orsa Music Hall (Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts)

Famous Detroiters

Famous people tied to this place 6

Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.

• Ben Carson born 1951 · pediatric neurosurgeon, author, politician

  Related place

  He formally announced his 2016 run for the Republican presidential nomination here on May 4, 2015.

• Erma Franklin 1938–2002 · singer

  Performed here

  She was a guest on Aretha Franklin's 1986 Showtime special filmed here.

• Josef Gingold 1909–1995 · violinist, teacher

  Performed here

  The DSO's home from 1946, where Gingold served as concertmaster in his last Detroit season.

• Matilda Dodge Wilson 1883–1967 · heiress, philanthropist, Lieutenant Governor of Michigan, co-founder of Oakland University

  Founded

  The 1,731-seat theater she built as the Wilson Theatre; later home of the DSO (1946) and still a working venue.

• David DiChiera 1935–2018 · opera impresario, composer, musicologist

  Founded

  DiChiera became the Music Hall Center's founding artistic director in 1971, the same year he launched Michigan Opera Theatre.

• Karl Krueger 1894–1979 · conductor

  Performed here

  The 1928 theater, built as the Wilson Theatre, that became the DSO's home under Krueger and was renamed Music Hall; it is still a working theater.