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Rozsa Center dedicated with pomp, concerts
By Joe Kirkish
for Keweenaw Today
10/12/2000
HOUGHTON ’Äî It was cultural gout last week at the newly opened Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts. The administrators at Michigan Tech, from those personally responsible for the management of the
center all the way up to President Tompkins and the MTU Board, went all out to make this the opening of the decade. Nothing was spared to make it the social event of the year.
And what an opening event it was! On October 4 the architect and the designer of the complex and the theatre explained their highly original oeuvre with slides and lecture in the theatre.
On October 5, also in the theatre, was the formal dedication, which included an impressive symphonic score by Dr. Milton Ollson, head of Tech's Fine Arts
Department. The dedication itself required dozens of thank-yous to everyone from the Rozsas themselves* to many other donors, influential politicians, members of the MTU Board of Control, etc.
At a sumptuous banquet following the dedication, more introductions, necessary appreciations and exchanges of gifts continued the ceremony a long
way into the night, while a visit from Tech's Echoes from Heaven Gospel Choir helped lighten the event.
Friday brought Grand Rapids pianist James Tocco to the stage with an
appealing concert of relatively light classics, and Saturday a filled theatre listened to more congratulatory remarks. This time they came from Grand
Rapids associates, including the mayor himself, who proclaimed the day as "Michigan Tech Day" in his city. The concert, appropriately, featured the Grand
Rapids Symphony playing familiar classics to a very appreciative audience.
But that was just the start of the entertainment. All this week, beginning at
12:15 p.m., there are mini-concerts in the lobby of the theatre. Like all of the above, they are free and open to the public.
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’ÄúKausay,’Äù (a Quechua word meaning ’Äúlife’Äù) played and sang music of the Andes’Äîfrom
Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia’Äîin the lobby of Michigan Tech’Äôs new Rozsa Center Wednesday, October 11. From left are Fausto Lema on percussion, Pablo Maldonado playing sampoˆ±a (panpipes), Luis Lema on the charango and Alex Ruiz on guitar. All
four are from Peguche, Ecuador. (Photo by Michele Anderson) |
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But those bare bones hardly relay the excitement generated, the overwhelming approval of the guests’Äîboth general public and invited
personages, all dressed to the nines each night’Äîand the impressive, professional manner in which the executors of the festivities presented
everything from the performances to the refreshments afterwards. The newly completed building’Äîwhich is a grand structure of glass, dark metal and bricks
outside and appropriately colorful and dramatically opulent inside’Äîsparkled like a freshly polished gem.
Careful rehearsal with the personnel (student ushers, technicians, etc.) made
the complex effort seamlessly a smooth flow to orchestrate hundreds of visitors each night into and out of the theatre with ease and to light the place and control
the amplified sounds as professionally as possible for this newly created service. Impressive is the word that comes to mind.
As would be expected, there were a few minor glitches. Lighting and sound cues didn't always operate as expected. Some guests complained about the
acoustics ("too tinny," "too boomey," etc.), and some in the extreme front or the far back row were unhappy with their seating. It seems the huge, 1100-seat
auditorium, while excitingly shaped in its broad expanse and lengthy, gently sloping level, made it difficult at times to appreciate everything appearing onstage.
For all that, the new center is an exceptional complex, with state of the art equipment and a stage large enough to hold the most demanding groups within
its hugeness. The general public is obviously pleased with it; tickets are rapidly selling out for an array of concerts that dip strongly into the more popular
performing arts’Äîinternational ethnic groups, pop music from Country Western to jazz and blues, and novelty acts. A few classical events are planned, and
along with music from MTU's cache, will, to some extent, balance out the range of programming. Guest lectures on a variety of topics are also planned.
There's no getting around it; the MTU Rozsa Center is impressive in every way, is managed by capable, talented managers and promises to supply
entertainment for the Copper Country and beyond for a long, long time to come.
More photos of Kausay ...
*Editor’Äôs Note: Michigan Tech’Äôs new Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts is named for Ted and Lola Rozsa of Calgary, Alberta, whose initial gift
encouraged others to provide financial support for the Center. These include Bob and Virginia Horner of Bay Harbor, Michigan; Jim and Verle Klungness of
Spread Eagle, Wisconsin; and representatives of the late James and Margaret Black of East Grand Rapids. Calumet native Dr. William Ivey, chairman of the
National Endowment for the Arts, gave the keynote address at the October 5 dedication.
Guest columnist Joe Kirkish, of Houghton, is a retired Michigan Tech University professor of communications, photographer and film and theater critic.
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