When Carnegie Hall was threatened with demolition in the 1960s, the eminent violinist and humanitarian Isaac Stern — like the anonymous Chinese man who defied the tanks in Tiananmen Square armed only with a briefcase — confronted the developers and politicians. Carnegie Hall was saved.
Though there is no single person of Stern’s stature in Utah to stand up for Abravanel Hall, there are hundreds of dedicated musicians, thousands of passionate music lovers and their friends and their families, all of whom are voters who demand that one of the world’s greatest modern concert halls be preserved. Those public officials — mayors, legislators, governors — who are mesmerized by the almighty dollar and support the destruction of Abravanel Hall will see their chances of being returned to office in the next election greatly diminished.
Gerald Elias, former associate concertmaster, Utah Symphony, Seattle, Washington