When mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's voice soars through UC Davis' new performing arts hall tonight, it will be just one of the many high notes of a dedication ceremony that celebrates Northern California's premier performance venue.

The dedication of Jackson Hall occurs on the birthday of Barbara K. Jackson, one of Northern California's most generous and hard-working patrons of the arts and one of the two namesakes of the Mondavi Center's Barbara K. and W. Turrentine Jackson Hall.

UC Davis financed the $57 million performing arts center, the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, through a combination of university funds and a $30 million capital fund-raising campaign. Among the major donors are the Jacksons, who donated $5 million to the project to name the hall. Napa Valley wine maker Robert Mondavi and his wife, Margrit, gave $10 million, and the Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians gave $1 million to support the Native American studies program and the Mondavi Center.

From the moment the Jacksons arrived in Davis in 1951, Barbara Jackson actively supported the performing arts on campus and in the community. Her husband, who died in 2000, had been drawn to the campus from the University of Chicago to join the brand-new College of Letters and Science. He became a pre-eminent historian of Western U.S. history who is remembered for his superb teaching and mentoring by several generations of UC Davis alumni with great affection.

Both Jacksons were active backers of the UC Davis Symphony and the Department of Music, a philanthropic commitment that Barbara has continued with generous gifts to both programs. For more than a decade, Barbara Jackson also has been a generous supporter of and dedicated volunteer for the campus's arts presenting program, formerly known as UC Davis Presents. Through her active involvement in UC Davis Presents, Jackson forged ties to the campus and arts community that created the motivation for her several gifts.

The generosity the Jacksons demonstrated with the Mondavi Center campaign was in evidence at an early stage. Among the first to volunteer for the campaign's leadership committee, Barbara's fund-raising challenge to the Friends of UC Davis Presents -- a campus support group she helped create -- inspired a $783,000 gift for the center. In fiscal 2000, the campaign received another $1 million from her. And during the March 2001 "topping out" ceremony (when the final steel beam was put into place on the performing arts facility), Jackson announced that she was committing a total of $5 million to the project. To commemorate that gift, the center's main hall has been named in honor of her and her late husband.

Arts organizations throughout the region know and respect Barbara's award-winning talent as a costumer and seamstress. An opera enthusiast, she also has sponsored young professional singers through the San Francisco Opera's Merola Program.

Hunt Lieberson was chosen to inaugurate Jackson Hall because of her superb reputation and because of Jackson's fondness for opera. She will perform works by George Frideric Handel, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Ernest Chausson, Gabriel Fauré, Emile Paladilhe, Ricky Ian Gordon, Joaquín Turina, Joaquín Rodrigo and Peter Lieberson.

Recognized as the 2001 Vocalist of the Year by Musical America, Hunt Lieberson commands astonishing technical precision and has a rich, ripe timbre that lends an erotic charge to everything she sings. A consummate recitalist and concert singer and a riveting operatic performer, she is acclaimed for her mellow, distinctive and beautiful voice. With a repertoire that ranges from the baroque to the contemporary, Hunt Lieberson has performed extensively around the world, including several recent performances with the San Francisco Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, and the New York City Opera.

The hall can be "tuned" to accommodate the type of performance, from Hunt Lieberson's recital to full symphonies to plays, with more reverberation for orchestral performances and minimal reverberation for spoken-word performances. Motorized curtains made of heavy, sound-absorbing material are stored above the ceiling and behind a wooden lattice ringing the top of the hall. This flexibility means the hall can be configured to fit the requirements of unamplified acoustic music, electronic music, theatre companies, opera and dance troupes.

To enhance reverberation required for classical music, the hall was designed with a large interior and a shoebox shape similar to the classic concert halls of Vienna, Boston and Amsterdam. In addition, ceiling panels, weighing 2,200 pounds each, put weight into the room, giving it more reverberation. The interior sandstone facing, chosen for mass and density, reflects music back to the audience and enhances bass notes.

Within the 40-foot by 24-foot trap area, any combination of 4-foot by 8-foot panels can be removed for scenic effects or actor entry. One of the largest in Northern California, the stage and its equipment will support any production currently touring.

Mondavi Center was designed by BOORA Architects of Portland, Ore., with acoustical design by McKay, Conant, Brook of Westlake Village, Calif.; theatrical design by Auerbach + Associates of San Francisco, Calif.; and lighting design by Auerbach + Glasow of San Francisco. The general contractor was McCarthy Building Companies Inc. of St. Louis, Mo.

Besides last night's San Francisco Symphony concert and Lieberson's performance tonight, a series of events is planned for this opening weekend, including numerous free outdoor events, building tours, family activities and special performances. A rousing traditional music group from Quebec, La Bottine Souriante, celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2002, returns to UC Davis to present three free outdoor performances in the Corin Courtyard adjacent to Mondavi Center, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 6.

Tickets are available through the UC Davis Ticket Office at (530) 752-1915. For more information visit http://www.MondaviArts.org.