In the year of 1927, the Orpheum was built. At almost 100 years of age, the venue has a long standing history of supporting various types of performance, especially in its early years. Initially called Vancouver’s biggest vaudeville house, the Orpheum has changed the angle it focuses on a few times over its time in the business.
Currently, its known for being a concert hall!
While the Orpheum does host a large variety of concerts and other shows, they have three primary performers: The Vancouver Bach Family of Choirs, Vancouver Chamber Choir, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, that originally operated out of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
One of the Orpheum’s most popular decorative features is it’s ceiling mural. It was painted throughout late 1975 and early 1976, but not directly onto the venues dome, or even in Vancouver itself. The murals painter, Anthony Heinsbergen, resided in Los Angeles where he painted the piece on 24 canvas panels before it got shipped out to Vancouver. Upon arrival, it was then glued onto the dome. For a mural that prominent and large, you would assume there would be a better way to put it up. Maybe the glue is just that good?
The murals creation wasn’t the beginning of Anthony Heinsbergen’s time working within the Orpheum. He was a vital role in the venues decorating before it even opened, and it made him the perfect person to paint the mural in the end. Throughout the design process, Heinsbergen decided to incorporate multiple real people with ties to the venues history. For example, one of the many bearded men seen serenading a women is based off of the Orpheum’s Design Architect, Paul Merrick.
The murals existence wasn’t originally meant to be either, with the Orpheum’s restoration budget not including it anywhere. However, Heinsbergen fought for it, and for good reason as it is now one of the venues primary selling points.
On November 15th, 1979, 52 years after the venues construction, the Orpheum was officially named a National Historic Site of Canada, and continues to uphold that title with it’s high quality performances and vibrant history.