How UBC’s Old Auditorium survived to celebrate 100 years
Spared the wrecking ball, this beloved concert hall is now saluting a century of culture and connection at Point Grey.
With numerous new buildings and renovations constantly appearing, UBC’s Vancouver campus has been perpetually evolving—even into its centennial year. Amid all of this development, a number of historic structures have been preserved for their cultural and architectural significance.
One such example is the Old Fire Hall, which was relocated in 2024 to ensure its heritage endures for future generations. Another, which is marking its hundredth year, is the Old Auditorium.
The Old Aud, as it is affectionately known, is Vancouver’s sole 522-seat concert hall featuring a 50-seat orchestra pit. With its stunning Collegiate Gothic architecture, shoebox design for exceptional acoustics, excellent sight lines, and intimate brilliance, it stands out as a rarity among North American concert halls.
Opened in 1925 as one of the first buildings on UBC’s campus at Point Grey, the Old Aud rapidly developed into a vital and vibrant hub for campus and community life.
“It was the cultural point for everything at UBC at the time,” says Nancy Hermiston, the chair of the Voice and Opera Division and UBC Opera director at the UBC School of Music. “Eleanor Roosevelt spoke here, Paul Robeson sang here, and many, many other distinguished performers, academics, and international figures.”
She adds that it became the home of the UBC Players Club, which staged productions like Pygmalion (later adapted into the musical My Fair Lady). By 1930, the auditorium hosted its first operetta: The Pirates of Penzance.
Photo courtesy of UBC Archives [UBC 23.1/75]
Photo by Stuart Thomson / UBC Archives [UBC 1.1/1436]
Over the decades, the structure began to suffer from the march of time. Unfortunately, the Old Aud had deteriorated to the point it was slated for demolition in 1997.
“Opera students and I had been rehearsing and performing there, and it was in very bad condition—but we loved it!” Hermiston says. “We tried to protest and tried to convince people not to tear this beautiful old theatre down with its rich history.”
When it appeared that their efforts were all but in vain, those involved organized a farewell performance for the beloved venue, inviting everyone including radio and news outlets. By chance, one student called the CBC and happened to speak to a staff member who, serendipitously, turned out to be a UBC alum.
“That alum was so upset, that person called the university and all kinds of administrators at the university to see what they thought they were doing tearing down the Old Aud,” Hermiston says. “There was such a furor about that, the demolition was delayed.”
She credits Martha Piper, who became UBC’s president in the autumn of 1997, with saving the building from destruction.
“I was a relatively new faculty member,” Hermiston says. “She asked me what I needed, and I said, ‘I need that building over there—that Old Aud building.’”
Subsequently, Piper’s successor, Stephen Toope, was a “great lover of music,” Hermiston says. After he found enough seed money for renovations and enough funding had been raised by around 2008, the newly renovated building reopened in June 2010 with a staging of The Magic Flute.
Today, the Old Aud serves as the home for the UBC Opera Ensemble, founded in 1995. The ensemble collaborates with performing arts organizations such as the Vancouver Opera, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Bard on the Beach, and Vancouver Bach Choir. Its productions at the venue and beyond include Tosca, Hansel and Gretel, Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (The Merry Wives of Windsor), and Shadow Catch, an opera composed by UBC School of Music faculty, students, and alumni.
The Old Auditorium in 2010, post-renovation. Photo by Brian Hawkes.
A scene from H.M.S. Pinafore, performed by the UBC Opera Ensemble and directed by Nancy Hermiston in 2024. Photo by Sara Race.
A scene from Tales of Hoffman, performed by the UBC Opera Ensemble and directed by Nancy Hermiston in 2019. Photo by Tim Matheson.
For the 2025-2026 season, UBC Opera is saluting the Old Auditorium’s centennial. The program honours the veterans and community who helped build the Point Grey campus by paying tribute to the venue’s past and also looking to the future.
Two major festivities will mark the hall’s original opening dates in 1925. On October 14, 100 Years of the Old Auditorium will showcase music and stories from UBC Opera students and alumni, performers, production staff, directors, conductors, coaches, and others who call the Old Aud their home. Then on October 15, The True North Strong and Free will feature the UBC Opera Ensemble, UBC historians, and members of the Veterans Transition Program in an evening of music, stories, and film from 1925 to 2025.
Celebrations will continue into 2026, culminating in the grand finale on May 30: a concert featuring soprano and UBC alum Simone Osbourne (Dip’09), bass-baritone Gordon Bintner, Canadian conductor Gordon Gerrard, and the Vancouver Opera Orchestra.
For a century, the Old Auditorium has served as a training ground for generations of musicians and performers—and as a gathering space that has shaped UBC’s cultural life. Today, it continues to inspire artists and audiences from around the world, standing as a symbol of connection and the power of music.
Looking ahead, Hermiston shares her hope with everyone: “I hope that you will continue to join us on this journey and help support this education and this Old Aud theatre going into the next 100 years so that those students who come to UBC with so much talent are also able to fulfill their potential during the next 100 years.”
With files from the UBC School of Music.
