Kleinhans Music Hall Presents a Valentine's Day Dinner Dance Tonight

Kleinhans Music Hall presents a romantic evening of dinner and dancing tonight, Feb. 14 in the hall's Mary Seaton Room.

A dinner catered by Oliver's Restaurant will include carving stations, salad and dessert selections and a complimentary glass of champagne. The Jim Tudini Big Band, featuring jazz legend Bobby Militello, will provide the music for post-dinner dancing.

A cash bar is open at 6:30 p.m. Dinner is served at 7 p.m., and dancing lasts until 11 p.m. The cost is $179 per couple, and all proceeds benefit Kleinhans Music Hall. Parking is free.

To make a reservation, call (716) 885-0331 ext. 424 or visit kleinhansbuffalo.org.

Kleinhans Music Hall is designated as a National Historic Landmark with an international reputation as one of the finest concert halls in the United States. Orchestra musicians, conductors, and soloists have long admired Kleinhans, including Jascha Heifetz ("It's a joy to play in this hall."), Artur Rubenstein ("Any artist gives his best in a hall such as this."), and Serge Koussevitzsky ("Kleinhans Music Hall is a dream of a lifetime - perfect and complete."). Kleinhans is considered one of the most acoustically perfect halls in the world, and that perfection has not diminished through the years.

Kleinhans Music Hall was built thanks to the generosity and vision of Edward and Mary Seaton Kleinhans and the stewardship of their charitable dreams by the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo. The Community Foundation was bequeathed the estates of Mr. and Mrs. Kleinhans, who made their fortune from the clothing store that bore their name, and who died within three months of each other in 1934.

The Kleinhans, who were music lovers, found the Elmwood Music Hall drafty and acoustically imperfect, and specified their money was to be used "to erect a suitable music hall...for the use, enjoyment and benefit of the people of the City of Buffalo."

Kleinhans Music Hall was officially opened on October 12, 1940; this date also marked the Buffalo Philharmonic's first concert in the hall.

Kleinhans Music Hall was designed by the famous Finnish father-and-son team of Eliel and Eero Saarinen, along with architects F.J. and W.A Kidd. Kleinhans is known for its combination of graceful structural beauty and extraordinary acoustics. The design of Kleinhans Music Hall resembles the body of a string instrument, as does the main auditorium. There are three notable rooms within Kleinhans: the Main Auditorium, Livingston Hall (named in memory of Mary Livingston, mother of Mr. Kleinhans), and the Mary Seaton Room (a memorial to Mr. Kleinhans' wife, Mary Seaton Kleinhans).

Eliel Saarinen's aim was to create "an architectural atmosphere...so as to tune the performers and the public alike into a proper mood of performance and receptiveness, respectively."