Rieth Recital Hall
Rieth Recital Hall (300 seats) is an outstanding venue for solo and chamber music, offering excellent acoustics to both performers and audience members alike. The hall has excellent loudness, and nicely balances clarity, liveliness and reverberance. The visual ambience of Rieth reminds many people of a medieval cathedral or castle with its high ceilings, large pillars and elevated window placement.
Rieth Recital Hall resembles Sauder Concert Hall in several ways. Its basic shape is also a narrow rectangular geometric design. It also has a single balcony: this time, however, it wraps around only on two sides. A curved overhead reflector (at 30 feet) again focuses the sound back to performers and the audience. And finally, acoustical adjustments in Rieth are similarly accomplished by exposing absorbent curtains within the room.
The curtains are stored in boxes at the balcony level along the north wall and on tracks along the south, east and west walls. Those on the north wall move vertically – below and above the balcony – and are motorized and operated from the platform vestibule. Curtains can be exposed partially or fully, as needed.
In both Sauder Concert Hall and Rieth Recital Hall, all surfaces are very hard and also thoroughly sealed. The exposed concrete block walls received four coats of special sealant to eliminate any absorptive quality of the blocks (which are more absorbent in their natural state than most people think). The application of this material was closely monitored during construction, making sure that no holes remained—a small magnifying glass was used to carefully examine the block surfaces! All solid wood panels throughout both halls are firmly attached: the construction process involved thick drywall glue and many wood screws to secure the solid maple panels.
Seating in Rieth Recital Hall is fully adjustable. A unique two-way (or more) option enables the audience to face the platform for recital performances or face the opposite direction for organ performances. This flexibility allows Rieth to be used for a wide variety of events, including recitals and concerts, hymn sings and other worship events, weddings, dinners, coffee houses, etc.