Performance and Research Spaces

Music Spaces on Campus

The Department of Music's home, for many of its academic and performance activities, is Goodspeed Hall, which is located in the southwestern corner of the University's main quadrangles. Other Departmental concerts, rehearsals, and related events take place at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts. Performance venues for the larger ensembles and the professional concert series include the newly renovated Mandel Hall and the magnificent Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, as well as a variety of other locations on campus and in downtown Chicago.

Goodspeed Hall

Goodspeed Hall

Since its inception, Goodspeed Hall has undergone two renovations: in 1938 for the Department of Art and again in 1980 for the Department of Music. During the latter redesign, the Classics Reading Room was annexed and remodeled into the 150-seat Fulton Recital Hall, but the room’s original ornate wood-trussed ceiling lives on.

Originally intended to house 50 male undergraduates each, Goodspeed, Blake, and Gates Halls are the grandfathers of University architecture. Built in 1892, they share with Cobb Hall the distinction of being the oldest buildings on campus. Before Goodspeed was renamed to memorialize University trustee and historian Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed, the building was called South Divinity Hall, situated in what was then known as Divinity Quadrangle.

The four floors of Goodspeed Hall house practice rooms, classrooms and faculty offices, a conference room, a computer music studio, the main office, and Fulton Recital Hall.

Featured Facilities on Campus

Joseph Regenstein Library

Joseph Regenstein Library

The University of Chicago library system is home to one of the largest and richest research collections in the world. Spread over six locations, the library has more than 7.6 million print volumes, 59,000 sound recordings, films, and videos, and 35,200 linear feet of archives and manuscripts. Specialized Music Collections include: Chicago Jazz Archive, Chicago Jazz Archive Research Guide, Chopin Early Editions, Contempo and Contemporary Chamber Players Archive, Gregorian Chant Microfilms, James H. Moore Collection of 17th Century Venetian Music, UC Music Microfilms Finding Aid, and Wandering Folksong Radio Program Recordings.

Mandel Hall

Mandel Hall

Mandel Hall hosts a variety of student and community groups, including selected Department ensembles such as the University Symphony Orchestra, and most of the professional concerts put on by international touring artists under the banner of The University of Chicago Presents. The celebration of Mandel Hall’s opening took place in December 1903 and was marked by a special Chicago Symphony Orchestra performance. The hall was renovated extensively in 1981, and underwent another multimillion-dollar renovation in the autumn of 2012.

Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts

Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts

With 180,000 square feet of new classroom, practice, performance, and exhibition space, the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts is having a transformative impact on the arts at the University of Chicago.

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, so named for the University’s founder, John D. Rockefeller, is a glorious gothic space that accommodates up to 1,500 people.  Rockefeller Chapel hosts major performing arts and academic events and serves as the locus for University-wide gatherings and celebrations of many different kinds, including Convocations.