UBC Old Auditorium at 100

UBC Opera’s 2025/2026 season celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Old Auditorium, honouring the veterans and community who helped build the Point Grey campus. Opened in 1925 as one of the first buildings on site, the ‘Old Aud’ quickly became a cultural and social hub. It has hosted historic figures, world-class performers, and generations of students. After surviving near-demolition in 1997, the arts community and success of UBC’s nascent opera program inspired its restoration with the help of generous donors. The Old Aud was recently renovated in 2010 and now thrives as the home of the UBC Opera Ensemble. Today, it continues to inspire artists and audiences from around the world, standing as a vibrant symbol of community and the healing power of music.

Message from UBC Opera Director Nancy Hermiston

First 100 years (1925 to 2025)

The Old Aud is a special place for students, alumni and members of the community. One of UBC’s oldest buildings, this auditorium has, over the past 100 years, hosted artists and politicians such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Paul Robson, Dylan Thomas, and UBC alumni such as Judith Forst and Ben Heppner. It has been the home for many special occasions and served as a training ground for generations of musicians and performers, and as a valued social space for student activity and assembly.

The Old Aud the only 522-seat concert hall in Vancouver with a 50-seat orchestra pit, stunning Collegiate Gothic architecture, a shoebox design for exceptional acoustics, excellent sight lines and an intimate brilliance rarely found in North American concert halls. We are excited to see it continue to serve its historic purpose as a dedicated performance centre—as home of the UBC Opera Ensemble and an outstanding facility for students, alumni, and the community.

UBC Old Auditorium

Under construction, 1925 Photo: Stuart Thomson/UBC Archives

UBC Old Auditorium

First assembly, 1925 Photo: UBC Archives

UBC Old Auditorium

Cafeteria (pre-Yum Yum's), 1925 Photo: Photo: Stuart Thomson/UBC Archives

UBC Old Auditorium

UBC Symphony Orchestra, Gerald Stanik, conductor, 1984 Photo: Jim Banham

UBC Old Auditorium

UBC Symphony Orchestra, Jesse Read, conductor, 1990 Photo: UBC Archives

UBC Old Auditorium

Piano Faculty, 1990 Photo: UBC Archives

UBC Old Auditorium

Front doors, pre renovation, 2010 Photo: Pat Higinbotham/UBC

UBC Old Auditorium

Pre renovation, 2010 Photo: Dominic Schaefer Photography

UBC Old Auditorium

Post renovation, 2010 Photo: Brian Hawkes

UBC Old Auditorium

Post renovation, 2010 Photo: Brian Hawkes

UBC Old Auditorium

Post renovation, 2010 Photo: Brian Hawkes

Home of the UBC Opera Ensemble

Founded in 1995, the UBC Opera Ensemble has performed iconic main productions, intimate Opera Tea concerts, and special engagements with alumni, special guests, and local community partners such as Vancouver Opera, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Bard on the Beach, and Vancouver Bach Choir.

UBC Opera has presented main stage productions in the Old Auditorium including Manon, Hansel and Gretel, Tosca, Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, and The Cunning Little Vixen. This ambitious opera ensemble has also performed many contemporary productions at the Old Auditorium, Chan Centre of the Performing Arts, and beyond such as Street Scene, Silent Night, The Passenger, and Shadow Catch—an opera composed by UBC School of Music composition faculty, students, and alumni.

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