Populous Named as Designer for Kansas City Symphony Venue

The Kansas City Symphony announced Populous as lead designer for its new live music venue, strengthening the Symphony's long-term future while expanding the city's ability to host national touring artists and new live music experiences.

The indoor venue, designed for up to 4,600 guests and targeted to open in 2028, will host touring artists across genres and support Symphony performances that benefit from amplified production formats.

It will be designed with an innovative configuration and audiovisual technology to create a dynamic experience for audiences and artists, including the live performance of the orchestra integrated with films, which regularly rank among the Symphony’s most in-demand offerings.

The new facility will offer the scale, flexibility and intimacy artists increasingly seek, and fans demand in a performance venue. It also responds to a growing demand from artists and audiences for 4,000-6,000 seat venues that hit a “sweet spot” between intimate experience and major scale. The Symphony’s new venue will fill this gap to attract performers who have not consistently included Kansas City on their schedules.

With more than 300,000 expected annual visitors, the new venue will bring a major anchor destination to the South Plaza area of Kansas City rich in restaurants, shops and nightlife, including walkability to the iconic Country Club Plaza. The prime location further supports the broader revitalization already underway in one of Kansas City’s most iconic districts.

"This venue allows us to welcome more artists to Kansas City and ensures that the Symphony will continue serving this community for generations to come. Major performing arts organizations with high fixed costs must innovate, and building on the incredible success of MEMI, we're doing exactly that."

Danny Beckley

President and CEO of the Kansas City Symphony

While Helzberg Hall at the downtown Kauffman Center will remain the definitive orchestral home of the Kansas City Symphony, the new venue will dramatically expand the Symphony’s reach. The facility will host over 100 annual events; the broad majority being popular artist acts plus a few dozen Symphony performances. This expansion allows the Symphony to maintain its robust yearly schedule of 100+ performances at the Kauffman Center while simultaneously pioneering new musical experiences tailored for this new venue.

“This venue will create a home for live entertainment that reflects the vibrancy of our city. Populous is proud to help deliver a place that supports the future of the Kansas City Symphony and the next generation of artists.” – Brian Mirakian, Senior Principal, Populous.

For the Symphony, the project represents a bold, innovative step to strengthen its long-term future as one of the country’s leading symphony orchestras.

“This is a transformational moment for the future of music in Kansas City and for the Symphony,” said Linda Gill Taylor, Chair of the Symphony’s Board of Directors. “The new venue grows what the Symphony brings to Kansas City and at the same time enables the Symphony to strengthen its core orchestral foundation at the Kauffman Center. Having multiple venues creates exciting possibilities for different music experiences that will thrill audiences. The positive impact this project will have on the Symphony and our city is significant.”

The Symphony will wholly own the new venue and will contract with Music and Event Management, Inc. (MEMI) to operate it. Populous will partner with Kansas City-based McCownGordon, as the project’s design and construction build leads, respectively.