Northrop Auditorium Tickets

Northrop Auditorium
The massive 1929 structure with huge interior, the Northrop Auditorium, is a venue that hosts a variety of acts. Jazz and dance are the mainstays, but indie rock and contemporary Christian musicians also perform here, whereas, visiting lecturers and stand-up comics also fill the stroboscopic light.

In short, the Northrop Auditorium is responsible for presenting the finest in ballet, ethnic and contemporary dance, jazz, popular music, entertainment headliners and more.

Cyrus Northrop Memorial Auditorium, or simply the Northrop Auditorium, is a stage venue situated at the University of Minnesota's Minneapolis campus. It was built in 1929 and is named in honor of Cyrus Northrop who was the second president of the University from 1884 to 1911.

Since its opening, the auditorium at once became the University's central ceremonial site with commencements, lectures, convocations, and performances. A sizable pipe organ was installed in the building over the course of three or four years beginning in 1932.

It is one of the largest organs built by Aeolian-Skinner that still exists, although the exact size seems to be in dispute. A conservative count records 81 stops, 108 ranks, and 6,963 pipes.

The early years revolved around the University Artists Course, which featured a wealth of classical music by such noted artists as Sergei Rachmaninoff, Igor Stravinsky, Vladimir Horowitz, and Marian Anderson.

The Summer at Northrop free outdoor concerts have been a popular University tradition since 1954. From the time of construction until 1974, the building served as home of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, today known as the Minnesota Orchestra.

The first dance performance at Northrop was given on January 12, 1932, by the modern dance pioneer Mary Wigman. The Metropolitan Opera performed there until 1986, whereas, today, the university's marching band regularly uses the building in the fall semester.

The Northrop Dance Season began in 1970-71 with a commitment to become one of the country's premier presenters of national and international ballet, contemporary, and cultural dance companies.

The dance tradition has prospered with performances by such greats as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolf Nureyev, The Royal Ballet of England, National Ballet of Canada, Bolshoi and Kirov Ballets, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Twyla Tharp Dance Company, and Pilobolus Dance Theatre.

Northrop Jazz Season was launched in 1993, offering concert hall performances as a complement to the lively Twin Cities club jazz scene.

Since its inception, the series has featured such acclaimed artists as Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, and James Carter, Herbie Hancock, Buena Vista Social Club, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Mingus Big Band, and the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Ramsey Lewis, Roy Haynes, Ravi Coltrane, and Pat Metheny.

Lectures have also been a strong dimension through the years. Gideon Seymour lectures once featured T.S. Eliot and Robert Frost. John Garnder inaugurated the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affair's Distinguished Carlson lectures that have been ongoing since 1980 with presentations by dignitaries including Walter Mondale, Coretta Scott King, Will Steeger, Eduard Shevardnadze, Toni Morrison, Elie Wiesel, and Tom Brokaw.

Northrop was designed by Clarence H. Johnston, who was also the architect of Morrill Hall, Folwell Hall, Johnston Hall, Walter Library and the row of flats on St. Paul's Summit Avenue. Donations by University students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends funded the $1.35 million construction which has a seating capacity for approximately 4,850 people.

This huge and massive building sits at the north end of Northrop Mall, a grassy area of the core campus which is lined with physics, mathematics, chemistry, and administration buildings, plus Walter Library.

Today, Cyrus Northrop Memorial Auditorium on the University of Minnesota"s Minneapolis campus houses one of the finest examples of a late-romantic concert hall pipe organ in the United States.

Come and pay a visit to this outstanding and most ravishing building and experience an example of a true piece of art! Get your tickets for the upcoming events which are going to be held at the Northrop Auditorium.