ACM Event: Doors Open Milwaukee

Doors Open Milwaukee is a two-day public celebration of Milwaukee’s art, architecture, culture, and history featuring behind the scenes tours of more than 160 buildings throughout Milwaukee’s downtown and diverse neighborhoods.

For the fifth year in a row ACM has commissioned composers to write music inspired by three of the spaces and we’ll be placing musicians in the spaces to play the works every fifteen minutes during the day.

This is always a blast and I’m really excited about this year’s venues and composers about which you can read below.  Notice the lack of dangling participle. Or is about a preposition?  At any rate, I had a blast curating this great event.

Doors Open Milwaukee
September 29 10:00 – 4:00
Free! (must be in Milwaukee to attend)

WE Energies

Music by Shanan Estreicher

Construction of The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company’s (now known as We Energies) Public Service Building began in 1902, as the company replaced horse-drawn trolleys with electric interurban trains.

Electric trains rolled through the building’s first floor when it was completed in 1905. This 112 year old, neoclassic gem, with matched Italian marble walls and a second-floor art deco auditorium, played an important role in changing Milwaukee with trains, buses, electricity, natural gas, steam heat and even appliances sales, serving as the utility’s headquarters the entire time.

The Grain Exchange

Music by Debra Kaye

The Grain Exchange Room located in the Mackie Building, showcases beautiful “Simple Italian” architecture, soaring ceilings, hand painted frescoes, gold leaf and over 10,000 sq. feet of usable event space in an outstanding and historical location.

The three story “cathedral of commerce” was closely linked with the early commercial history of Milwaukee, when for a brief time, the city was the world’s largest primary wheat market for trading, exporting and inspecting grain.

 

Milwaukee Ballet

Music by Gene Pritsker

This new 52,000-foot, state-of-the-art facility for the Milwaukee Ballet just opened!  The space houses the organization’s professional dancers, School & Academy classes and Community Engagement Programs.

We’ll be christening it with a piece by the inimitable Gene Pritsker performed by Milwaukee ballet musicians.  And then we’ll catch the Packers game.

 

 

 

• Written by: Seth Boustead
• On: September 1, 2019