The Gaillard Municipal Auditorium, a 2,730-seat cavern that opened in 1968, has acoustics so poor that the Spoleto Festival USA won’t even sell seats in some sections. Beginning in August 2012, “the space will be rebuilt with a brand new seating arrangement that includes tiers of box seats. The number of seats in the house will be reduced to about 1,800, making the auditorium … more intimate.”