Located on King Street in downtown La Crosse, the Cappella hosts a variety of events throughout the year.
Two companies are based in the location. The nonprofit Cappella Performing Arts Center focuses on its educational mission to foster powerful, inclusive art experiences and hosts concerts and recitals; Cappella Weddings and Events, is a for-profit organization focused on wedding celebrations, along with other events and parties.
Cappella Performing Arts Center partners with numerous organizations in the community such as the Boys and Girls Club and the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), hosting their concerts, recitals and music rehearsals at no cost to the organizations. They also work with the universities, such as the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, to host choir and band concerts, like the UWL choir performance on Saturday, Oct. 26.
Matt Curtis, owner of the Cappella Performing Arts Center and Cappella Weddings and Events, spoke about what else the Cappella Performing Arts Center hosts.
“We do put on our own concert series, as well. We scaled that down since we were under construction this past year, but we’ve been focusing on jazz performances with the local La Crosse Jazz Orchestra and utilizing the organ in the church room for organ performances… we do have a couple silent film performances with the organ accompanying the film,” Curtis said.
One of these silent films will be held this week. The 1923 film “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” will be shown in celebration of Halloween on Wednesday, Oct. 30, and Thursday, Oct. 31, with an organ accompaniment.
“We hire in a famous organist who’s based in Boston,” Curtis said. “He hops on the organ, no music in front of him at all… and he just improvises on the organ for the entire film.”
The Cappella’s current organ was the third organ installed in the building back in 1966. The building itself was built in 1886 and functioned as a church until about ten years ago when the congregation downsized and left the property. Curtis bought the building in 2022 and just completed renovations at the end of August of this year.
Since the property is listed on the La Crosse Historic Registry, there were limitations on what could be redone, especially on the outside of the property.
Along with the exterior, the building maintains its historic significance with all of the original stained glass windows and an original light fixture in back of the main ballroom.
The renovation restored access to three stained glass windows that had been covered up from the interior of the building back in 1954. The room is now named the Stella Ballroom and was an addition to the building in 1907.
“We’ve basically restored [The Stella Ballroom] to its original intent… The congregation grew immensely in size in the late 40s, so they went into that room and divided it up into two floors and then into smaller office rooms. It had a very corporate feel to it,” Curtis said.
“Being able to undo what they did in ‘54 and bring that room back into its original intent and reveal the stained glass windows after 70 years of being hidden was the biggest and coolest thing that we did,” said Curtis.
The Cappella Center is now bustling with people and events following the renovations that were completed at the end of the summer, adding to the thriving arts community here in La Crosse.
