Eduardo Mata is anxious as he pulls into the Meyerson parking lot for the DSO's first rehearsal there. And 25 years ago, KERA contributor Quin Mathews was in the car with him.
- Visit Secrets of the Meyerson to take a tour of the building, watch stakeholders answer five key questions, and take control of the acoustics (You can make the canopy and reverb chamber doors move.)
- The Meyerson continues its anniversary celebration all week.Here's a list of activities.
The Dallas Symphony hated the distant acoustics of its old home, the Music Hall at Fair Park…so much it went to an Oak Cliff church when it made recordings. And for 12 years music director Eduardo Mata patiently waited for a new hall made just for symphonic music.
"I welcomed the idea of this hall being small because I want a sense of intimacy when we’re performing there," Mata said. "So I cant wait to see it happening."
Then the day came. 1989: The first rehearsal in the Meyerson, Mata gave me a ride into the hall.
"I’m very nervous," he said. "Very nervous because well I know for sure that half of the things that we need for the rehearsal to go well things are not going to be ready like risers for the orchestra, lights, I feel nervous because everyone wants to have the best impression possible of the hall and its capabilities. And that probably won't happen today."
In fact it was noisy with construction still going on. But the players heard what they had been waiting years for. It was magic, for Mata not a destination but a challenge.
"And what we want to see now, not only me but the Association in general is how ready the community at large keeps supporting the orchestra beyond the new hall."
Eduardo Mata continued to lead the Dallas Symphony for four years in the Meyerson. A little over a year after stepping down, he died in a plane crash in Mexico. He was 52 years old.
