Cincinnati Music Hall

Music Hall, completed in 1878, is Cincinnati's premier classical music performance hall. It serves as the home for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, May Festival Chorus, and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. In January 1975, it was recognized as a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The building was designed with a dual purpose - to house musical activities in its central auditorium and industrial exhibitions in its side wings. It is located at 1241 Elm Street in Cincinnati, Ohio across from historic Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine, just minutes from the center of the downtown area. Music Hall was built over a pauper's cemetery, which has helped fuel its reputation as one of the most haunted places in America. The main hall, called the Springer Auditorium in honor of founding patron Reuben Springer, has 3,516 seats and ranks acoustically as one of the finest performance venues in the world. It serves as home for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Opera and the May Festival Chorus. It is one of the largest permanent concert halls in the U.S, third only to the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City and DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. The crystal chandelier located in the main auditorium.In addition to the central auditorium, the facility includes:Music Hall Ballroom - accommodating up to 1,300 people, is the second largest meeting space in the city, encompassing nearly 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2). It is frequently used for large receptions, exhibitions, fashion shows, class reunions and breakfast, lunch and dinner gatherings. In October 1998, a $1.8 million renovation of the Ballroom was completed. In July 2007, organ rebuilder Ronald F. Wehmeier of Cincinnati announced the Mighty Wurlitzer theater organ that once graced the old Albee Theater in Cincinnati would be restored and installed in Music Hall’s Ballroom for a New Year’s Eve 2009 debut. Various employees of Music Hall have described experiencing strange events in the facility, while others say they've never experienced anything at all. In the 2005 documentary Music Hall: Cincinnati Finds Its Voice, Patricia K. Beggs, the CEO of the Cincinnati Opera, acknowledged, "Ghosts? Um, yes. Indeed, there are Music Hall ghosts." Erich Kunzel, late conductor for the Cincinnati Pops, once stated, "Sometimes when I was arranging, getting things together, I've worked here all night long. So I've met these people. They're not in the offices, but when you go out into the house they're there, they're upstairs. ... If you think I'm crazy just come here sometime at three o'clock in the morning. They're very friendly."  Ghosts were first reported before Music Hall was built, after the ground was first excavated for an Exposition Hall elevator. It is said that when an elevator shaft was installed in 1988, bones of both children and adults were found under the building.