The essence of live music performance is the potent connection between the musicians and their audience.
Cincinnati’s Memorial Hall is one of the most intimate venues in the region to foster this connection. But don’t just take our word—listen to what Longworth-Anderson Series (LAS) concert attendees have to say:
“Memorial Hall is the best venue in Cincinnati! I think it inspires musicians to play their best.”
“The LAS concerts are the most fun I’ve ever had at a concert. The reception is great because you get to talk with many other fans before the show. The concert venue is so intimate - it’s almost like the show is happening in your living room!”
“It is a showplace of exquisite beauty. A venue from older times when a theater was built with acoustics in mind, but also grandeur, a theatrical space that takes your breath away when you first walk through those doors. It makes one stop dead in his tracks to just absorb the beauty and history that permeates throughout the entire building. You can almost feel the remnants of wonderful past performances.”
“The intimacy of Memorial Hall draws me in close to the artists.”
“I’m a Cincinnati native, but this was my first time at Memorial Hall, and it was the most stunning venue. Loved the intimate feel of the concert.”
“The venue was just AMAZING. I've seen a lot of shows, in a lot of venues, but I felt immediately that this place was special.”
The word “intimate” is dominant in most reviews of the Memorial Hall experience—which might not have been a surprise to Samuel Hannaford & Sons, who designed the building in 1908 as a memorial to veterans of the Civil War and Spanish-American War. The Hall was originally a meeting place for veterans in the early 20th Century, and a welcome location for community events. The Cincinnati Preservation Association led the first renovation of the Hall in 1990-1992 with a more comprehensive renovation completed in 2016 by the Cincinnati Memorial Hall Society (CMHS), 3CDC, and Hamilton County.
That latter restoration placed Memorial Hall as one of the catalysts of the revitalized arts district surrounding Washington Park. The next year saw CMHS’s inception of the LAS, which presents Grammy Award-winning and other nationally recognized performers in a variety of contemporary music genres.
Perhaps Samuel Hannaford & Sons didn’t set out to create the most personal and welcoming concert hall in the Tri-State area, but nearly 120 years later, Cincinnati music lovers are grateful.
—Scott Seward