acoustician Larry Kirkegaard was working on his latest project, Rockport's Shalin Liu Performance Center, when he learned that one of the local workmen had a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Would he take a spin past the new concert hall sometime, Kirkegaard wondered. The worker obliged, and then some: He and a pack of friends rode their bikes up Main Street, revving their engines and creating a racket. Kirkegaard was delighted. had long ago outgrown its performance venue at the Rockport Art Association. Concertgoers used to hear the music seated on folding chairs in an 18th-century sea captain's house-cum-gallery. "Yet, something extraordinary hap- pened during all those years at the art association," says Joslin. "We employed a lot of tricks to ensure that we would not lose that remarkable intimacy between performers and audience." In 2005, when the organization stepped out on a limb with the decision to build a new concert hall, they put sound at the top of their priority list and began working with Kirkegaard. With offices in Chicago and Denver, he is renowned for the acoustics at London's Royal Festival Hall and the concert hall at the base of the Kuala Lumpur Petronas Twin Tow- ers, among other high-profile projects. Kirkegaard reached out to Alan Joslin. He and Joslin had designed the acclaimed Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts, and the Strathmore Con- cert Hall in Rockville, Maryland. Working with Joslin's wife and partner architect, Deborah Epstein, the three collaborated Prime Time Musicians couldn't ask for a more exceptional setting in which to perform. photograph by robert benson April14 Shalin Liu.indd 144 2/21/14 12:01 PM

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