Handsome, spacious and full of natural light, with a total of 22,000 square feet on three levels, the new Zimmermann Symphony Center expands the symphony's options considerably.

While the Canton Symphony’s concerts at Umstattd Hall impress with their elegance and precision, behind the scenes, the orchestra’s operations have been somewhat less impeccable.

For decades, the esteemed Maestro Gerhardt Zimmermann’s dressing room has been a cramped space with a sink, a bathroom, a noisy fan and a single reclining chair.

Prior to concerts, the male musicians’ dressing room has been the McKinley High School band room with paper taped over the windows for privacy. The female musicians have gotten ready in a dark basement storage room.

Meanwhile, the orchestra’s eight-member administrative staff has been squeezed into a windowless upper-level space at the Cultural Center for the Arts that was intended as storage for Cable Recital Hall. The microwave is housed in the single restroom.

A NEW ERA

Now everything has changed, with the completion of the $5.4 million Zimmermann Symphony Center on the southwest corner of McKinley High School.

Handsome, spacious and full of natural light, with a total of 22,000 square feet on three levels, the facility expands the symphony’s options considerably.

“It’s much larger than I thought it would be,” Zimmermann said during a patrons’ preview Monday afternoon. “What I love is all the windows. And that everything is under the same roof.”

Having his name above the front door “is a little humbling,” Zimmermann said. “I’m glad they named it after me while I’m still alive.”

At this new facility, Zimmermann, the orchestra’s musicians and guest artists have comfortable dressing rooms. The administrative staff has an expansive suite of offices with large windows everywhere, two restrooms and a kitchen.

There is a music library, a board room, two large storage rooms, a reception desk, an audio-visual engineering studio, a gallery space for exhibits and an elevator connecting the center’s three levels. There is a new lobby for concert attendees, and a 250-capacity Foundation Hall with wood floors, high ceiling and a curved wall of windows where receptions, dinners and recitals can be held.

‘FULLER EXPERIENCE’

“It’s a dream that’s been a long time in the making,” Michelle Mullaly, Canton Symphony’s executive director said. “We’ll be able to have events before and after concerts and offer people a much fuller experience than sitting in a high-school hall and going home.”

The expansion of the offices will allow interns to utilize the symphony staff, Mullaly said. A tech club allows McKinley students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with sound, lighting and cameras at symphony concerts.

Bob Leibensperger was co-chairman of the fundraising campaign for the Zimmermann Center, which raised $5.4 million from foundation, corporations, individual donors and symphony board members.

“An arts-marketing study done in 2000 concluded that the symphony needed a new performing-arts hall. But everything we looked at would have been about $30 million,” Leibensperger said.

Instead, by constructing the Zimmermann Symphony Center, and installing new seats, carpeting, lighting and a hearing loop inside Umstattd Hall, “we came up with a $5-million solution to a $30-million problem.” McKinley High School students will benefit from the refurbished auditorium, he noted.

A gala opening for the new center will be held Oct. 5, when a concert titled “A Grand Beginning” launches the Canton Symphony’s 2014-15 season.

Reach Dan at 330-580-8306 or dan.kane@cantonrep.com.

On Twitter: @dkaneREP