For years, American Style Magazine has ranked Buffalo as one of the top 25 mid-sized city arts destinations in the U.S. Here are just a few of the many arts and entertainment attractions that make Buffalo a lively cultural hub:
Buffalo is home to the Albright-Knox Gallery, housing one of the world’s finest collections of modern painting and sculpture.
The Burchfield Penney Art Center features the world’s largest collection of watercolorist Charles E. Burchfield’s work and is dedicated to his art and vision. it also showcases many other distinguished artists from Western New York.
Art News hailed UB’s Anderson Gallery as “a shrine to a world-class collection of contemporary art.”
Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center showcases progressive visual art and other avant-garde cultural performance. It's housed in a former church downtown that is now owned by Buffalo native and singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco.
The music scene is huge in Buffalo. Nietzche’s, the Town Ballroom, the Tralf Music Hall, Sportsmens Tavern and many other places feature live bands throughout the week, from hard core and rap to Irish sessions and country.
The Colored Musicians’ Club is a live jazz venue with a rich history. Legends like Billie Holliday, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald have all played the CMC.
The nationally renowned Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra performs in Kleinhans Music Hall. Designed by the famed Finnish father-and-son team Eliel and Eero Saarinen, Kleinhans itself is widely admired both for its acoustic qualities and for its architectural beauty.
UB’s own Lippes Concert Hall is a rich cultural resource for the Western New York community, hosting more than 200 concerts per year.
The theater district in downtown Buffalo offers New York State’s richest and most extensive network of theaters outside of New York City. There is something for every theater lover in Buffalo, from the lavish operas, musicals and ballets at the ornate Shea’s Performing Arts Center to productions of Samuel Beckett and Oscar Wilde plays at the intimate Irish Classical Theatre.
Ontario’s Stratford Festival, the largest theater company in North America and the second-largest Shakespeare festival in the world, is within a two-hour drive of the Buffalo Niagara region.
Shakespeare enthusiasts can also enjoy the Bard’s work within Buffalo’s city limits at Shakespeare in Delaware Park, a free, open-air, seasonal production.
Just over the Canadian border in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., the Shaw Festival (the second-largest theater company in North America) offers world-class productions of plays by George Bernard Shaw and other modern dramatists.
Last updated: December 07, 2012 2:36 pm EST
