UBC Opera celebrates the Old Auditorium’s first 100 years on October 14

Saved from demolition in the late ’90s, the venerable concert hall has played host to notable names including Eleanor Roosevelt and Dylan Thomas

By JOHn LUCAS

UBC’s Old Auditorium after its 2010 renovation (left, Brian Hawkes photo) and UBC Opera’s 2013 production of Tales of Hoffman (Tim Matheson photo).

UBC Opera presents 100 Years of the Old Auditorium at UBC’s Old Auditorium on October 14 at 7 pm

THE OLD AUDITORIUM has been referred to by that moniker for so long that there are likely very few people left who remember when it was simply called the UBC Auditorium. Celebrating its 100th birthday this year, the Old Aud has certainly earned its nickname.

Paul Robeson

Opened on October 14, 1925, the venue—designed in Collegiate Gothic style and boasting 522 seats and a 50-seat orchestra pit—has, over the course of its first century, hosted a wide array of performers and other important figures, from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and singer, actor, and activist Paul Robeson to poet Dylan Thomas and UBC alumni such as Judith Forst and Ben Heppner.

The Old Aud is also home to the UBC Opera Ensemble, which has presented a number of mainstage productions there, including Manon, Hansel and Gretel, Tosca, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and The Cunning Little Vixen.

By the late 20th century, however, the venerable auditorium was showing its age, and had deteriorated to such an extent that the building was slated for demolition in 1997.

The University of British Columbia Magazine quotes UBC Opera director Nancy Hermiston as saying, “Opera students and I had been rehearsing and performing there, and it was in very bad condition—but we loved it! We tried to protest and tried to convince people not to tear this beautiful old theatre down with its rich history.”

Demolishing the Old Aud and replacing it with something new and soulless would have been a very Vancouver thing to do, of course, but good sense eventually prevailed. UBC’s then-president Martha Piper saved the building, and her successor, Stephen Toope, found the funding for an extensive renovation that returned the hall to its former glory.

To mark the Old Auditorium’s 100th anniversary on October 14, the venue will host an event that includes stories from the Old Aud’s history and excerpts from shows performed there over the past century, featuring the UBC Opera Ensemble, joined by many alumni from the opera program.

If that’s not enough, there’s also cake—presumably one big enough to hold 100 candles.

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