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North Fulton Anxiously Awaits the Opening of Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park this Month With its prosperous communities, sought-after schools and thriving job market, Alpharetta remains a desirable place to both live and work. But a good thing is about to get even better. Whether you live and work in Alpharetta or you're just passing through, it's time to get ready to play. Nestled on 45 acres across Ga. 400 from North Point Mall, Alpharetta's newest entertainment destination, the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park, will kick off its inaugural season with its grand opening celebration on May 10. With 7,000 covered seats and room for 5,000 more on the lawn, the 12,000-seat venue will host everything from Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) performances and touring Broadway shows to pop concerts and community events. Building a Summer Home Born out of the vision of Bob Fulton, the late Fulton County Commissioner, it took a community to raise an amphitheatre. Although it's owned by the Woodruff Arts Center and operated by the ASO, the nonprofit project got its start with the help of two $1 million grants from the City of Alpharetta and the Fulton County Arts Council, as well as a $5 million grant from The Robert W. Woodruff Foundation and other private funds.
Commissioner Fulton's preferred site proved ideal for the amphitheatre. Not only does the land's topography form a natural bowl, which is rimmed with trees, but the site sits in the heart of Alpharetta. While 7,000 guests will take in the shows in seats covered by the amphitheatre's distinctive fan-shaped roof, an additional 5,000 patrons can lounge on the grass, which maintains a park-like atmosphere. Two surrounding plazas feature upscale concessions, including traditional BBQ, Mexican food, wings, sandwiches and burgers, as well as 40 flat-screen televisions. The 75-foot high amphitheatre stage is 118 feet wide by 67 feet deep, and its backstage areas include six guest artist dressing rooms, two large group dressing rooms, a green room, an orchestra lounge, a VIP area and meet-and-greet rooms. In addition to projection screens near the stage, production and tour offices, crew facilities, storage and service areas, the site also features two two-story restroom buildings as well as adjacent parking lots that will accommodate up to 2,600 vehicles. The amphitheatre also plans to provide shuttle service to the venue from nearby Haynes Bridge Road parking facilities. "We tried to create a patron experience that's lifetime-memory focused," said Donald F. Fox, vice president for business development and chief operating officer of the ASO. "We wanted it to be more than just the typical roadhouse that you see in so many different communities. Because it's both a home of the symphony and also an intended cultural centerpiece for the community, it was important to invest in the look and feel of the venue." Continuing the Tradition Although the ASO may consider the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park its summer home, it has no plans to end its relationship with Chastain Park Amphitheatre. When the amphitheatre opens in May, the ASO will become the only U.S. orchestra to operate in two amphitheatres simultaneously. "The Chastain relationship that we've had is legendary," Vulgamore said. "It's where Atlanta has longed to come for 35 years. We're not leaving our legendary audiences and facility; we love them dearly. In fact, I think we'll be able to bring even a stronger roster of artists because we'll be engaging artists in more than one facility." Since it books performances in Verizon, Chastain and Symphony Hall, the ASO can offer management groups venues that meet a 12,000-seat, a 6,000-seat or a 2,000-seat need. "It makes us very attractive to the marketplace," Fox said. Just as Verizon provides a venue for the ASO to perform a classical concert series in Alpharetta, it also enables the orchestra to extend other aspects of its mission as performer, presenter and educator to Atlanta's Northside. In keeping with tradition, the orchestra will perform free for the community during its annual ASO Connects concert, and Verizon's concert series includes ASO family presentations that will delight audiences of all ages. "When this building was conceived, not only in its genesis from the late Commissioner Fulton, but really when the ASO got involved, it was always designed for and embraced as a community asset," Fox said. "We're hosting the graduation ceremonies for Alpharetta High School's class of 2008 at Verizon, and we'll be doing a fundraising event for a private school in November. We've had inquiries from a local symphony group and a local ballet group, and it's our intent to embrace as many as these sorts of uses as we can." And that partnership will begin on opening night, when 320 musicians from the local Alpharetta and Milton High School marching bands will join in the opening celebration for a performance of "Seventy-Six Trombones," which will close the first half of the concert. A Boon for the Community Already home to the national or regional headquarters of numerous Fortune 500 companies, city officials believe that the new entertainment venue will lure even more companies to Alpharetta. "With the final touch of a cultural events amenity such as the Verizon Wireless Amphi-theatre at Encore Park, Alpharetta offers a?quality of life?to which few cities can compare," said John Monson, Alpharetta city councilman. In fact, the desire to improve the quality of life for its 2,000 employees already in the area contributed to Verizon Wireless' decision to invest locally and purchase naming rights to the amphitheatre. "Work-life balance is very important to us as a company," said Jeff Mango, president of the Georgia/Alabama Region for Verizon Wireless. "From education to access to the arts, we want to make sure that our employees benefit from the opportunities the greater community has to offer." To ensure that the amphitheatre maintains a broad-brush appeal, Clay Schell, general manager of popular venues and presentations for the ASO, plans to tailor the music mix to include something for everyone, from classical music and opera to country and rock concerts. And since North Fulton's residents will have all of the various music styles available in their own backyard, it'll make it more convenient than ever for them to try something new. "Beyond the obvious lifestyle and cultural value this project represents, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park is the single most important economic development project Alpharetta has seen since we were fortunate enough to garner four exits off GA 400," Monson said. "This venue will offer popular and cultural entertainment for many of the established amphitheatre and symphony enthusiasts in the Atlanta-metro area much closer to their homes, and the ability to showcase our community — and its restaurants, hotels and shops — through this venue is priceless." Planning Phase II Although the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park has yet to fully get into the swing of things, the long-term plans for the site include a performing and visual arts complex and education center. While that's still a ways down the road, the ASO is already actively working to tap that talent base. "At Verizon, what we're excited about is that we have a whole new set of orchestras and bands, teachers and community art groups who haven't worked with us before," Vulgamore said. "We look forward to collaborating with them, even on the grand opening night. Anything we do todayto encourage community arts and help grow them will eventually feed the programming of that performing arts center." In addition to its new summer home at Encore Park and its ongoing relationship with Chastain Park, the ASO continues to raise funds for the design and construction of its new permanent home, a state-of-the-art symphony center. Though the project remains in the planning phases, the Woodruff Arts Center recently signed a letter of agreement to explore a new site, located over the MARTA station adjacent to its campus. "We'll spend until next fall continuing to explore with great enthusiasm how we're going to marry arts, transportation, performance and learning spaces over the current MARTA station in midtown," Vulgamore said. "That's our priority right now so that when we go back to our funders, we're articulating which site, and I believe it'll be this site, will focus on the new symphony center. "We've raised in excess of $110 million, and we're incredibly grateful for the early pioneers in that campaign," Vulgamore continued. "They're with us, and they're eager to encourage those who'll come next after we solidify this site and our current exploration. We need to go a lot further." PN Upcoming Events Rock Shows The Eagles: May 14, 16, 17 and 20 Steve Miller Band: May 26 Stevie Nicks: June 10 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with Steve Winwood: July 9 Rush: July 22 Rod Stewart: Aug. 27 Classical Concerts Grand Opening Celebration: May 10 An Evening of Beethoven: June 28 July 4th Spectacular: July 4 All Tchaikovsky under the Stars: July 12
A Night in Paris: Puccini’s La Bohème: July 26 An Evening of Romance with Garrick Ohlsson: Aug. 8 Free Concert for the Community: Aug. 14 Family Presentations
Julie Andrews: The Gift of Music: Aug. 2 Turner Classic Movie Night: Aug.16 For More Information Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park |
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ENCORE, ENCORE !
"The orchestra's mission includes the statement that we want to be reaching ever-increasing audiences and expanding venues," said Allison Vulgamore, president and managing director of the ASO. "As long as I've known this orchestra, we've been looking for a summer home, so to speak, a place and an audience that is not downtown. After many attempts of looking both south and north, we're very excited to be coming to this venue and creating it with this community. It's an extraordinary setting."