Inspired by Christopher Wren's Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford, England, Sanders Theatre is famous for its design and its acoustics. A member of the League of Historic American Theatres, the 1,166 seat theatre offers a unique and intimate 180 degree design which provides unusual proximity to the stage. The theatre was designed to function as a major lecture hall and as the site of college commencements. Although Sanders saw its last commencement exercise in 1922, the theatre continues to play a major role in the academic mission of Harvard College, hosting undergraduate core curriculum courses, the prestigious Charles Eliot Norton Lectures, and the annual Phi Beta Kappa induction ceremony. Many of the most venerable academic, political and literary figures of the nineteenth and twentieth century have taken the podium at Sanders Theatre including Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King.

Sanders is presently home to several undergraduate choir and orchestral groups and also serves as a venue for many professional performance ensembles including The Boston Philharmonic, The Boston Chamber Music Society, The Christmas Revels, Masterworks Chorale and The Boston Baroque.