A refurbished Alice Tully Hall reopens in NYC

Architects and engineers have modernized the 1,100-seat hall, home to the annual New York Film Festival and a stage that has been graced over the years by the likes of Leonard Bernstein, Yo-Yo Ma and Clint Eastwood.

"It's celebratory, it's exuberant," architect Elizabeth Diller said Thursday, just days before the public opening of the hall Sunday. Diller, from the Diller Scofidio + Renfro firm, is the principal architect on the project, working with Sylvia Smith of FXFowle Architects.

Musicians who have tested the stage reported that the new hall has great acoustics — rich, but clear, and much better than the rather "dry" sound of the old hall.