Just in: Liverpool to get new concert hall
mainThe University has decided to build a 400-seat performance auditorium ‘to enrich the cultural life of the city and deliver real world experience to students.’
The complete Arts and Humanities Centre this spring will cost £20.5 million.
The auditorium will have ‘an optimum acoustic profile’ with capacity for a 70-piece orchestra.
How it will coordinate with the Phil remains to be seen.
A courageous and well-formed idea, which deserves support.
I cannot imagine what the purpose of this is. Wirral already possesses a first rate concert venue in the Pacific Road Theatre which was used for some years by , amongst others, the Liverpool Mozart orchestra, and a large amount of money has just been spent on the second refurbishment in 30 years of the Philharmonic Hall
Well Pacific Road was run by Wirral Council in Birkenhead and was supposed to close unless it got reprieved, and classed as Cheshire. Liverpool is a different place and is Merseyside. Liverpool Phil, where I have sung on numerous occasions, is in Liverpool and not on the Wirral – unless this being built in Birkenhead, which isn’t the greatest of places.
Excellent idea, though it’s going to be in Liverpool – quite close to the Philharmonic Hall in fact – not in the Wirral. I believe that the University and the Philharmonic are well connected on this development. (Vasily Petrenko along with Michael Eakin, Chief Exec. of the RLPS will be opening the University’s major new music teaching facilities next Tuesday and this new venue is preluded at the CElebration of Music event.)
Actually, if anything in this part of the world is to be compared with the Wigmore, I’d say it’s the Concert Room at St George’s Hall, much liked by a lot of leading musicians and home to the major Chamber Music series of the Liverpool Philharmonic.
The more the merrier I say! When are we going to get one in Bath? Our need of a ‘fit for purpose’ concert venue is very great! !
It’s not on the Wirral. It’s ‘on the south-east edge of the campus where Grove Street meets Oxford Street – at the border between the entrance to the city and the University – making it easily accessible and highly visible’.
Also: ‘The new development follows substantial investment by the University in Department of Music facilities. The refurbished Gordon Stephenson Building, which will be officially opened by Vasily Petrenko at a ceremony on March 12, now houses a suite of brand new recording and performance studios, teaching spaces and high-end equipment.’
I suspect that answers your question about how it will coordinate with the Phil. Orchestra and University have been coordinating for a very long time. This exciting new development can only cement an already flourishing relationship.
https://news.liverpool.ac.uk/2019/03/06/new-400-seat-performance-space-to-enrich-liverpools-cultural-life/
With only 400 seats the hall will be too small to play symphonic concerts. This is the kind of size appropriate for a chamber music series, or solo recitals.