I’ve been to a number of different concert halls across the country. Until moving down to London, they tended to be more northern cities, like Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester. More recently, now that I live in London, I have ventured out to a few of the capital’s concert venues.
Last week, Sir Simon Rattle criticised these venues, and laid his claim for a brand new concert hall for the capital. He labelled what is perhaps the best venue at present, The Barbican, as ‘serviceable’, stating how amazing the LSO could sound in a great concert hall. Perhaps his comments were deliberately timely, given that he is favoured to take up the LSO’s reigns after Gergiev leaves later this year. It has been said that he is very close to agreeing a contract with the London orchestra; however, if they don’t meet his request for a new venue, things may change.
None other than the Chancellor, George Osborne, supported Rattle in his request. In partnership with the mayor, he has announced an official viability study into the possibility of a new concert hall for London. Osborne states the ‘significant artistic, educational and economic benefits that a modern concert hall would bring not just London but the whole country.’ He is probably not wrong in saying this; a new state-of-the-art concert hall would benefit those who already attend concerts, but surely it has to have other uses too? Nicholas Kenyon and Kathryn McDowell, managing directors of the Barbican and LSO were quoted in referring to a ‘state of the art performance and education facility for the digital age’. Knowing that two leading figures in the development of whatever this turns out to be feel this way is extremely positive.
With the huge cutbacks and devaluation to music education in recent years, education must be kept at the heart of this new project. I can see the huge potential benefits a brilliant new concert hall would have on myself and other classical music lovers (we are now one of the few remaining European capital cities without a ground-breaking facility). I fear, however, that if the hall isn’t a multi-use facility, we could further alienate the problem of music education. It could also further enhance the problem of diversity amongst audiences. If the powers that be create a venue with a ridiculous budget, that therefore ensured ticket prices were through the roof, it would only make those with less money attend even fewer concerts. Isn’t that the opposite of what we are all trying to do?
So, what is the solution? I do agree that a new concert hall would be fantastic for London. I personally can’t really see how it would benefit the whole country, though, and do have my fears as addressed above. Having Sir Simon Rattle conduct the LSO is an exciting prospect, especially given the amount of positive change he has inflicted on the Berlin Philharmonic. It would be a huge project though, with a huge budget, the majority of which would come from the Arts Council, no doubt, an organisation already making mass cutbacks; could they afford it? All that said, wouldn’t it be great to have our own ‘Philharmonie de Londres’? A state-of-the-art facility that not only addressed London’s lack of a concert hall with brilliant acoustics, but also had education at its core.
Don't forget you can buy tickets for our March concert ‘Classical Celebration II’ by visiting our events page or the main Corn Exchange website.
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