Spivey Hall
Spivey Hall was built in 1991 on the campus of Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia, not far from Atlanta, Georgia. Its seating capacity is 392 (376 in the orchestra and 16 box seats). It presents jazz and classical music to the metro Atlanta area.
Spivey Hall is home to the award-winning Spivey Hall Children’s Choir and Spivey Hall Young Artists. The Children’s Concert Series, sponsored in part by Delta Air Lines, won the prestigious Abby Award for arts education in Atlanta in 1998.
The Hall was the inspiration of Emilie Parmalee Spivey and Walter Boone Spivey, wealthy real estate developer couple of the Atlanta Area. The Walter & Emilie Spivey Foundation donated $2.5 million to the construction which began in November 1988 (total cost, $4.5 million). Though intimately involved in the planning, by the time of the groundbreaking, Walter had died, and Emilie died soon thereafter.
The visual centerpiece of Spivey’s design is the Albert Schweitzer Memorial Organ, a 79-rank, 3-manual, 4,413-pipe organ, built and installed by Fratelli Ruffatti of Padua, Italy. The creation of this organ was the subject of a PBS special. The majority of Spivey's finishes were designed to be acoustically reflective, in an effort to preserve the sound within and prolong its reverberation.[1]
Owing to frequent appearances on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” the hall has earned a national reputation while also reaching an international audience through artist word-of-mouth and exposure in such publications as BBC Music Magazine and International Arts Manager.