Democratic Hall

Egalitarianism will be rampant in the nation's newest, most luxurious concert hall. At "topping out" ceremonies last week at Philharmonic Hall in Manhattan's Lincoln Center (to be completed in 1962), Architect Max Abramovitz promised that the new auditorium will do away with the old labels for different-priced seats. Balconies will be called terraces, and loge seats will replace the traditional boxes. The loge seats, however, "will be more generously spaced" than those in the terraces and orchestra. Concertgoers in even the remotest seats will sit under "clouds" of acoustical panels that will heighten tonal quality and deflect the lights to suit the mood of the music (an alarming prospect for people who do not particularly want to hear Bach in the dusk).

"All the old places, like Carnegie Hall, were in effect segregated," says Abramovitz. "There was royalty in one area, one entrance to the orchestra, one to the galleries. In many halls if you had a ticket to the galleries, you couldn't go anywhere else. In this place, no matter what ticket you buy, everybody can mingle with everybody else. There will be no secret doors or people trying to sneak into restricted areas. This hall will be a pleasant outing, not a madhouse."

One aspect, at least, of the madhouse will remain. The new Philharmonic Hall will seat 2,612 people; the bar only accommodates 300.

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