Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra christened the rebuilt Gaillard Center’s performance hall Sunday night, capping three years of construction on Calhoun Street.

With a $142 million budget, the center is the biggest project the city of Charleston has ever commissioned, WCIV ABC News 4 has reported.

More than 1,800 patrons and donors attended the grand opening gala, The Post and Courier reported. The Gaillard Performance Hall Foundation hosted the event to inaugurate the Martha and John M. Rivers Performance Hall, according to the foundation.

Ma played Dvorak’s cello concerto with the orchestra, led by its new music director, Ken Lam. The program also included Respighi’s “Pines of Rome” and Handel’s “Zadok the Priest,” sung by the CSO Chorus, the newspaper reported.

Mayor Joe Riley and Martha Rivers Ingram, the foundation’s chairwoman, spoke from the stage before the music began and drew a standing ovation.

“Civilization is measured not by what it inherited but by what it created,” Riley said, according to The Post and Courier.

Who paid for it

The city and private donors split the cost evenly, the newspaper reported. The foundation is responsible for raising the private share, $71 million.

All but $10 million has been raised, and a bank loan covers the gap, Ingram said, according to the newspaper.

The opening came later than first planned. In November 2014, city officials said they would push it back by about four months so the hall’s acoustics could be finished properly, ABC News 4 reported. Riley said then that the delay would not cost the city any more money.

What replaced the old auditorium

The Gaillard Municipal Auditorium opened in 1968 and cost about $6 million to build, The Post and Courier reported. Its replacement followed years of dissatisfaction with the old hall’s acoustics and looks, according to the newspaper. Construction began in August 2012, according to the center.

The new neo-Classical building at 95 Calhoun St. houses the horseshoe-shaped, 1,800-seat hall; a 16,000-square-foot exhibition hall that can be divided up or set up as a ballroom or banquet room; and city government offices. Its exterior was designed to echo the College of Charleston’s Randolph Hall up George Street, the newspaper reported.

David M. Schwarz Architects, Earl Swensson Associates and Evans & Schmidt Architects designed the building.

The city held a dedication ceremony and open house earlier this month, the first chance for the public to see inside.

“Every civic building should be built with an extraordinary commitment to beauty and excellence, because every citizen owns it,” Riley said at the dedication, according to The Post and Courier. He called the center “this generation’s gift to the future.”

The business case

Filling the hall is how the center pays its bills. Tom Tomlinson, the Gaillard Center’s executive director, told The Post and Courier the center’s annual budget is about $7 million. He expects more than half to come from ticket sales, a third from rentals and other contracts and 13% from contributions.

Citing figures from the nonprofit Americans for the Arts, Tomlinson estimated that the average patron will spend $24.60 near the hall beyond the price of a ticket. He estimated that patrons will spend nearly $3 million at local restaurants, shops and hotels in the first season alone.

The foundation has estimated that the hall’s annual economic impact could reach $40 million, the newspaper reported.

“The arts have an incredible impact on jobs,” Tomlinson wrote in an email to the newspaper. “They generate revenue, draw tourists and attract businesses.”

Helen Hill, executive director of the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, told The Post and Courier that arts and culture are the next trend in tourism.

“The Gaillard is key,” Hill said.

What comes next

The Charleston Symphony Orchestra and Spoleto Festival USA are the hall’s resident arts organizations. Spoleto plans to stage “Porgy and Bess” there in May, The Post and Courier reported.

Opening week continues Monday with “Sounds of the Holy City: Gospel Meets Jazz,” followed by Brian Wilson on Tuesday, the vocal group Chanticleer on Thursday and the Colour of Music Festival from Oct. 23 to 25, according to the foundation.

“The first performance in the hall has set the stage for a new era at the Gaillard Center,” said Doerte McManus, the foundation’s executive director.