Granoff Music Center

Opened in February 2007, The Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center is home to the Tufts Department of Music and is the focal point for all musical activities on the Medford campus. The center presents hundreds of events and concerts annually and hosts the Tufts Community Music Program for children and adults. Since the facility opened, thousands have entered the center's performance halls and classrooms to experience and learn about music.

The classrooms, computer lab, ensemble rooms, teaching studios, and practice rooms are designed with exquisite attention to acoustical detail. The 55,000-square-foot facility provides well-lit, pleasant spaces to enable Tufts students and faculty, along with the wider community, to learn, teach, create, perform, and enjoy music.

The crown jewel of the $27 million building is the 300-seat Distler Performance Hall, an acoustically separate "box-within-a-box" that was designed to be a showcase for live acoustic performances. The hall is "acoustically sealed"—meaning sounds from without will not interfere with performances, and sounds from within will not interrupt teaching or other functions elsewhere in the building. Even the ventilation and lighting systems have been designed to be silent—no humming, no buzzing, no blowing. Ideally tuned for Western classical chamber music, the Distler Hall is a world-class place in which to perform and listen to all kinds of music.
stage of Distler Performance Hall

In addition to Distler Hall, the Granoff Music Center features:

  • An airy, sky-lit atrium that can serve as a reception area
  • The Music Box Office
  • Fisher Performance Hall, a two-story, acoustically separate rehearsal hall located beneath the Distler Performance Hall that can also be used for recitals
  • Varis Lecture Hall, a 65-seat theater-style classroom
  • The Lilly Music Library
  • The World Music Room, home to an entire Javanese gamelan and numerous beautiful West African drums used by the African Music and Dance Ensemble (Kiniwe)
  • A multimedia Music Computer Lab with state-of-the-art hardware and software
  • Two acoustically sealed classrooms, with 35 and 25 seats, respectively
  • A fully equipped seminar room, with 15 seats
  • Practice rooms and teaching studios, including rooms acoustically designed for percussion and other loud instruments
  • Instrument storage areas, with special lockers for larger instruments
  • A lower-level connection to the Aidekman Arts Center and Cohen Auditorium

The Granoff Music Center is handicap accessible.

Lobby and stairs inside Granoff Music Center
Performance Hall
Bookshelves in library