Symphony Hall, Birmingham

Symphony Hall, Birmingham

Symphony Hall is a 2,262 seat concert venue located inside the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Birmingham, England. Opened on April 15 1991, it is home to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and hosts around 270 events a year. It was completed at a cost of £30 million. [cite book|author=John Tribe|title=The Economics of Leisure and Tourism|year=1999|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=0750642327] The hall's interior is modelled upon the Musikverein in Vienna and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. [cite book|author=Sallie Westwood|coauthors=John M. Williams|title=Imagining Cities: Scripts, Signs, Memory|year=1997|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0415144299] In addition to concerts the venue is also used for community events, graduation ceremonies and conferences.

Symphony Hall's acoustic, widely considered one of the finest in the world, was designed by Russell Johnson of Artec Consultants Inc. A particularly innovative feature is the hall's acoustic flexibility. It has concrete-walled reverberation chambers behind the orchestra and extending high along the sides, adding 50% to the hall's volume, which can be opened or closed. There is a 32-tonne counterbalanced canopy which can be raised or lowered above the orchestra. Dampening curtains can be extended or retracted to ensure that the 'sound' of the space is perfectly matched to the scale and style of the music to be performed.cite book|author=Alec Nisbett|title=The Sound Studio: Audio Techniques for Radio, Television, Film and Recording|pages=50|year=2003|publisher=Focal Press|isbn=0240519116]

The hall is built only 30 metres (100 feet) from a covered railway line. As a result, the hall is mounted on rubber cushions, as is the railway track. The hall is also shielded from heavy traffic on Broad Street by double skins of concrete. Large, low-speed ducts cuts the ventilation noise.

In 2001 a 6000-pipe symphony organ was installed, designed and built by Johannes Klais Orgelbau in Bonn and specially tailored to the hall's reverberation chambers. This is now the largest mechanical action organ in the UK.Fact|date=September 2008

Symphony Hall has charitable status and through its Education/Community department carries out projects for schools, community groups and families. The trustees of Symphony Hall took on responsibility for Birmingham Town Hall on 4 October 2007 when it reopened. [ [http://www.thsh.co.uk/page/support-us/ Performances Birmingham - charitable managing organisation] ]

See also

* List of major concert halls

References

External links

* [http://www.thsh.co.uk/ Official website]


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