Certain spirits from our past come to mind-- Cary McMurran, Vianne Webb, Harold & Elizabeth Chapman, Ronald Marshall and his incredibly talented family, and let us not forget Homer Ferguson himself – and they all must be very pleased. Their lives were spent with one overarching professional purpose: to develop a legacy for both education and the performing arts in our community. Whether the earthly labor was a notable symphony orchestra, a fine arts radio station or an ersatz academy in which young talents might be brought up, each of these local heroes laid a portion of the foundation in their time on which a great temple might rise, dispelling the thought that the Virginia Peninsula was just too pedestrian -- a “fried meat town”, as one of my colleagues sneered -- to support great performances by national and regional stars, much less support a performance space which was not just another study in cinder block or 1950s institutional retro.

Well, the temple has risen at last, this vision so many have had since the waning days of World War II. The solidity and grace of The Ferguson Center for the Arts was worth the wait. The Ferguson is bold, dashing and beautiful -- a first-rate miracle of acoustic engineering with a daring curvaceous motif that ties the 150,000 square foot complex together. The newest sibling in a family of performance spaces sprinkled throughout Hampton Roads is -- no exaggeration -- the most sensational treat for the ears that I’ve ever experienced. It also has the potential to be a beacon of inspiration to a population that, until last autumn, slaked its appetite for big city arts elsewhere.