The Stranger:
On Thursday at 5th Avenue and Marion Street, audiences enjoyed the christening event for Daniels Recital Hall. The event featured Mark Andersen, performing “classic and sacred music.” In addition, Kelle Brown sung a repertoire written by Andersen, Lynn Andersen played an arrangement by Mark Andersen on handbells, and Genevieve Picard performed Andersen’s work on a harp. The undertones, however, are about the 98-year-old building’s future. Formerly the First United Methodist Church, it was preserved as part of a deal that allows developer Kevin Daniels to build a 41-story tower on Fifth Avenue and Columbia Street. He’s trying to figure out how to use the space and wants to recognize it’s roots as a church. “It’s the acoustics of that place and the organ that drives it to be a performance-type hall,” he says. “I want to try something that can sustain into the future. I want to see if there’s a niche here.”