Today marks 116 years since the debut concert at Massey Hall on June 14, 1894. This first concert featured Handel’s Messiah performed by a 500-voice choir and the 70-member “Grand Festival Orchestra.” Glorious indeed, the Evening Star declared Massey Music Hall (as it was then known) as a “palace” and declared “Splendid Harmony Dedicates a Temple Devoted to the People.”
“Temple” really is a rather perfect word to describe how we feel about this special place and how the city as a whole has felt about it for 116 years. It has been a very significant scene within Toronto and certainly within the larger music community around the world, commanding respect and reverence. Example: leading up to their two-night stand last week, The National declared Massey Hall “one of those famous, iconic places we’ve been dying to someday get to a point where we can play.”
Massey Hall has been key in countless moments in history – musical and otherwise. The series we did here on Soundboard about Massey Hall’s Decade Panels outlines this history ten years at a time, affirming those moments to which the Hall has borne witness. Massey has seen both political and historical figures grace its stage such as Charles Tupper, Grey Owl, and Nellie McClung and has been a player in key moments in musical history – the 13-year-old Glenn Gould taking the stage, the Greatest Jazz Concert Ever, Dylan going electric, Neil Young’s epic 1971 concert, over seven months of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Cats, and a regular appearance from one Gordon Lightfoot (for no less than 40 years).
The Grand Ol’ Lady of Shuter Street certainly has been good to us, giving us the occasion to gather and celebrate these significant moments in time. Torontonians are not shy to admit that they’re rather proud of our Massey Hall and its place at the heart of the city and its citizens. So Happy Birthday to you Massey Hall, here’s to the future being as bright as your history is rich.
Stefania Paterak is programming coordinator at Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall
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