“After a delay of six years and about a tenfold increase in costs, a new classical music performance space here is preparing to open its doors,” writes Rebecca Schmid from Hamburg, Germany, in Wednesday’s (10/26) New York Times. “The Elbphilharmonie, a glass-paneled building mounted atop a former warehouse, includes not just two concert halls but a four-star hotel, a restaurant and residential apartments. On Nov. 4, a foyer … called the Plaza… will open to the public, offering views from 121 feet above the Norderelbe River. The Elbphilharmonie … rises 360 feet above the city [and is] its tallest building…. On Jan. 11 … the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra … and [tenor] Jonas Kaufmann inaugurate the main hall”—a 2,100-seat space designed by acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota—“with a world premiere by the German composer Wolfgang Rihm…. The hall is part of … a development project that is increasing the size of the city center by 40 percent. [Architect Jacques] Herzog said that along with a revitalized music scene, he hoped the Plaza would create ‘a new meeting place for everyone.’ … More than 90 percent of [the building’s cost] was covered by city funds.” The building’s smaller concert hall has 500 seats.
Posted October 28, 2016
Elbphilharmonie photo by Maxim Schulz
