www.flickr.com
Listen Now to WYEP’s Pittsburgh Performance Project audio profile of Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland


Carnegie Music Hall   www.carnegiemuseums.org


Carnegie Hall Interior
Symphony performace inside Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland.
Image courtesy Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.

"Back in 1897, with all pipes working it must have stopped traffic on Forbes Avenue if those doors were open. It is an amazing sound." – Eileen Twigger, Special Events Manager, on the Carnegie Music Hall’s original Aeolian Skinner pipe organ

Despite the loss of the Syria Mosque, another grand structure still stands in Oakland as a home for live music in a lush setting. Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Music Hall was built in 1895, five years after its famous cousin in New York City, with 1,950 seats, a storied stage and near-perfect acoustics.

Crawford Grill 2 Map

Part of the original Carnegie Library building that opened on March 30, 1895, the Music Hall is a stunning example of the wealth and generosity of philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Its grand foyer, added in 1907, boasts a soaring 50 foot ceiling of gilded baroque décor, supported by pillars of marble from five different countries.

The Music Hall was the first home of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the venue was well suited for classical performances from the likes of Sergei Rachmaninoff and Luciano Pavarotti. A jazz institution has also claimed the Hall as its home. The Pitt Jazz Seminar was started in 1970 and has featured performances by Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Mann, and Grover Washington, Jr., continuing to delight audiences to this day.