20 years of magic.

Byline: The Register-Guard

The Eugene Celebration is celebrating its 20th burst of festivities this weekend. Now it's the Hult Center for the Performing Arts' turn. The Hult is celebrating its 20th birthday today with a party featuring music, comedy and the maiden run of the Silva Concert Hall's new orchestra shell and enhanced sound system.

It was on Sept. 24, 1982, that the Eugene Symphony Orchestra, joined by mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, christened the Hult Center on opening night before a gussied-up sellout audience in the center's Silva Concert Hall. In the adjacent Soreng Theatre, a musical comedy called "Riverboat Ragtime Revue" was performed.

Among the pieces the symphony performed that night was Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in C-minor. This coming Thursday, the symphony will open its 2002-03 season at the Hult and will include Beethoven's Fifth in its program.

In the 20 years between those two concerts, the Hult Center has been a jewel of an artistic facility. Yes, it's had some sound problems, but those are being fixed, first with the new orchestra shell and a new electronic sound enhancement system - both of which have been installed in time for today's party. But as a multipurpose venue, the Hult Center had to be flexible, so "perfect sound" was elusive. From all reports, the new shell and sound system will greatly improve the overall sound quality of the Silva.

Over the past 20 years, many artists and arts groups have graced the Hult's stages, all contributing to the local area's wonderfully diverse and vital culture. The Hult's diverse mixture has attracted equally diverse audiences, thus underlining the Hult's central role as a community facility.

There's not enough room to list the stunning array of talent that has appeared at the Hult through the past 20 years, but a small sampling is illustrative. For openers, there are the Hult's nine "resident companies," those local organizations that regularly, year in and year out, perform in the Hult: the Eugene Symphony Orchestra, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Eugene Opera, the Eugene Ballet, the Dance Theatre of Oregon, the Eugene Concert Choir, the Oregon Festival of American Music, the Oregon Mozart Players and the Willamette Repertory Theatre.

And here's a glimpse of the eclectic parade of groups that have graced the Hult's stages: The New York Philharmonic. Ragtime Ensemble. McLain Family Bluegrass Band. Riders in the Sky. Chinese Magic Circus of Taiwan. Vienna Choir Boys. U.S. Army Brass Quintet. Odo Addy African Ensemble. Peter, Paul and Mary. Manhattan Transfer. The Duke Ellington and Count Basie orchestras. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. "Riverdance." The Grateful Dead. Bolshoi Ballet. And a long list of touring and locally produced Broadway musicals.

The diversity doesn't stop there. Consider some of the individual artists who've appeared at the Hult: B.B. King. Magician David Copperfield. Leontyne Price. Roger Miller. Charley Pride. Johnny Mathis. Mel Torme. Red Skelton. Victor Borge. Tony Bennett. Ella Fitzgerald. Harry Belafonte. Sarah Vaughn. Itzhak Perlman. Isaac Stern. Andres Segovia. Marcel Marceau. Roy Clark. James Galway.

These and the other names, and the memories those names evoke, have established the Hult Center as one of the Eugene-Springfield area's crown jewels - a jewel to be treasured.