 |
||
 |
|
|
By Matthew Westphal
20 Mar 2007
Verizon Wireless, the largest wireless phone company in the U.S., has acquired the naming rights for the new 12,000-seat amphitheater to be operated by the Atlanta Symphony in the city's northern suburbs.
The Verizon Wireless Amphitheater at Encore Park — designed by KKE Architects of Minneapolis, with landscaping and master planning by Sasaki Associates of Watertown, Massachusetts — will be located on 45 acres of land in Alpharetta, outside Atlanta in northern Fulton County. The venue will seat about 7,000 under a fan-shaped roof of translucent fabric, with space for another 5,000 on a lawn area. Groundbreaking is planned for early this summer, and the venue is scheduled to open in May of 2008. Some architect's renderings of the amphitheater are below.
The amount of the donation made to the orchestra by Verizon Wireless in exchange for naming rights was not disclosed.
With the opening of the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater at Encore Park, the Atlanta Symphony will become the only orchestra in the U.S. to operate two major amphitheaters: since the early 1970s the ensemble has presented performances at Chastain Park Amphitheater, a 6,500-seat venue in an outlying Atlanta neighborhood. Programming at Encore and Chastain Parks should be broadly similar — mainly pop music, with some family events and classical performances as well.
 |
|
|
|
Send questions and comments to the Webmaster
Copyright © 2008 Playbill, Inc. All Rights Reserved.