Historic Chenery Auditorium: Delivering big acts in a plush setting
Historic Howard Chenery Auditorium, located at the former site of Kalamazoo Central High School on Westnedge Avenue, has seen some big-name stars on its stage since it began as a high school auditorium in 1924. Chenery Auditorium hosted Big Band legends Duke Ellington and Glenn Miller, musicians Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis in their heyday, comedian Bob Hope, jazz great Herbie Hancock and many more.
More recently, jazz keyboardist Chick Corea, vocalist Bobby McFerrin, the renowned Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery and Matt Giraud, Kalamazoo native and American Idol finalist, have played Chenery Auditorium. The 1,500-seat auditorium continues to deliver great entertainment to the greater Kalamazoo area more than 200 days a year.
Kalamazoo Central relocated in 1972, but the auditorium was renamed the following year in memory of beloved drama teacher, Howard Chenery. The auditorium was refurbished in 1960, 1991, 1997 and again in 2010. In the 1997 renovation, the 2,500 seats were reduced to 1,900 wider, plusher seats. In the 2010 renovation, wider seats and some other improvements reduced the number of seats to 1,500.
The latest renovation also covered the entrance off Dutton Street and added a two-story, glassed-in reception area in the northeast corner of the first floor, a larger orchestra pit, a new band shell, new green rooms and new air conditioning. Also added was a sculpture by local Kalamazoo artist Kirk Newman of Howard Chenery, the auditorium’s namesake, who taught for 38 years, beginning in 1923.
Chenery Auditorium is the performance home of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, the Ballet Arts Ensemble, the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestra, the Kalamazoo Children’s Choir, the Kalamazoo Concert Band and the biennial Irving S. Gilmore Keyboard Festival. For years, it also housed the Civic Players. To this day, traveling acts — such as the Michigan Nutcracker Ballet, Theatreworks USA’s plays, the St. Olaf Choir, the Christian rock band Kutless and the Claremont Trio — continue to use Chenery Auditorium, as musical acts have done for decades.
During productions, you can enter from either the Westnedge or Dutton Street entrances.
Posted by Ivonne Rovira
