The San Antonio Philharmonic has a new home, the century-old Scottish Rite Cathedral, and its opening concerts are taking place this weekend. The orchestra, which was formed after the shutdown of the San Antonio Symphony in 2022, will perform with guest pianist Natasha Paremski and music director Jeffrey Kahane conducting. The building needs some work, but the Philharmonic is excited to showcase its beauty and acoustics.
The first time Jeffrey Kahane had the chance to hear musicians play at the Scottish Rite Cathedral , he climbed the many, many steps that lead to the balcony, the highest point in the auditorium. Kahane, who is mid-way through his first season as music director for the San Antonio Philharmonic , wanted to get a sense of the acoustics. “I could hear everything, and that is the mark of a great concert hall,” said the pianist and conductor, who has played around the world.
“If you were up there at the top and I was speaking to you, you could hear every word I was saying.” Kahane needed to hear the acoustics because the Philharmonic was taking steps toward making the century-old building its home. That deal was finalized in October, when the musicians became co-owners of the building with the San Antonio Scottish Rite Library and Museum. Musicians have been rehearsing in the space since then. And they now are opening the doors so audiences can join them there. The Philharmonic’s first concerts at the Scottish Rite take place Friday and Saturday. Guest pianist Natasha Paremski will join the musicians. Kahane will conduct the program, which holds works by Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich and Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate. The ornate building, which was built by the Freemasons and serves as the heart of the Scottish Rite fraternal organization, does need a fair amount of work. But Philharmonic leaders thought it was important to show it off to the public as soon as possible. “We want people to see this building for what it is and imagine all the great things to come as we continue to work with architects and engineers and and acousticians and so forth,” said Roberto Treviño, the Philharmonic’s executive director. “We plan on making upgrades as needed and as we can. But part of that is also building up that community awareness of what this space really is and why it’s so special.” One area that needs attention is accessibility. The building was constructed decades before the American Disabilities Act was put in place and lacks elevators and ramps. It is inaccessible for people in wheelchairs. The only way to get inside is to climb stairs. For this weekend’s concerts, the orchestra is enlisting volunteers to help those with mobility issues enter the building. In addition, about 60 seats are being placed on the stage around the musicians. The floor is flat, so people seated there won’t have to hike the steep steps to access the auditorium’s permanent seating. The Philharmonic is looking into other ways to enhance accessibility going forward, Treviño said. The Philharmonic, which sprang from the ashes of the San Antonio Symphony when it was shuttered in 2022, had been performing primarily at the First Baptist Church of San Antonio. The Scottish Rite auditorium is a much larger space, which expands the kind of material the musicians can play. In addition to the enormous stage, it has choir lofts on either side of the space where vocalists can be placed to create an immersive sound. “There’s a huge amount of repertoire that we could never play at the church, including some of the most important works in the repertoire, like Mahler’s 'Resurrection Symphony' that we’re doing at the end of the season,” Kahane said. “There’s nothing we can’t play on this stage because of the expansiveness of it.” Treviño, an architect, sings the praises of the acoustics and also delights in the building’s classical design. On a walk around the outside, he noted that color was a part of classical architecture. He pointed to snatches of gold and blue still visible here and there. He’s hoping to restore that to the building’s exterior, perhaps through digital mapping. Philharmonic leadership called the Scottish Rite the orchestra’s first real home. The symphony, which had an 83-year-run, never had a space of its own. It played regularly in a number of venues over the years, including the Majestic Theatre and the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. But it never called the shots at any of those places. “To be a tenant as an orchestra means that you are really at the mercy of whoever owns the concert hall,” Kahane said. “In most cases, there’s a good relationship, but still you still have say, 'Can we have this date? Is it OK for us to be here? ' 'And sometimes the answer is, 'Well, no, we can’t do that.' ' The San Antonio Symphony floated the idea of moving into the Scottish Rite building from time to time, but the notion never took hold. The musicians did play there on occasion. In 1997, when the Majestic was taken over by the mega-musical “Miss Saigon,” the symphony moved into the Scottish Rite temporarily, ending the season with Berlioz’s “The Damnation of Faust.
San Antonio Philharmonic Scottish Rite Cathedral Jeffrey Kahane Natasha Paremski Orchestra Music San Antonio Texas
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