Mann Center for the Performing Arts

Why go

Mann Center for the Performing Arts earns time because it offers summer concerts that combine skyline views, lawn seating and a park setting. Its central thread is a large open-air performance venue set into Fairmount Park. The hillside lawn opens toward the stage and distant Center City skyline. Covered seating and outdoor sections create very different concert experiences.

What to look for

• The hillside lawn opens toward the stage and distant Center City skyline.
• Covered seating and outdoor sections create very different concert experiences.

The full story

Mann Center for the Performing Arts is best understood through a large open-air performance venue set into Fairmount Park. The Mann Center for the Performing Arts is a nonprofit performing arts center located in the Centennial District of Philadelphia's West Fairmount Park, founded in 1935 as the summer home for the Philadelphia Orchestra. It has since hosted numerous world-class artists and touring companies such as the American Ballet Theatre with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Marian Anderson, Leonard Bernstein, Buena Vista Social Club, Ray Charles, Judy Garland, the Metropolitan Opera, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Paul Robeson, Itzhak Perlman, Lang Lang, Midori, and Yo-Yo Ma. Major Philadelphia premieres have included the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Bolshoi Ballet and Orchestra’s production of Spartacus, and Britain’s Royal Ballet’s productions of Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake. Among the scores of award-winning popular artists presented by the Mann in recent years are Phish, Tony Bennett, Mary J. Blige, Roger Daltrey, Bob Dylan, Furthur, Arcade Fire, Aretha Franklin, Herbie Hancock, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Wynton Marsalis, Willie Nelson, Smokey Robinson, Jill Scott, James Taylor, Damien Rice, Bon Iver, The National, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. In 2010 and 2011, the Mann was nominated by Pollstar, a concert industry trade publication, as "Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue" in North America. The venue has a total seating capacity of approximately 14,000, with 4,700 seats under the roof and over 8,600 outside.

Useful to know

• Attend for a scheduled performance rather than as a daytime attraction.
• Plan transport in advance because post-show demand can be concentrated.

Your next visit

Estimated · Declared scenario and planning estimates; no live opening, weather, queue or booking service.