Abravanel Hall

Abravanel Hall is the home of the Utah Symphony, sitting on South Temple in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City. The concert hall opened in 1979 and hosts classical music, pops concerts, films, lectures, and corporate gatherings across a season that runs alongside the Symphony’s own calendar. It stands next to the Salt Palace Convention Center and a short walk from Temple Square, in the middle of the city’s cluster of performing arts venues.

The hall is built as a concrete structure within a brick shell, a design that shuts out street noise and lobby chatter once the doors close on the auditorium. Inside, white oak walls with raised paneling carry the sound, and the room is widely regarded for its acoustics. The auditorium seats 2,766 people around a stage that spans 80 feet wide, 39 feet deep, and 34 feet high, fitted with a permanent wood concert shell and a blonde hardwood floor built for orchestral performance.

Six brass and crystal chandeliers, strung with thousands of hand set crystals, hang over the auditorium, and gold leaf covers the lobby stairs and the tiers inside. The signature space is the four story glass lobby, which opens onto views of Temple Square and the Wasatch Range and holds a tall red glass sculpture near the entrance. Arrive early to take in the lobby before a performance, it is as much a part of a visit here as the concert itself.

Abravanel Hall connects directly to TRAX at Temple Square Station on the Green and Blue Lines, and a same day performance ticket doubles as a UTA transit pass. There is no dedicated parking lot at the hall itself, so plan on downtown’s metered street parking or a nearby paid lot. Metered spaces run free on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. with a two hour limit, and restrictions lift entirely on weekday evenings after 8 p.m. Inside, the hall offers wheelchair seating, elevators to every level, ADA restrooms, free assisted listening devices, and coat check.

The downtown setting puts Abravanel Hall within walking distance of City Creek Center and The Gateway, both good options for a meal or a bit of shopping before or after a show, and close enough to Temple Square and the Salt Palace Convention Center to fold into a full day downtown. Only bottled water is allowed inside the auditorium, though concessions are sold in the lobby. The hall suits longtime symphony subscribers and first time visitors alike, and an evening here pairs well with an early downtown dinner and the walk back to TRAX afterward.