Music Building Project
Haverford College’s new facility for music education, rehearsal, and performance will improve and enhance the campus community’s longstanding and robust engagement with the musical arts. As the concluding project funded by the Lives that Speak: The Campaign for Haverford, the renovation of Roberts Hall for the BiCo Music program is the culmination of a simultaneous lift across Founders Green to renovate core academic spaces. With expected completion in Fall 2021, the new home for Music will feature the Michael Jaharis Recital Hall, an acoustically and visually inspiring space worthy of our talented music students and Faculty, and a draw for musicians and community beyond campus.
Situated on ground adjacent to Roberts Hall (which will also see renovation to select spaces), the new home for music will both overcome limitations arising from the program’s current location (Union Hall) and enable new opportunities to arise. Key features of the project include:
The Michael Jaharis Concert Hall
The most spectacular feature will be the Michael Jaharis Concert Hall. It will be a rehearsal, instructional, and performance space for the Bi-Co student orchestra, Bi-Co Chorale, Bi-Co Chamber Singers, chamber ensembles, and guest recitalists. Designed to accomodate 100 guests, its glass backdrop will provide a panoramic view of the main entrance of campus with a vista of the Duck Pond and its surrounding landscape.
Classroom
In an area connecting Roberts Hall to Marshall Auditorium, a new 35-person classroom space will be equipped with modern technology for the study of music.
Practice Rooms & Rehearsal Space
Six individual practice rooms will serve individual musicians as well as small ensembles. The new practice rooms will be located on the lower level of Roberts Hall. A quartet ensemble room will support chamber music coaching and rehearsing.
Music Library & Gathering Space
In the renovated lower level of Roberts Hall, the music library will feature a large stack area for compact shelving to contain all of our holdings, including scores and sound recordings as well as a quiet reading room. A collaborative reading room/lobby will connect the lower level of Roberts Hall to the new Jaharis Hall. This open, inviting space will welcome community members before and after concerts while serving as a social hub for community members on an ongoing basis.
Faculty & Administrative Offices
Six faculty offices will sit within the renovated space behind Marshall Auditorium, with a seventh on the lower level of Roberts Hall. The support staff for the Department of Music will share an office on the renovated lower level of Roberts Hall, near the music librarian.
Music Storage
On the lower level of Roberts Hall, students will be able to stow their instruments in a large temperature- and humidity-controlled space with lockers and storage units. A second music storage space outside Jaharis Hall will contain percussion instruments, harps, double basses, and historic keyboard instruments.
Beam Rising
Contact
rfreedma [at] haverford.edu (Richard Freedman)
Professor of Music
John C. Whitehead '43 Professor of Humanities
Associate Provost for Curricular Development
Timelapse Construction Video
Floorplans
Level One
Level Two
