The Olivier Music Barn

With windows facing the Beartooth Mountains and seating for just 150 people at most, the Olivier Music Barn is an informal and acoustically intimate indoor performance space.

The scale and proportions of the concert hall within the Olivier Music Barn are inspired by the "jewel box" design of the Esterhazy Music Room, the powerful performance space for which Haydn composed his chamber music repertoire. A contemporary innovation—a high ceiling suspended above the boxlike space—lends an elevated, ethereal character to the deeply resonant acoustics. To design the Olivier Music Barn, we enlisted Arup engineers because of Snape Maltings concert barn in Suffolk, England, which they helped Benjamin Britten adapt for music, and because of Wigmore Hall in London, whose renovation they masterminded. Both are small halls with perfect acoustics. The art center's inaugural director, the acoustician Alban Bassuet, led the design process.

In January of 2019, the Olivier Music Barn received LEED® Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for its environmentally sustainable design and systems. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The barn's standards of sustainability include low-carbon emissions and near-net-zero energy consumption.

Concerts are held in the Olivier Music Barn on Friday and Saturday evenings during the summer music season. Master classes also take place at the art center, taught by such piano greats as Anne-Marie McDermott. Whether they are performing, rehearsing or learning, visiting musicians delight in the barn's acoustically enveloping sound.