- Bridgewater Hall
The Bridgewater Hall is an international
concert venue inManchester ,England . It cost around £42 million to build and currently hosts over 250 performances a year. It is located in Lower Mosley Street, close toManchester Central .Background
Since its opening on
11 September 1996 it has been the home of theHallé Orchestra , theHallé Choir and theManchester Boys Choir , and is a regular venue for concerts of theBBC Philharmonic andManchester Camerata . From September 2002 it has been home to the Halle Youth Orchestra and Youth Choir; founded for musicians under the age of nineteen who do not have the benefit of full time musical education.The venue is named after the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater who commissioned the
Bridgewater Canal which crosses Manchester. The canal basin adjacent to the hall is not, however, a branch of the Bridgewater Canal, but of theRochdale Canal .The
Manchester Metropolitan University hold Graduation in the hall, in July each year since 2006.The architects were Renton Howard Wood Levin. The acoustics were designed by Rob Harris of Arup Acoustics; his colleagues in Arup were the building engineers.
Inside, the central focal point of the hall is a
pipe organ (with 5,500 pipes) built byMarcussen & Son , which dominates the 2,341 seatauditorium , completely covering the rear wall with a blend of wood and burnished metal.The main auditorium sits on the foundation on earthquake-proof isolation bearings (consisting of steel springs) which insulate it from noise and vibration from the adjacent road and
Metrolink line. [ [http://www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk/about/architecture/construction.html Bridgwater Hall - construction] ] When the1996 Manchester bombing occurred, the workers inside did not hear the explosion, despite being only around half a mile away. This shows how successful the soundproofing is.2006 saw the 10th anniversary of its opening with special performances by La Scala Philharmonic, St Petersburg Philharmonic and the well-known pianist
Alfred Brendel .ee also
*
List of major concert halls References
External links
* [http://www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk/ Bridgewater Hall, Manchester]
* [http://www.manchestertheatres.com/bridgewaterhall.htm What's On At The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester]
* [http://www.arup.com Arup.com]
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